April 28, 2011
Don't let Florida revert to abuses of past
By Nathaniel Pryor Reed, special to the Times
The governor and Legislature seem bent on destroying our state's landmark process to manage growth and development.
It is with an incredible sense of dismay that I watch what is unfolding in Florida this legislative session. The governor and Legislature seem bent on destroying our state's landmark process to manage growth and development, essential considering that Florida soon will pass New York as the third-largest state in the nation.
In recent conversations with three former distinguished governors, I found all appalled by the disastrous course the state leadership is setting for us. The looming agenda is unapologetically probusiness and antiregulation. Florida's new leadership is in complete denial that this state's natural areas are both the foundation and economic engine that drive our beautiful state.
To avoid the problems of overcrowded schools, congested roadways and environmental damage that occurred unchecked after World War II, Florida must maintain a workable system to direct growth into suitable places and away from those lands too sensitive for development. This was, and remains, the mission I shared with several other prominent Floridians when in 1986 we founded 1,000 Friends of Florida, the second organization of its kind in the nation. Over the past quarter-century, 1,000 Friends has worked with leaders from both sides of the aisle to shape one of the most successful growth management systems in the nation.
Current efforts will do nothing less than open Florida back up to the ravages of unchecked development experienced in our state in the 1960s and 1970s. The resulting damage to the Everglades, drinking water supplies and public infrastructure is still being felt to this day. Floridians simply cannot afford to make these mistakes again.
Citizens throughout this state must continue to fight the false premise that Florida can build its way out of the recession by reducing or even eliminating a state oversight role in local development decisions. Such an approach will do untold damage to our environment and create costly future burdens for our children and grandchildren.
My travels throughout the United States and the world convince me that Florida was moving in the right direction to right past wrongs and prevent their recurrence. Sadly, the only kind of legacy we will be leaving to the generations following us is one of missed opportunities that no one can proudly claim.
This is a call to all of those who treasure Florida. The worst thing any of us can do is to go quietly into the night. Our great state is worth fighting for. Stand up and speak out against the outrageous proposals now steamrolling through the Legislature. We implore you to join the fight before it is too late.
Nathaniel Pryor Reed served as assistant secretary of the interior under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and is chairman emeritus of 1,000 Friends of Florida.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge
Remarks before
The Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge, Stuart, Florida
April 11, 2011
It is with a sense of sincere gratitude that you have come together to learn about my book: A Different Vision, a history of Jupiter Island, the Hobe Sound Company and the Jupiter Island Club.
Jupiter Island is indeed unique, as my history describes.
One account of it – found in court challenging the ownership of Jupiter Island reads thusly:
A contending witness rose and addressed the claims court with the following question: “How did the United States take possession of this land from Spain and what right did Spain have to it in the first place?”
The court examiner replied with an old tome on land titles and read to the court: “The United States acquired this land from Spain by treaty in 1820. Spain acquired procession of this land by virtue of the fact that Christopher Columbus in 1492 discovered and claimed it for Spain. Columbus got his authority for making his voyage and discovery from Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella got their authority for sponsoring the voyage from the Pope of Rome. The Pope of Rome got his authority by virtue of the fact that he said he was the Vicar of Christ on Earth. Christ got His authority by the fact He was the son of God, and God created the Earth.
Such is the pedigree of Jupiter Island!”
When I finally decided to write a history of Jupiter Island, Frank Lund, a true life friend of mine, shared with me his extensive historical research of Jupiter Island going back into the 19th century. Frank has pursued the earliest histories of the island, including the three failed attempts to develop Jupiter Island which occurred before the Reed family arrived on Jupiter Island in 1931. Much of what my parents found here helped shape their vision and decisions, and so with Frank’s help, I’ve included some description of the Indian River Association, a group of Englishmen who set out to build a truly first-class resort – only to collapse when overwhelmed by World War I. Their legacy includes the first bridge to the island, most roads and lot plats, and most significantly, the building we now call the Main Club. Their successor was the Olympia Improvement Corporation; they bought out the Englishmen to build a resort to “compliment, but not compete with” Palm Beach. Their investors were primarily Palm Beachers. Olympia rode the wave of the Roaring 20’s development boom in Florida – and crashed just like everyone else. But they too left behind infrastructure still found today; including a revised 9-hole golf course which is basically the remains of front nine of today’s 18-hole course.
Ironically, the Reed family’s arrival on Jupiter Island was somewhat due to Olympia. My relatively recently married mother wanted to escape from visiting her family’s winter home in Winter Park. Gene Tunney, a great family friend, the legendary boxer, suggested that they visit a ‘lovely place’ where he had stayed recently – Olympia Beach Inn. Mother and Dad came to the Island Inn, and loved it! They bought property in 1932 and built ‘Artemis’ a large Fatio-designed estate – in 1933.
Their escape didn’t last long, Grandmother and Grandfather Pryor arrived within one year, and Grandmother Reed followed five years later!
Grandmother Reed was appalled that Martin County did not have a hospital and joined forces with her son, my father, and Mr. Barstow to give the original hospital building open to all races – a rarity in those days of Jim Crow.
When Olympia collapsed, a new group called the Hobe Sound Company was formed by island residents, and purchased the Olympia assets in 1933. Father was the Vice-President of the group. Within just a few years, my Father bought out virtually all the shareholders and assumed control of the Hobe Sound Company.
My father was fortunate when he purchased the bankrupted Olympia Company holdings in many ways that are explained in the book. First and most importantly Jupiter Island, even as late as 1933, was largely undeveloped. The original Spanish land grant had included the entire island (4,000 acres), plus another 8,000 on the mainland in Hobe Sound. The Spanish grant had effectively prohibited piecemeal settlement such as homesteading. Quite remarkably for that late in time, Father acquired a relatively clean slate, but one with notable basic, quality, infrastructure already in place. In contrast, for example, Palm Beach had already been carved up into a myriad of small pieces by the time Henry Flagler’s railroad arrived in 1894. Flagler actually bought an existing estate for his hotel.
My book takes its title “A Different Vision” from my perception of my Father’s vision of how to develop Jupiter Island was indeed different – far different – than that associated with virtually all coastal developments from the Carolina's to Florida. From the beginning he wanted something quite different – something developed specifically to blend with its natural surroundings, to be relaxed and serene. The hallmark of his vision was patience – it wasn’t about a quick profit, but rather a quiet lasting family-oriented community.
My father’s ability to create a vision of what he wished Jupiter Island to become was perfectly complimented by mother’s consummate ability as a manager, fearless leader, and extraordinary mother are all important highlights of my book. As the book recounts, and I’m sure a few of you have heard, my Mother was indeed a “Hands On” manager. Attention to detail was paramount! Father had the long-term view; Mother tracked it literally by day if not by hour. They were life partners, and the vision was a joint life effort. There are many stories some true, some perhaps not. Absolutely true was that manners mattered. Rudeness by a guest at the Inn - to either residents or staff - was wholly unacceptable. If you didn’t believe it at the time, you learned if you attempted to return a following season and found “No Room”.
The book includes anecdotes of Mother’s tenure as President of the Hobe Sound Company – I will touch on only two from the book:
You will learn the real story behind the ‘black sweater’.
The Club Spa: Mother wasn’t infallible. She once decided that the Club needed a health spa facility. She wished to examine several for ideas she might incorporate. She arranged and the Club Manager, following an annual Board meeting in New York, set out to visit several in the city, using a list mother had taken from the phone book – under the title of “Massage Parlors”. After the third stop she realized what that term meant in New York – each Madam viewed Mother as interested in opening a similar ‘business’. She quickly abandoned that search.
I had the extraordinary good fortune to spend almost six months each of my childhood years on Jupiter Island. Here I developed my passion for the environment – and fishing.
Following my schooling and military service, which are mentioned in brief chapters, I was invited to join my parents in managing the Jupiter Island Club and the Hobe Sound Company. The core of the book is my very personal history of the four plus decades I spent, first with my parents, and then as President of the Hobe Sound Company, in managing our efforts on Jupiter Island and Hobe Sound, as well as in developing the Hobe Sound Water Company.
