In 1956 Representative John P. Saylor of Pennsylvania introduced the Wilderness Bill in the House of Representatives. For eight years Saylor led the uphill legislative battle and never gave up. In 1961, when the going was tough, he declared: "I cannot believe the American people have become so crass, so dollar-minded, so exploitation-conscious that they must develop every last little bit of wilderness that still exists."
John Saylor was by any measure a wilderness hero. Personally, I have never thought of myself as particularly heroic in the wilderness movement, despite the flattering title of the program here, "An Evening With Conservation Greats." The best I can say for myself is that I was on the scene during a critical and exciting period, and that I was privileged to know the principals like Saylor and to write with caring about their activities and the issues.
Harvey Broome, one of the founders of the Wilderness Society and president of the society when the Wilderness Act became law, was a special hero and friend of mine. Shortly after he died in 1968, Representative Saylor paid tribute to Harvey on the House floor with these words: " We must resolve never to falter, as he never faltered, and to take inspiration from his life to fight all the harder for the future of the wilderness. His spirit knows no boundaries and will be with us in the years ahead."
I think that's what it's all about and why we're here today. Those people of forty and fifty years ago were missionaries and visionaries, giving broad shoulders to stand on. Howard Zahniser, who drafted the Wilderness Bill, created reality out of a dream. I remember many beautiful people like Zahnie, Harvey Broome and John Saylor, who supported the cause. For example, the National Audubon Society was headed by Carl Bucheister and Charles Callision, who were motivated by principle and high purpose, and when he retired Callison established the Public Lands Institute with his own money and energy to defend the integrity of the people's landed estate. Oh Charlie, where are you when we need you?
But something has happened between then and now. In 1985 the National Audubon Society, Sierra Club and Wilderness Society all were shopping for new executive directors. Those organizations were at mid-life, facing marked transformation from volunteer efforts to business enterprise. They didn't look to grassroots wilderness campaigners for their new executives. No, all three engaged professional search companies, specifying that they were looking for leaders strong in fund raising, finance and budget; they wanted management specialists - and were willing to pay high prices for them.
These and other national environmental organizations, I fear, have grown away from the grassroots to mirror the foxes they had been chasing. They seem to me to have turned tame, corporate and compromising, into raging moderates replacing activism with pragmatic politics, and a willingness to settle for paper victories.
It grieves me deeply to read a statement by a Wilderness Society representative calling the new management plan for Yosemite National Park "an elegant balance between park protection and visitor use and enjoyment." It sickens me when this plan clearly would turn Yosemite Valley into a pricey crowded commercial resort benefiting above all the park concessionaire, the multinational Delaware North, better known for its facilities at race tracks and baseball parks.
Likewise, it distresses me to learn that national environmental organizations have endorsed the proposed giveaway of 272 acres of the Kaibab National Forest at the gateway to Grand Canyon National Park for construction of 1270 hotel rooms and 270,000 square feet of retail mall shopping, the equivalent of four large department stores.
Our public agencies, the Forest Service and National Park Service, have lost their way. They want to think of themselves as "marketers" of mass recreation as a commodity, building "partnerships" with commercial interests, the bigger the better, and treating the public as "customers." Environmentalists need to bring the agencies back on track as resource stewards in committed public service.
Providing sanctuary for America's wildlife heritage should be the single most important role of the national parks and wilderness of the national forests at a time when diversity on the planet is so thoroughly endangered. The National Park Service and Forest Service should be apostles and advocates for mountain lions, wolves, grizzly bears and buffalo. Wild animals make a park a park, but wildlife has been crowded out of its habitat in every park without exception. Animals are not protected from snowmobiles, sightseeing airplanes, helicopters, tour buses, cars, concessionaires, hikers, bikers and park administrators.
For this reason I support wholeheartedly the National Day of Action on June 10, initiated by Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness and cooperating grassroots organizations to insure that the voice of industrial recreation is not the only message heard by Congress and the media about the misguided, misleading and misanthropic Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Stewardship of public lands -- especially wilderness -- often requires limitation of use, but Fee Demonstration provides a powerful incentive for managers to avoid anything that will limit use -- the more use they can generate the greater their budgets. Money is not the simple answer, but Congress must provide the funding to do the necessary administration to maintain these national treasures for future generations. It should not order administrators to merchandise the resource in order to pay their salaries. That is the message to get across on June 10.
It will be a great day. I hope somehow that Butterfly Hill will be with us - that beautiful butterfly who lived on a platform six feet by eight feet in size from December 10, 1997 until December 18,1999 high up in her beloved thousand-year-old tree in northern California. It was her island of hope in a sea of desolation. And when Butterfly climbed down, after 738 days, she said, "You can't protect animals without protecting their home, which is also our home."
Butterfly had a sign high in the tree that read RESPECT YOUR ELDERS, which leads me to tell her, on behalf of the heroes of the wilderness movement who are gone, Your elders respect you. John P. Saylor in 1968 said that he was proud to consider himself a fellow to Bob Marshall, Olaus Murie, Howard Zahniser, and Harvey Broome: "They were all great leaders," he said, "for the saving of wilderness for our time, for all time. They have passed on, but their legacy falls to new leaders, as their spirit lives on." Yes, their spirit lives on and the legacy is yours.
Dr. Michael Frome is a distinguished historian from Bellingham, Washington. He has studied and written on the history of the national parks for decades.
Scott Silver, Executive Director,
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Avenue, Bend OR 97701
Phone (541) 385-5261 E-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org