Katie was raised in Tucson Arizona--she often spoke fondly of tramping around and hiking  Sabino Canyon--and attended the University of Arizona, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and drama in 1943. She left Arizona to pursue careers and acting and folk singing, but she frequently returned to enjoy the Colorado River, Grand Canyon, and most importantly Glen Canyon. She considered the Colorado River to be her lifeblood, Glen Canyon to be a place where she could re-energize herself physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Katie wrote several songs and books about these experiences. When the United States Bureau of Reclamation announced its plans to dam the Colorado River and flood Glen Canyon, Katie fought for several years to prevent that outcome. She was not successful; she considered the damning of Glen Canyon to be her greatest failure.

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Katie Lee was well-known across the nation. In the 40s and 50s she acted in popular movies, in the 50s and 60s she transitioned to becoming a folk singer/song writer, river runner, and in the 1970s until the end of her life, she wrote books, both non-fiction and fiction. She never stopped advocating for the protection of rivers, canyons, and wild spaces. She spent five decades using her music, writing, and influence to raise awareness of the need to preserve natural places. The loss of Glen Canyon had served as a painful example of how something so fragile and beautiful could be destroyed in the name of progress. Katie encouraged people to fight for the things and places they loved.

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Today, Katie Lee's legacy continues to inspire a new generation of environmental activists with her archival legacy housed in the Cline Library on the campus of Northern Arizona University. Environmental activist and writer, Craig Childs, noted, “Katie speaks for the canyons and the sweet desert recesses. She is our foul-mouthed, lightning-eyed, boot-stomping balladeer, a character Louis L’Amour never could have invented. Born of the rock itself, she is a lifetime of experience on this wild, restless cradling ground. If you want to know this place, you need to know Katie."