A key part of Jupiter Island’s history is the unique efforts to protect green space as part of the community. It’s a very long chapter in the book, but an important one. The legacy of the Reed Wilderness Sanctuary, Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and the Nature Conservancy’s Blowing Rocks Preserve are perhaps unmatched in Florida. Father gave away almost half of all the lands the Hobe Sound Company owned; not only for green space, but also for churches, ball fields, and other public works. The residents of Jupiter Island have carried on that vision in a variety of ways. The Hobe Sound Community Chest distributes $1 million per year to a myriad of needs. This is a legacy for future generations I’m very proud of.
The book also includes many short biographical sketches of a number of community members, both island and mainland - as well as several businesses - who I felt should be recognized for their contributions in making my father’s vision, a reality. My only regret is those that I missed.
With the sale of the Jupiter Island Club to the club members, and the sale of the Hobe Sound Water Company to the Town of Jupiter Island, the era of the Hobe Sound Company and the Reed family management of Jupiter Island ended.
I admit that the book is long (400 pages) and perhaps too heavy and, Sandy Thurlow was correct, an index would have been helpful. But my book is the only detailed history ever compiled of a truly remarkable era in our county’s fascinating history, and hopefully worth the length and weight.
My writing is unique to me and perhaps could have been improved by a talented editor, but I did not want to lose my words, thoughts and personal memories to an editor’s red pen.
I owe my wife and three children boundless thanks for putting up with me during the stressful period that apparently all authors go through: lack of good humor, writing: correcting, and countless rewritings often in the middle of the night.
We made it, thanks to my loving family and especially my wife Alita!
I thank Scott Baratta, Board Chairman, and the management of the Elliott Museum to have had the honor of being the last speaker in this historic building - which I first visited as a teenager. I look forward to returning to see your new facility.
I want to present another book to James McCormick who has managed the House of Refuge and has been interim manager of the Elliott waiting for the day a permanent director is appointed. And of course to Scott Baratta, the Board Chairman for overseeing this monumental undertaking.
I thank the Kiplinger family for their interest in the present and future not only of the museum but for their love of Martin County. I look forward to reviewing and hopefully supporting their just announced development plans within the urban boundaries of Martin County.
Martin County has been blessed by two families that have had long term commitments to the well-being of our beloved county, a unique place, quite different from the hideous sprawl and over development of so much of Florida.
I will leave the subject of my book for a moment. I have been asked to comment briefly on the present political situation in Tallahassee.
A great man, a keen observer of governors and legislatures commented to me that the worst of the state’s developers have waited 35 years for the opportunity for a governor who has no conception of what makes Florida special—its natural precious resources and who within weeks has destroyed the finest land planning effort started by then Governor Bob Graham that brought order to the mad desire of county and city officials to accept any development plan that would encourage growth.
Further, my mentor stated that this was the worst legislature that Florida has elected, even worst during the long period of the “Pork Chop Gang” who ran this state until term limits and federal rulings required reapportionment. The developers are going to have a field day at the expense of our citizens. Returning wetlands and land use decisions to the counties and cities will bring back a period of inevitable corruption and lack of any expert and concerned oversight.
Crippling the water management districts, one of the many highlights of Governor Askew’s administration, a model for the rest of the country, will backfire and lead to the loss of federal funding of everglades restoration, local flood control and will give the most powerful body, the agricultural kingpins, the green light to continue to pollute our lakes, rivers, estuaries and the everglades.
The great land acquisition program initiated by Governor Martinez which has saved over 2.3 million acres of the best of what’s left of Florida’s wilderness is being dumped, just when land prices offer unequaled opportunities.
We are watching the clock turned back 50 years.
I can only hope and pray that the federal judges supervising two very important legal cases may force the state to take action to control pollution of the everglades and even take control over the inept direction of DEP that is following the governor’s unwritten instructions: “Get out of the way!”
We will need a revival of environmental concerns. We will need to form alliances that marked the era of ‘70’s. We will need to elect caring members to the legislature, not rubber stamp pro-growthers. We have work that needs to be done, including the elections in Martin County.
As I conclude my remarks, let me restate - thank you - thank you for caring enough to come out tonight to learn about my book, A Different Vision, and enjoy each others company. I am indebted to the Museum staff and directors for being the final speaker in this historic building and look forward to attending the opening of the new building.
I also can’t close without expressing my admiration, and respect, for Sandy Thurlow. I struggled for three years to write one book, largely from historical records held only by my family. Sandy has completed three superb histories of Martin County communities, far more encompassing than mine. I now realize just what an accomplishment that is!
Ladies and gentleman, again, thank you for coming, listening and joining me and this distinguished group of caring citizens.
The Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge, Stuart, Florida
April 11, 2011
It is with a sense of sincere gratitude that you have come together to learn about my book: A Different Vision, a history of Jupiter Island, the Hobe Sound Company and the Jupiter Island Club.
Jupiter Island is indeed unique, as my history describes.
One account of it – found in court challenging the ownership of Jupiter Island reads thusly:
A contending witness rose and addressed the claims court with the following question: “How did the United States take possession of this land from Spain and what right did Spain have to it in the first place?”
The court examiner replied with an old tome on land titles and read to the court: “The United States acquired this land from Spain by treaty in 1820. Spain acquired procession of this land by virtue of the fact that Christopher Columbus in 1492 discovered and claimed it for Spain. Columbus got his authority for making his voyage and discovery from Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella got their authority for sponsoring the voyage from the Pope of Rome. The Pope of Rome got his authority by virtue of the fact that he said he was the Vicar of Christ on Earth. Christ got His authority by the fact He was the son of God, and God created the Earth.
Such is the pedigree of Jupiter Island!”
When I finally decided to write a history of Jupiter Island, Frank Lund, a true life friend of mine, shared with me his extensive historical research of Jupiter Island going back into the 19th century. Frank has pursued the earliest histories of the island, including the three failed attempts to develop Jupiter Island which occurred before the Reed family arrived on Jupiter Island in 1931. Much of what my parents found here helped shape their vision and decisions, and so with Frank’s help, I’ve included some description of the Indian River Association, a group of Englishmen who set out to build a truly first-class resort – only to collapse when overwhelmed by World War I. Their legacy includes the first bridge to the island, most roads and lot plats, and most significantly, the building we now call the Main Club. Their successor was the Olympia Improvement Corporation; they bought out the Englishmen to build a resort to “compliment, but not compete with” Palm Beach. Their investors were primarily Palm Beachers. Olympia rode the wave of the Roaring 20’s development boom in Florida – and crashed just like everyone else. But they too left behind infrastructure still found today; including a revised 9-hole golf course which is basically the remains of front nine of today’s 18-hole course.
Ironically, the Reed family’s arrival on Jupiter Island was somewhat due to Olympia. My relatively recently married mother wanted to escape from visiting her family’s winter home in Winter Park. Gene Tunney, a great family friend, the legendary boxer, suggested that they visit a ‘lovely place’ where he had stayed recently – Olympia Beach Inn. Mother and Dad came to the Island Inn, and loved it! They bought property in 1932 and built ‘Artemis’ a large Fatio-designed estate – in 1933.
Their escape didn’t last long, Grandmother and Grandfather Pryor arrived within one year, and Grandmother Reed followed five years later!
Grandmother Reed was appalled that Martin County did not have a hospital and joined forces with her son, my father, and Mr. Barstow to give the original hospital building open to all races – a rarity in those days of Jim Crow.
When Olympia collapsed, a new group called the Hobe Sound Company was formed by island residents, and purchased the Olympia assets in 1933. Father was the Vice-President of the group. Within just a few years, my Father bought out virtually all the shareholders and assumed control of the Hobe Sound Company.
My father was fortunate when he purchased the bankrupted Olympia Company holdings in many ways that are explained in the book. First and most importantly Jupiter Island, even as late as 1933, was largely undeveloped. The original Spanish land grant had included the entire island (4,000 acres), plus another 8,000 on the mainland in Hobe Sound. The Spanish grant had effectively prohibited piecemeal settlement such as homesteading. Quite remarkably for that late in time, Father acquired a relatively clean slate, but one with notable basic, quality, infrastructure already in place. In contrast, for example, Palm Beach had already been carved up into a myriad of small pieces by the time Henry Flagler’s railroad arrived in 1894. Flagler actually bought an existing estate for his hotel.
