Mandatorily retired from the National Park Service at age 72 in 1955, Dr. McDougall decided to contact MNA Director Dr. Colton to offer his services to the MNA botany program. Dr. Colton replied that if Dr. McDougall worked a bit in the MNA Herbarium, he could have campus housing. Dr. McDougall accepted the terms and was soon working full time in botany and became Curator in October 1955.
He served as Curator during the 1960s and remained at the museum until his death at age 97. He and fellow botanist Harold S. Haskell wrote MNA Bulletin 32, and while in his 90s, Dr. McDougall wrote the classic “Seed Plants of Northern Arizona.” He was named an Eminent Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America in 1977. The MNA Herbarium was renamed in his honor in 1984 as he truly was an important scientist in MNA’s rich legacy.
McDougall, Walter B. “The desert of the Little Colorado River Basin.” Plateau, vol. 37, no. 2, 1964.
—. Grand Canyon wildflowers. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 43, 1964.
—. “The problem of endangered plant species in northern Arizona.” Plateau, vol. 47, no. 3, 1975.
—. Seed plants of northern Arizona, with keys and detailed descriptions for the identification of families, genera, and species. Museum of Northern Arizona, 1973.
—. Seed plants of Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments, with keys for the identification of species. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 37, 1962.
McDougall, Walter B. and H. S. Haskell. Seed plants of Montezuma Castle National Monument, with keys for the identification of species. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 35, 1960.
McDougall, Walter B. and H. S. Haskell. Typical seed plants of the Ponderosa Pine zone, with keys for the identification of species found in the vicinity of the Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 32, 1959.