My book takes its title “A Different Vision” from my perception of my Father’s vision of how to develop Jupiter Island was indeed different – far different – than that associated with virtually all coastal developments from the Carolina's to Florida. From the beginning he wanted something quite different – something developed specifically to blend with its natural surroundings, to be relaxed and serene. The hallmark of his vision was patience – it wasn’t about a quick profit, but rather a quiet lasting family-oriented community.
My father’s ability to create a vision of what he wished Jupiter Island to become was perfectly complimented by mother’s consummate ability as a manager, fearless leader, and extraordinary mother are all important highlights of my book. As the book recounts, and I’m sure a few of you have heard, my Mother was indeed a “Hands On” manager. Attention to detail was paramount! Father had the long-term view; Mother tracked it literally by day if not by hour. They were life partners, and the vision was a joint life effort. There are many stories some true, some perhaps not. Absolutely true was that manners mattered. Rudeness by a guest at the Inn - to either residents or staff - was wholly unacceptable. If you didn’t believe it at the time, you learned if you attempted to return a following season and found “No Room”.
The book includes anecdotes of Mother’s tenure as President of the Hobe Sound Company – I will touch on only two from the book:
You will learn the real story behind the ‘black sweater’.
The Club Spa: Mother wasn’t infallible. She once decided that the Club needed a health spa facility. She wished to examine several for ideas she might incorporate. She arranged and the Club Manager, following an annual Board meeting in New York, set out to visit several in the city, using a list mother had taken from the phone book – under the title of “Massage Parlors”. After the third stop she realized what that term meant in New York – each Madam viewed Mother as interested in opening a similar ‘business’. She quickly abandoned that search.
I had the extraordinary good fortune to spend almost six months each of my childhood years on Jupiter Island. Here I developed my passion for the environment – and fishing.
Following my schooling and military service, which are mentioned in brief chapters, I was invited to join my parents in managing the Jupiter Island Club and the Hobe Sound Company. The core of the book is my very personal history of the four plus decades I spent, first with my parents, and then as President of the Hobe Sound Company, in managing our efforts on Jupiter Island and Hobe Sound, as well as in developing the Hobe Sound Water Company.
A key part of Jupiter Island’s history is the unique efforts to protect green space as part of the community. It’s a very long chapter in the book, but an important one. The legacy of the Reed Wilderness Sanctuary, Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and the Nature Conservancy’s Blowing Rocks Preserve are perhaps unmatched in Florida. Father gave away almost half of all the lands the Hobe Sound Company owned; not only for green space, but also for churches, ball fields, and other public works. The residents of Jupiter Island have carried on that vision in a variety of ways. The Hobe Sound Community Chest distributes $1 million per year to a myriad of needs. This is a legacy for future generations I’m very proud of.
The book also includes many short biographical sketches of a number of community members, both island and mainland - as well as several businesses - who I felt should be recognized for their contributions in making my father’s vision, a reality. My only regret is those that I missed.
With the sale of the Jupiter Island Club to the club members, and the sale of the Hobe Sound Water Company to the Town of Jupiter Island, the era of the Hobe Sound Company and the Reed family management of Jupiter Island ended.
I admit that the book is long (400 pages) and perhaps too heavy and, Sandy Thurlow was correct, an index would have been helpful. But my book is the only detailed history ever compiled of a truly remarkable era in our county’s fascinating history, and hopefully worth the length and weight.
My writing is unique to me and perhaps could have been improved by a talented editor, but I did not want to lose my words, thoughts and personal memories to an editor’s red pen.
I owe my wife and three children boundless thanks for putting up with me during the stressful period that apparently all authors go through: lack of good humor, writing: correcting, and countless rewritings often in the middle of the night.
We made it, thanks to my loving family and especially my wife Alita!
I thank Scott Baratta, Board Chairman, and the management of the Elliott Museum to have had the honor of being the last speaker in this historic building - which I first visited as a teenager. I look forward to returning to see your new facility.
I want to present another book to James McCormick who has managed the House of Refuge and has been interim manager of the Elliott waiting for the day a permanent director is appointed. And of course to Scott Baratta, the Board Chairman for overseeing this monumental undertaking.
I thank the Kiplinger family for their interest in the present and future not only of the museum but for their love of Martin County. I look forward to reviewing and hopefully supporting their just announced development plans within the urban boundaries of Martin County.
Martin County has been blessed by two families that have had long term commitments to the well-being of our beloved county, a unique place, quite different from the hideous sprawl and over development of so much of Florida.
I will leave the subject of my book for a moment. I have been asked to comment briefly on the present political situation in Tallahassee.
A great man, a keen observer of governors and legislatures commented to me that the worst of the state’s developers have waited 35 years for the opportunity for a governor who has no conception of what makes Florida special—its natural precious resources and who within weeks has destroyed the finest land planning effort started by then Governor Bob Graham that brought order to the mad desire of county and city officials to accept any development plan that would encourage growth.
Further, my mentor stated that this was the worst legislature that Florida has elected, even worst during the long period of the “Pork Chop Gang” who ran this state until term limits and federal rulings required reapportionment. The developers are going to have a field day at the expense of our citizens. Returning wetlands and land use decisions to the counties and cities will bring back a period of inevitable corruption and lack of any expert and concerned oversight.
Crippling the water management districts, one of the many highlights of Governor Askew’s administration, a model for the rest of the country, will backfire and lead to the loss of federal funding of everglades restoration, local flood control and will give the most powerful body, the agricultural kingpins, the green light to continue to pollute our lakes, rivers, estuaries and the everglades.
The great land acquisition program initiated by Governor Martinez which has saved over 2.3 million acres of the best of what’s left of Florida’s wilderness is being dumped, just when land prices offer unequaled opportunities.
We are watching the clock turned back 50 years.
I can only hope and pray that the federal judges supervising two very important legal cases may force the state to take action to control pollution of the everglades and even take control over the inept direction of DEP that is following the governor’s unwritten instructions: “Get out of the way!”
We will need a revival of environmental concerns. We will need to form alliances that marked the era of ‘70’s. We will need to elect caring members to the legislature, not rubber stamp pro-growthers. We have work that needs to be done, including the elections in Martin County.
As I conclude my remarks, let me restate - thank you - thank you for caring enough to come out tonight to learn about my book, A Different Vision, and enjoy each others company. I am indebted to the Museum staff and directors for being the final speaker in this historic building and look forward to attending the opening of the new building.
I also can’t close without expressing my admiration, and respect, for Sandy Thurlow. I struggled for three years to write one book, largely from historical records held only by my family. Sandy has completed three superb histories of Martin County communities, far more encompassing than mine. I now realize just what an accomplishment that is!
Ladies and gentleman, again, thank you for coming, listening and joining me and this distinguished group of caring citizens.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
“A Different Vision” by Nathaniel Reed
**SOLD OUT**
"A Different Vision"
A History of Jupiter Island and the Creation
"A Different Vision"
A History of Jupiter Island and the Creation
of the
Hobe Sound Company and the Jupiter Island Club
by Joseph and Permelia Reed.
Reed Publishing Company LLC
11844 SE Dixie Hwy. #C
Hobe Sound, FL 33455
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Garden Club of America-Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor Medal Acceptance Speech
Nathaniel P. Reed on May 15, 2010 in East Brunswick, New Jersey
Mrs. Harris George: President of the Garden Club of America, Mrs. Gongaware, Members of the Awards Committee, Distinguished Members of the host Zone 4 Clubs and my sponsors and supporters, members of this distinguished club of clubs.
My grandchildren are at the stage were ‘awesome’ is a common expression. I echo that word – that expression of awe combined with delight as I stand before you. The citation and the Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor Medal are breathtaking.
I am rarely ‘overwhelmed’ and as I am at a stage in life’s mysterious journey where accolades usually mean that one is finished with their work and that they have accomplished some goal. In my case, although the last chapter’s pages may be turning, I feel energized with multiple projects that fascinate me and are worthy of long days of sometime tiresome work. The Everglades Restoration effort alone is a monumental task, as great an effort as building the Panama Canal. Progress has been slow, but now, suddenly, with extraordinary vigor the federal and state agencies are working as one and great progress is being made. I have never been more excited or energized. Yes, there will be stumbles but if the project is funded, we will live to see a revitalized everglades ecosystem.
I am the most fortunate of a cadre of environmental leaders who worked during a period where the administration and the Congress agreed on a multitude of laws that literally changed America and gave the rest of the world ethical targets to attempt to achieve.
The Clean Water, Clean Air Acts alone where monumental achievements, but add to that list the national forest acts, the land management acts, the great expansion of the system of national parks and national refuges in Alaska, think of it 95 plus million acres forever protected. Let’s not forget the all important National Environmental Policy Act or the Marine Mammal Act! There were many decisions that have shaped our national environmental foundation representing eight magnificent years of progress.
We added thousands of acres of wetlands for waterfowl production areas and thousands more for wintering grounds. The numbers of birds, far beyond waterfowl that utilize these areas are countless.
Working with one of the greatest groups of women and men ever assembled by an administration, we secured presidential executive orders banning the use of the terrible poison, 1080, that was designed to kill coyotes, whether or not any of them had ever killed a sheep. 1080 indiscriminately killed thousands of non target animals and nearly decimated the western Bald and Golden eagle populations. We worked collectively to obtain a ban of the use of DDT just in time to stop the doomsday prognostications of eggs shell thinning so brilliantly explained by Rachel Carlson.
Perhaps the most lasting, the most important legislation that passed with hardly a whimper was the Endangered Species Act. Dr. E.O. Wilson and many others of our nation’s most prominent ecologists have declared the Act the most important environmental action of the 20th century. The hours spent negotiating and word-smithing every word, every sentence and every paragraph was worth the toil. We ended up, those of us that had a hand in its creation, as a Band of Brothers.
We shared Teddy Roosevelt’s strongest belief that ‘humans should never take more from the earth than they put back’.
The most amazing part of these historic, far reaching efforts was the incredible era where Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate could disagree, often vehemently, but always with a sense of responsibility and admiration for the other members’ points of view. Yes, there were compromises, now a seemingly detested word that allowed these sweeping changes for a new more responsible American environmental ethic.
I am the beneficiary of that period because except for a very few individuals in Congress, whose attitudes were Neanderthal, we worked together in surprising harmony. Members listened to each other, cared about each other and worked collectively with each other and those of us who managed the key environmental agencies.
I pray that after this current period of constant controversy another era will begin that brings educated and well meaning men and women together in our legislative halls to work for the betterment of our beloved country.
Working with Secretary Salazar and his staff gives me great hope that his leadership can bridge the great divides that are now common in the halls of our Capitol.
The Garden Club of America has championed the vast majority of the objectives that are the foundation of our country’s environmental ethic. Each of you and your predecessors are partners in cultivating a lasting vision of an America that we can be jointly proud of.
That vision, those goals must never be lost and should be a driving force behind you: you, who are an extraordinary membership of caring, resourceful, knowledgeable, energized and caring individuals working together to improve the quality of life for our fellow citizens.
I reiterate: I am honored by this prestigious award and promise you that I will attempt to continue that great observation from Gone with the Wind: “What better way can an old man die than doing a young man’s work.”
Mrs. Harris George: President of the Garden Club of America, Mrs. Gongaware, Members of the Awards Committee, Distinguished Members of the host Zone 4 Clubs and my sponsors and supporters, members of this distinguished club of clubs.
My grandchildren are at the stage were ‘awesome’ is a common expression. I echo that word – that expression of awe combined with delight as I stand before you. The citation and the Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor Medal are breathtaking.
I am rarely ‘overwhelmed’ and as I am at a stage in life’s mysterious journey where accolades usually mean that one is finished with their work and that they have accomplished some goal. In my case, although the last chapter’s pages may be turning, I feel energized with multiple projects that fascinate me and are worthy of long days of sometime tiresome work. The Everglades Restoration effort alone is a monumental task, as great an effort as building the Panama Canal. Progress has been slow, but now, suddenly, with extraordinary vigor the federal and state agencies are working as one and great progress is being made. I have never been more excited or energized. Yes, there will be stumbles but if the project is funded, we will live to see a revitalized everglades ecosystem.
I am the most fortunate of a cadre of environmental leaders who worked during a period where the administration and the Congress agreed on a multitude of laws that literally changed America and gave the rest of the world ethical targets to attempt to achieve.
The Clean Water, Clean Air Acts alone where monumental achievements, but add to that list the national forest acts, the land management acts, the great expansion of the system of national parks and national refuges in Alaska, think of it 95 plus million acres forever protected. Let’s not forget the all important National Environmental Policy Act or the Marine Mammal Act! There were many decisions that have shaped our national environmental foundation representing eight magnificent years of progress.
We added thousands of acres of wetlands for waterfowl production areas and thousands more for wintering grounds. The numbers of birds, far beyond waterfowl that utilize these areas are countless.
Working with one of the greatest groups of women and men ever assembled by an administration, we secured presidential executive orders banning the use of the terrible poison, 1080, that was designed to kill coyotes, whether or not any of them had ever killed a sheep. 1080 indiscriminately killed thousands of non target animals and nearly decimated the western Bald and Golden eagle populations. We worked collectively to obtain a ban of the use of DDT just in time to stop the doomsday prognostications of eggs shell thinning so brilliantly explained by Rachel Carlson.
Perhaps the most lasting, the most important legislation that passed with hardly a whimper was the Endangered Species Act. Dr. E.O. Wilson and many others of our nation’s most prominent ecologists have declared the Act the most important environmental action of the 20th century. The hours spent negotiating and word-smithing every word, every sentence and every paragraph was worth the toil. We ended up, those of us that had a hand in its creation, as a Band of Brothers.
We shared Teddy Roosevelt’s strongest belief that ‘humans should never take more from the earth than they put back’.
The most amazing part of these historic, far reaching efforts was the incredible era where Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate could disagree, often vehemently, but always with a sense of responsibility and admiration for the other members’ points of view. Yes, there were compromises, now a seemingly detested word that allowed these sweeping changes for a new more responsible American environmental ethic.
I am the beneficiary of that period because except for a very few individuals in Congress, whose attitudes were Neanderthal, we worked together in surprising harmony. Members listened to each other, cared about each other and worked collectively with each other and those of us who managed the key environmental agencies.
I pray that after this current period of constant controversy another era will begin that brings educated and well meaning men and women together in our legislative halls to work for the betterment of our beloved country.
Working with Secretary Salazar and his staff gives me great hope that his leadership can bridge the great divides that are now common in the halls of our Capitol.
The Garden Club of America has championed the vast majority of the objectives that are the foundation of our country’s environmental ethic. Each of you and your predecessors are partners in cultivating a lasting vision of an America that we can be jointly proud of.
That vision, those goals must never be lost and should be a driving force behind you: you, who are an extraordinary membership of caring, resourceful, knowledgeable, energized and caring individuals working together to improve the quality of life for our fellow citizens.
I reiterate: I am honored by this prestigious award and promise you that I will attempt to continue that great observation from Gone with the Wind: “What better way can an old man die than doing a young man’s work.”
An Overview of the Development of America's Environmental Foundation
by Nathaniel Reed before Trinity College on June 12, 2010
The Environmental Era Begins
Public indignation over years of the discharges of untreated sewage and industrial chemicals threatens rivers, lakes and oceans come to a head. There are a minimum of 68 major initiatives that the Congress examined and resolved in the next 20 years. I cannot take time to examine the 68 major initiatives that were confronted and most passed into law to be managed by either the states or federal governmental agencies.
The short list of the most important issues is 37 - an overwhelming number to discuss today. I cut the number to 20 and last night cut it down to ten - probably too small a number to explain the genuine concerns expressed by the American people over the issues that impacted their health, the quality of their lives and the well being of our national lands.
I am prepared to discuss all 68 major initiatives that led to the creation of the American Environmental Foundation, but I have selected four to give you the breathe of the concerns that were addressed during this 20 years period and a chance to grasp the importance of these efforts.
Water Pollution
In 1960 the nation's first Clean Water Act passed. Progress was depressing by slowly leading to the 1963 Clean Air and Water Act an effort championed by Senator Muskie.
Due to continued water pollution, public health issues became a major national issue.
In 1965 Congress was dissatisfied by lack of progress and passed yet another Water Quality Act with a major grant program destined to cut down on raw sewage discharges nationwide.
In 1969 the Cuyahoga River bursts into flames - five stories high - from chemical and oil pollution.
In 1972 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Act over President Nixon's veto. His concerns were federal costs and federal authority over admittedly fathering state programs.
In 1980 President Carter announces relocation of 700 families from the Love Canal area which leads to the passage of the Superfund. The program was torpedoed by President Regan and his successors. Only 84 of 1,245 sites have been cleaned up.
With the notable exception of the Superfund, our nation's waterways, lakes and estuaries are much cleaner than they were in 1960. It is time for another giant step forward which will require both state and federal funding. This is a major problem, as both state and the federal budgets are in serious imbalance.
Major Federal Programs
In 1969 the sweeping program named the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the creation of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) forced all federal agencies to review their proposed plans and expose the environmental consequences of the selected action. Failure to adequately publicly admit to adverse environmental consequences led to decades of litigation, and many of the legal actions led to cancellation of proposed actions. In my case the primary targets were the Corps of Army Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Forest Service, DOT and even the military.
Provisions within the Clean Water Act and NEPA as the National Environmental Policy Act were known, became tools for those of us who wanted to stop the annals of 'Pork Barrel' congressionally authorized projects that sat on the books awaiting a congressional appropriation. I had nothing to lose so our team took on projects across the country with vigor and enthusiasm endearing us to the budget masters at the Office of Management and Budget, but gaining the enmity of the congressional sponsors who decided we were ‘undermining’ an ancient system of ‘get along and then get your reward’.
Russell Train, who had began his career in the Nixon Administration as Undersecretary of the Department of Interior for Wally Hickel the embattled former Governor of Alaska, became the champion of the federal government's environmental movement. Russ carefully selected a highly qualified staff and began to make major decisions that crossed agencies boundaries.
Collectively we came together and discovered willing or knowingly that the Nixon Administration had attracted some of the brightest, most talented federal appointees ever assembled. Russ became the quarterback. He was not without critics who thought that ‘environmental progress’ was occurring with lightening speed and without congressional approval. Russ, the great gentleman, could stand up to the harshest critic and deflect their outrageous assertions with ease.
Working with Russ and his staff was a rare pleasure.
I urged my staff to challenge Corps, Bureau of Reclamation and even the Soil Conservation Agency plans to dredge, dig and dam wherever across the country.
We finished off the Merrimack Dam in Missouri over the screams of then Governor Kit Bond. I briefed then Governor Reagan on why the proposed Sacramento Dam designed to be built on a major fault line; if it failed it would wipe out the Capitol. He considered that report and retorted: “Not a bad idea as long as I am at my ranch!” We challenged successfully major projects coast to coast.
We failed to stop the final Corps plans to dam the Colombia and the Snake River forever imperiling the greatest native salmon and steelhead runs in the world.
I threw caution to the wind in opposing the construction of the earthen Teton Dam that made the glorious Teton River another reservoir. I thought I conclusively proved that the material to build the dam and its location would stop its construction. When it collapsed, thankfully without killing humans, I could not rejoice at the utter foolishness of the senior senator from Idaho insisting that the Teton Dam be built as ‘payment for his consistent support of the Vietnam War’.
The construction of the Tellico Dam that buried the last remaining free running stretch of the Little Tennessee River was a loss that I will never forget. It was the infamous snail darter, one of the first on the list of ‘endangered species’ that held the dam up until the little fish was discovered living in tributaries where the dam and huge reservoir would not endanger the little fish. It was a foolish project with no redeeming features.
The National Environmental Policy Act managed by a skilled administrator with the support from the White House can be one of the most progressive environmental initiatives of the 20th century. It can flounder depending on the level of presidential support and the qualities of the appointees.
The Creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
In 1970 the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency became law.
EPA brought together key federal programs including health, education and welfare - national air pollution, administration, and the inept Department of Interior's Water Quality Administration.
Headed by Bill Ruckelshaus, one of the most talented and ethical members of the Nixon appointees, he fought with assistance from me at Interior and Train at CEQ to defeat constant efforts by Big Ag, the Chamber of Commerce's and every major industry, including Big Oil to enforce both air and water laws. EPA was the answer to my personal prayers, as the failure to enforce the national clean water acts had dramatic adverse impacts on our nation's wildlife resources.
Its successes and failures depended on congressional appropriations and the appointment of a committed administrator and the regional directors.
It is worth mentioning the single greatest source of pollution today is no longer municipal sewage or industrial waste, but the non point discharges from our city streets after heavy rainfall events and the constant runoff of nutrients, pesticides, herbicides and a host of other agricultural chemicals. Our nation's waterways, its bays and estuaries are gravely impacted by failure of the federal and state governments to enforce new standards, enforceable standards, to prevent the continuing pollution of areas like the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, the Sacramento Delta, Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades. This is one last great hurdle to climb to make the clean water a reality.
Like it sister agencies, the congressional budget and the qualities of the appointees make or break the great promise that this key agency can have in the vital ‘quality of life issues’ that confront the American people.
Wildlife
In 1973 eighty nations signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) the ‘Magna Carta' for wildlife’.
During the lengthy debates at the United State's State Department, I was notified that a shipment of endangered species killed by poachers in Central and South America had been discovered being shipped through Kennedy Airport. I spoke to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife enforcement team at the airport and decided to fly up immediately. I informed Russ Train who headed the U.S. delegation to the convention that I might have a ‘bombshell’ for him to announce the next day if indeed the shipment contained the thousands of pelts and skins of animals that were described to me by the service's agents.
I caught the shuttle and was driven to Kennedy by agents who were dumbfounded by the size of the cache.
Shipping documents indicated that the dreadful booty was to be transshipped to tanneries in Japan and Italy.
While I was examining the collection, Hugh Downs called and inquired whether I would allow a television team to put us on the early segment of the Early Morning Show. I answered: “Hugh, you may pass the CITES Convention by showing the size and scope of the illegal wildlife trade!”
A team from the show arrived and artfully decorated a room filled with pelts of jaguars, ocelots and other jungle cats, alligator pelts, snake skins and feathers of rare birds: a cornucopia of wildlife illegally killed.
Late in the evening, the crew announced that Barbara Walters had insisted on appearing and wanted a ‘script’ prepared as to what she could show as an ‘expert’. Hurriedly, the agents and I prepared a script. I slept in a nearby motel and was at the scene at 5AM. The 7AM segment was the most watched early morning television show on any network. At 6AM Barbara arrived in a limousine with a makeup artist and a hair dresser. At 6:50AM, all power was lost. Barbara had a ‘fit’. Hugh and I were really disappointed when the television manager stated that it might take hours to uncover the cause of the blackout. With that announcement Barbara retired to her limousine and was rushed back to the studio. Miraculously, power was restored the moment her limousine pulled away and at 7:12AM, following the news, Hugh and I explained to the audience of millions that this was vitally important evidence for the need to pass the Convention. We wandered casually among the pelts, holding up jaguar skins, one of the most beautiful of all the world's great cats and handling river otter pelts destined to become women's winter coats.
We kept getting signals from the on-site director to ‘keep going’ and ended the segment as planned at 7:30AM.
Hugh and I were enjoying a much needed cup of coffee when the director rushed in and stated: “The phones at headquarters are ringing off the hooks. Hundreds of callers want more information. You two are on again in 8 minutes.” We went until 8AM reexamining the pelts and the skins. At 8AM while enjoying yet another cup of coffee, the director rushed up and said: “The phones are still ringing. You have to go for another 15 minutes.”
I flew back to Washington, glowing over the early morning's work. Early the next morning Alita and I had the Kenya delegation for breakfast to explore whether they really wanted to end all big game hunting in their country. I will never forget the sight of our three children sitting at the top of the staircase in pajamas and wrappers watching these wonderful men sitting at our dining room table debating the loss of wildlife revenue from big game hunting licenses versus changing their country over to big game viewing.
Russ made many allies and CITES is still the Magna Carta' of international wildlife protection.
The Endangered Species Act
I was involved in writing the Act with a team recruited by Russ Train. I was the administration's main witness before multiple congressional committees. Within a year after its passage I was stuck defending the habitat of the Desert Pupfish and the San Francisco Salt Marsh Mouse.
I refused Corps permits to fill the marshes within San Francisco Bay for a huge development eagerly sought by the Chase Manhattan Bank. One irate member of the Bay's congressional delegation screamed: “How can you equate the value of a mouse, admittedly a rare mouse, to a development that will employ thousands of workers?” I answered I was not in the business of making decisions that would send a life form that had existed long before man to the oblivion of extinction. Judeo-Christian ethics taught to me at my Alma Mater and the requirement to obey the law gave me no slack: I refused to extinguish one of God's creations and denied the Corps permit.
My five years in Tallahassee and five in Washington have been the highlights of a wonderful life.
I continue to work mostly in Florida on issues that impact the effort to restore the vast everglades ecosystem. It is a never ending battle: a worthy one, one worth winning.
I remain involved in land use issues - refusing to stand back from now 30 plus years involved in the creation of one of the nation's best crafted Land Use Policy Acts now under continuing assault from years of uncaring governors and the constant pressuring from the development community to maim the act.
For me, personal highlights:
1. The protection of Bald and Golden Eagles and the arrest of Herman Werner, a Wyoming mega rancher who had over 900 eagles killed and buried on his ranches.
2. The Ban of 1080 by Executive Order. 1080 was the single most potent, persistent poison ever developed by man. It was used to kill coyotes all across the west. It killed every critter that ate from the baited carcass and kept on killing as secondary poison and even much further down the food chain.
3. Banning DDT before it created Silent Spring.
4. Passage of Endangered Species Act.
5. The Alaska Land Act that preserved over 100 million acres of the best of Alaska forever in national parks, wildlife refuges and additions to the national forests.
These were triumphs of magnitude that required the dedication of the best staff ever assembled at Interior, EPA and CEQ. We were a band of brothers.
I am still working and loving every minute of it!
I can't help remind myself of that wonderful quote from Gone with the Wind: “What better way can an old man die than doing a young man's work.”
The Environmental Era Begins
Public indignation over years of the discharges of untreated sewage and industrial chemicals threatens rivers, lakes and oceans come to a head. There are a minimum of 68 major initiatives that the Congress examined and resolved in the next 20 years. I cannot take time to examine the 68 major initiatives that were confronted and most passed into law to be managed by either the states or federal governmental agencies.
The short list of the most important issues is 37 - an overwhelming number to discuss today. I cut the number to 20 and last night cut it down to ten - probably too small a number to explain the genuine concerns expressed by the American people over the issues that impacted their health, the quality of their lives and the well being of our national lands.
I am prepared to discuss all 68 major initiatives that led to the creation of the American Environmental Foundation, but I have selected four to give you the breathe of the concerns that were addressed during this 20 years period and a chance to grasp the importance of these efforts.
Water Pollution
In 1960 the nation's first Clean Water Act passed. Progress was depressing by slowly leading to the 1963 Clean Air and Water Act an effort championed by Senator Muskie.
Due to continued water pollution, public health issues became a major national issue.
In 1965 Congress was dissatisfied by lack of progress and passed yet another Water Quality Act with a major grant program destined to cut down on raw sewage discharges nationwide.
In 1969 the Cuyahoga River bursts into flames - five stories high - from chemical and oil pollution.
In 1972 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Act over President Nixon's veto. His concerns were federal costs and federal authority over admittedly fathering state programs.
In 1980 President Carter announces relocation of 700 families from the Love Canal area which leads to the passage of the Superfund. The program was torpedoed by President Regan and his successors. Only 84 of 1,245 sites have been cleaned up.
With the notable exception of the Superfund, our nation's waterways, lakes and estuaries are much cleaner than they were in 1960. It is time for another giant step forward which will require both state and federal funding. This is a major problem, as both state and the federal budgets are in serious imbalance.
Major Federal Programs
In 1969 the sweeping program named the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the creation of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) forced all federal agencies to review their proposed plans and expose the environmental consequences of the selected action. Failure to adequately publicly admit to adverse environmental consequences led to decades of litigation, and many of the legal actions led to cancellation of proposed actions. In my case the primary targets were the Corps of Army Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Forest Service, DOT and even the military.
Provisions within the Clean Water Act and NEPA as the National Environmental Policy Act were known, became tools for those of us who wanted to stop the annals of 'Pork Barrel' congressionally authorized projects that sat on the books awaiting a congressional appropriation. I had nothing to lose so our team took on projects across the country with vigor and enthusiasm endearing us to the budget masters at the Office of Management and Budget, but gaining the enmity of the congressional sponsors who decided we were ‘undermining’ an ancient system of ‘get along and then get your reward’.
Russell Train, who had began his career in the Nixon Administration as Undersecretary of the Department of Interior for Wally Hickel the embattled former Governor of Alaska, became the champion of the federal government's environmental movement. Russ carefully selected a highly qualified staff and began to make major decisions that crossed agencies boundaries.
Collectively we came together and discovered willing or knowingly that the Nixon Administration had attracted some of the brightest, most talented federal appointees ever assembled. Russ became the quarterback. He was not without critics who thought that ‘environmental progress’ was occurring with lightening speed and without congressional approval. Russ, the great gentleman, could stand up to the harshest critic and deflect their outrageous assertions with ease.
Working with Russ and his staff was a rare pleasure.
I urged my staff to challenge Corps, Bureau of Reclamation and even the Soil Conservation Agency plans to dredge, dig and dam wherever across the country.
We finished off the Merrimack Dam in Missouri over the screams of then Governor Kit Bond. I briefed then Governor Reagan on why the proposed Sacramento Dam designed to be built on a major fault line; if it failed it would wipe out the Capitol. He considered that report and retorted: “Not a bad idea as long as I am at my ranch!” We challenged successfully major projects coast to coast.
We failed to stop the final Corps plans to dam the Colombia and the Snake River forever imperiling the greatest native salmon and steelhead runs in the world.
I threw caution to the wind in opposing the construction of the earthen Teton Dam that made the glorious Teton River another reservoir. I thought I conclusively proved that the material to build the dam and its location would stop its construction. When it collapsed, thankfully without killing humans, I could not rejoice at the utter foolishness of the senior senator from Idaho insisting that the Teton Dam be built as ‘payment for his consistent support of the Vietnam War’.
The construction of the Tellico Dam that buried the last remaining free running stretch of the Little Tennessee River was a loss that I will never forget. It was the infamous snail darter, one of the first on the list of ‘endangered species’ that held the dam up until the little fish was discovered living in tributaries where the dam and huge reservoir would not endanger the little fish. It was a foolish project with no redeeming features.
The National Environmental Policy Act managed by a skilled administrator with the support from the White House can be one of the most progressive environmental initiatives of the 20th century. It can flounder depending on the level of presidential support and the qualities of the appointees.
The Creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
In 1970 the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency became law.
EPA brought together key federal programs including health, education and welfare - national air pollution, administration, and the inept Department of Interior's Water Quality Administration.
Headed by Bill Ruckelshaus, one of the most talented and ethical members of the Nixon appointees, he fought with assistance from me at Interior and Train at CEQ to defeat constant efforts by Big Ag, the Chamber of Commerce's and every major industry, including Big Oil to enforce both air and water laws. EPA was the answer to my personal prayers, as the failure to enforce the national clean water acts had dramatic adverse impacts on our nation's wildlife resources.
Its successes and failures depended on congressional appropriations and the appointment of a committed administrator and the regional directors.
It is worth mentioning the single greatest source of pollution today is no longer municipal sewage or industrial waste, but the non point discharges from our city streets after heavy rainfall events and the constant runoff of nutrients, pesticides, herbicides and a host of other agricultural chemicals. Our nation's waterways, its bays and estuaries are gravely impacted by failure of the federal and state governments to enforce new standards, enforceable standards, to prevent the continuing pollution of areas like the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, the Sacramento Delta, Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades. This is one last great hurdle to climb to make the clean water a reality.
Like it sister agencies, the congressional budget and the qualities of the appointees make or break the great promise that this key agency can have in the vital ‘quality of life issues’ that confront the American people.
Wildlife
In 1973 eighty nations signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) the ‘Magna Carta' for wildlife’.
During the lengthy debates at the United State's State Department, I was notified that a shipment of endangered species killed by poachers in Central and South America had been discovered being shipped through Kennedy Airport. I spoke to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife enforcement team at the airport and decided to fly up immediately. I informed Russ Train who headed the U.S. delegation to the convention that I might have a ‘bombshell’ for him to announce the next day if indeed the shipment contained the thousands of pelts and skins of animals that were described to me by the service's agents.
I caught the shuttle and was driven to Kennedy by agents who were dumbfounded by the size of the cache.
Shipping documents indicated that the dreadful booty was to be transshipped to tanneries in Japan and Italy.
While I was examining the collection, Hugh Downs called and inquired whether I would allow a television team to put us on the early segment of the Early Morning Show. I answered: “Hugh, you may pass the CITES Convention by showing the size and scope of the illegal wildlife trade!”
A team from the show arrived and artfully decorated a room filled with pelts of jaguars, ocelots and other jungle cats, alligator pelts, snake skins and feathers of rare birds: a cornucopia of wildlife illegally killed.
Late in the evening, the crew announced that Barbara Walters had insisted on appearing and wanted a ‘script’ prepared as to what she could show as an ‘expert’. Hurriedly, the agents and I prepared a script. I slept in a nearby motel and was at the scene at 5AM. The 7AM segment was the most watched early morning television show on any network. At 6AM Barbara arrived in a limousine with a makeup artist and a hair dresser. At 6:50AM, all power was lost. Barbara had a ‘fit’. Hugh and I were really disappointed when the television manager stated that it might take hours to uncover the cause of the blackout. With that announcement Barbara retired to her limousine and was rushed back to the studio. Miraculously, power was restored the moment her limousine pulled away and at 7:12AM, following the news, Hugh and I explained to the audience of millions that this was vitally important evidence for the need to pass the Convention. We wandered casually among the pelts, holding up jaguar skins, one of the most beautiful of all the world's great cats and handling river otter pelts destined to become women's winter coats.
We kept getting signals from the on-site director to ‘keep going’ and ended the segment as planned at 7:30AM.
Hugh and I were enjoying a much needed cup of coffee when the director rushed in and stated: “The phones at headquarters are ringing off the hooks. Hundreds of callers want more information. You two are on again in 8 minutes.” We went until 8AM reexamining the pelts and the skins. At 8AM while enjoying yet another cup of coffee, the director rushed up and said: “The phones are still ringing. You have to go for another 15 minutes.”
I flew back to Washington, glowing over the early morning's work. Early the next morning Alita and I had the Kenya delegation for breakfast to explore whether they really wanted to end all big game hunting in their country. I will never forget the sight of our three children sitting at the top of the staircase in pajamas and wrappers watching these wonderful men sitting at our dining room table debating the loss of wildlife revenue from big game hunting licenses versus changing their country over to big game viewing.
Russ made many allies and CITES is still the Magna Carta' of international wildlife protection.
The Endangered Species Act
I was involved in writing the Act with a team recruited by Russ Train. I was the administration's main witness before multiple congressional committees. Within a year after its passage I was stuck defending the habitat of the Desert Pupfish and the San Francisco Salt Marsh Mouse.
I refused Corps permits to fill the marshes within San Francisco Bay for a huge development eagerly sought by the Chase Manhattan Bank. One irate member of the Bay's congressional delegation screamed: “How can you equate the value of a mouse, admittedly a rare mouse, to a development that will employ thousands of workers?” I answered I was not in the business of making decisions that would send a life form that had existed long before man to the oblivion of extinction. Judeo-Christian ethics taught to me at my Alma Mater and the requirement to obey the law gave me no slack: I refused to extinguish one of God's creations and denied the Corps permit.
My five years in Tallahassee and five in Washington have been the highlights of a wonderful life.
I continue to work mostly in Florida on issues that impact the effort to restore the vast everglades ecosystem. It is a never ending battle: a worthy one, one worth winning.
I remain involved in land use issues - refusing to stand back from now 30 plus years involved in the creation of one of the nation's best crafted Land Use Policy Acts now under continuing assault from years of uncaring governors and the constant pressuring from the development community to maim the act.
For me, personal highlights:
1. The protection of Bald and Golden Eagles and the arrest of Herman Werner, a Wyoming mega rancher who had over 900 eagles killed and buried on his ranches.
2. The Ban of 1080 by Executive Order. 1080 was the single most potent, persistent poison ever developed by man. It was used to kill coyotes all across the west. It killed every critter that ate from the baited carcass and kept on killing as secondary poison and even much further down the food chain.
3. Banning DDT before it created Silent Spring.
4. Passage of Endangered Species Act.
5. The Alaska Land Act that preserved over 100 million acres of the best of Alaska forever in national parks, wildlife refuges and additions to the national forests.
These were triumphs of magnitude that required the dedication of the best staff ever assembled at Interior, EPA and CEQ. We were a band of brothers.
I am still working and loving every minute of it!
I can't help remind myself of that wonderful quote from Gone with the Wind: “What better way can an old man die than doing a young man's work.”
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Big Cypress National Preserve
Comments by Nathaniel Pryor Reed at the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Big Cypress National Preserve on March 20, 2010
Director John Jarvis, Superintendent Pedro Ramos, Mr. Chairman Colley Billie, congratulations on your election. Colonel Pantano, Chairman Buermann, Chairman Bergeron, Superintendent’s Dan Kimball and Mark Lewis, ‘Father’ Clyde Butcher, Commissioner Jim Coletta, Mayor Sam Hamilton, distinguished members of the dedicated National Park Service Staff, and distinguished guests and indispensable volunteers.
Chairman Colley Billie, we are all deeply appreciative of your presence today. We need collectively to work with you and the tribal elders to undo years of mistrust and disagreements.
How could 50 years go by so quickly?
The photographs that I presented to the Big Cypress National Preserve of the events leading up to the congressional authorization and appropriations to acquire the Big Cypress wilderness and make it a part of the National Park System don't lie.
Joe Browder and I were young men cast by fate to have our life journeys cross simultaneously, centered on the Big Cypress.
Joe had been appointed the National Audubon Society's representative in south Florida with vague instructions on what his mission was and could be.
I was the first conservation advisor appointed by a governor in our country's history. Thankfully, there are 50 environmental advisors now in our 50 states, hopefully giving sound advice.
It was the construction of the Dade County Jetport, widely proclaimed to be ‘the jetport of the future’ that precipitated the great debate that led to the creation of this Preserve.
Somehow, I missed the first chapter of the potential environmental, fiscal disaster that the boomer Mayor of Dade County had sold his fellow commissioners double dipping as the ‘Dade County Port Authority’.
I will never know exactly who promoted the deal to acquire substantial land within the Big Cypress wilderness, pass a bond issue and build a full length runway complete with a control tower capable of handling jet traffic.
Bob Padrick, my great friend and member of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, the predecessor of the South Florida Water Management District, called me and stated that then Governor Kirk had attended a brief dedication ceremony and was 'ecstatic' about the prospects of a major airport in the Big Cypress. He urged me to fly down and take a close look because it looked to him as if it was the beginning of serious trouble: from a land use stand point and from fiscal realities.
Joe Browder was already on the case. He yelled, bellowed, and mobilized the then strange fellows who lived in the swamp or used the swamp to get away from their wives or to escape the ever growing misguided effort to lure millions of unsuspecting people to Metropolitan Dade County. I remember that Joe used his annual telephone budget up in one month. Joe's problem was for everyone who believed that he was on course. That the development of a jetport in the middle of nowhere was going to bring on a land boom that would destroy the major watershed of the south western everglades ecosystem and bring fiscal ruination to the county. There was the business community aligned with the 'snake salesmen'. The traditional Florida land peddlers who saw a golden opportunity to carve up hundreds of thousands of acres of land into saleable lots for industry, farming, and cattle, citrus: you name it. And the ‘Ole Boy’ network that led the Florida boom of the 1920's was re-energized and ready for suckers.
I flew down from Tallahassee, took one long look and nearly fainted.
The most obvious first question was: how is the airport to be served? How are the passengers going to go to their flights and how were they to be returned to Miami? The obvious answer was to cross the River of Grass with a high speed train and road systems. The Port Authority maintained that a system of high speed trains would whoosh passengers to and from the jetport on tracks perched above the everglades marsh—ecological and financial madness!
What about fuel and cargo? What about the hundreds of airport workers? What about customs and immigration?
It was obvious the entire scheme was typical of an era of irresponsibility that only the then Dade County mayor and fellow commissioners could have cooked up.
The rest of the story unfolded in waves. Browder roared. I quietly convinced Governor Kirk to change his position and to his lasting credit he quickly realized that he had been ‘taken’ by an impossible dream cooked up by schemers and land peddlers. Thanks to Under Secretary Russell Train of Interior and a responsive White House staff, federal support for the jetport was cancelled. During the discussions held at the White House and the Departments of Interior and Transportation, it became clear that the development of the Big Cypress watershed would have a very adverse impact on the western everglades ecosystem, yet it was an immense piece of land and any alternative was going to be expensive.
I became Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks. Almost immediately the administration turned to me to focus on the long range future of the Big Cypress and how to close up the jetport.
The key question: what was the future of the Big Cypress? The answer was: “Reed, prepare a major study of the potential alternatives from land purchase to limited development.” I had a superb assistant, George Gardner, who had worked with me for many years in the governor’s office and knew many of the key everglades scientists who were needed to answer various technical questions as we explored alternatives, from full purchase to limited pod developments.
It took months to prepare an environmental assessment that would withstand legal challenge. It took the hard work of the combination of George Gardner, the genius of Dr. Arthur Marshall, Florida's greatest ecologist and the world famous Dr. Luna Leopold, to prepare a document that categorically proved that the development of the Big Cypress would be the final nail in the everglades coffin.
Recognizing the importance of the Big Cypress to the future of the everglades ecosystem, to the fishery of the entire southwest coast, including the Ten Thousand Islands and the southwestern portions of the park, compromises among traditional users and preservationists had to be hammered out and became part of the legislation and legislative history.
I testified before the congressional committees in favor of the acquisition of the Big Cypress as a “National Preserve” that included in holdings, specific uses such as sport hunting, to the Congress and the American people that the Preserve was to be used for recreation and protection of unique areas without damaging its resources. It was important that the permitted uses conformed to the traditional uses by the Miccosukee Indians who had ‘rights’ that were ethically superior to any other use. I am particularly pleased that Chairman Colley Billie is here to celebrate the opening of this Visitor’s Center as evidence of his tribe’s genuine concerns for the management of the Preserve.
Initially, the preserve concept was not appreciated by the senior officials in the National Park Service who viewed the concept to be a radical junction from the traditional national park ideal.
I can state categorically, we could not have saved the Big Cypress or millions of acres of land in Alaska if the preserve concept had not been approved by the Nixon Administration and the Congress.
I leave you with one admonition: I know that there will always be debates over usage. Compromises are difficult to maintain. I know that the combination of Browder, Reed, Kirk, Hickel, Train, Senator Lawton Chiles, Chairmen Scoop Jackson, Morris Udall, and the Florida delegation pulled off a 'miracle'. It is up to us and our future visitors and users to make use concessions without damaging the integrity of the watershed.
For me, standing here before you, the creation of the Big Cypress Preserve will always be one of the greatest moments of a life that coincided with the birth of the environmental movement and the recognition that our world's resources are finite and need to be protected and preserved for as long as man lives on the face of this tiny earth, our only home in the vastness of space.
I thank God that I, Joe and hundreds of others who really cared about the Big Cypress were here and worked together giving and taking: concessions – yes – but with the clear belief that the integrity of the watershed was the Holy Grail of our joint effort.
Congratulations on the opening of the Big Cypress Visitor’s Center! I hope the full story of the Big Cypress acquisition will not be lost and will remain a part of the great American history.
Thank you for the privilege of being part of this unique ceremony.
-Nathaniel Reed
Director John Jarvis, Superintendent Pedro Ramos, Mr. Chairman Colley Billie, congratulations on your election. Colonel Pantano, Chairman Buermann, Chairman Bergeron, Superintendent’s Dan Kimball and Mark Lewis, ‘Father’ Clyde Butcher, Commissioner Jim Coletta, Mayor Sam Hamilton, distinguished members of the dedicated National Park Service Staff, and distinguished guests and indispensable volunteers.
Chairman Colley Billie, we are all deeply appreciative of your presence today. We need collectively to work with you and the tribal elders to undo years of mistrust and disagreements.
How could 50 years go by so quickly?
The photographs that I presented to the Big Cypress National Preserve of the events leading up to the congressional authorization and appropriations to acquire the Big Cypress wilderness and make it a part of the National Park System don't lie.
Joe Browder and I were young men cast by fate to have our life journeys cross simultaneously, centered on the Big Cypress.
Joe had been appointed the National Audubon Society's representative in south Florida with vague instructions on what his mission was and could be.
I was the first conservation advisor appointed by a governor in our country's history. Thankfully, there are 50 environmental advisors now in our 50 states, hopefully giving sound advice.
It was the construction of the Dade County Jetport, widely proclaimed to be ‘the jetport of the future’ that precipitated the great debate that led to the creation of this Preserve.
Somehow, I missed the first chapter of the potential environmental, fiscal disaster that the boomer Mayor of Dade County had sold his fellow commissioners double dipping as the ‘Dade County Port Authority’.
I will never know exactly who promoted the deal to acquire substantial land within the Big Cypress wilderness, pass a bond issue and build a full length runway complete with a control tower capable of handling jet traffic.
Bob Padrick, my great friend and member of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, the predecessor of the South Florida Water Management District, called me and stated that then Governor Kirk had attended a brief dedication ceremony and was 'ecstatic' about the prospects of a major airport in the Big Cypress. He urged me to fly down and take a close look because it looked to him as if it was the beginning of serious trouble: from a land use stand point and from fiscal realities.
Joe Browder was already on the case. He yelled, bellowed, and mobilized the then strange fellows who lived in the swamp or used the swamp to get away from their wives or to escape the ever growing misguided effort to lure millions of unsuspecting people to Metropolitan Dade County. I remember that Joe used his annual telephone budget up in one month. Joe's problem was for everyone who believed that he was on course. That the development of a jetport in the middle of nowhere was going to bring on a land boom that would destroy the major watershed of the south western everglades ecosystem and bring fiscal ruination to the county. There was the business community aligned with the 'snake salesmen'. The traditional Florida land peddlers who saw a golden opportunity to carve up hundreds of thousands of acres of land into saleable lots for industry, farming, and cattle, citrus: you name it. And the ‘Ole Boy’ network that led the Florida boom of the 1920's was re-energized and ready for suckers.
I flew down from Tallahassee, took one long look and nearly fainted.
The most obvious first question was: how is the airport to be served? How are the passengers going to go to their flights and how were they to be returned to Miami? The obvious answer was to cross the River of Grass with a high speed train and road systems. The Port Authority maintained that a system of high speed trains would whoosh passengers to and from the jetport on tracks perched above the everglades marsh—ecological and financial madness!
What about fuel and cargo? What about the hundreds of airport workers? What about customs and immigration?
It was obvious the entire scheme was typical of an era of irresponsibility that only the then Dade County mayor and fellow commissioners could have cooked up.
The rest of the story unfolded in waves. Browder roared. I quietly convinced Governor Kirk to change his position and to his lasting credit he quickly realized that he had been ‘taken’ by an impossible dream cooked up by schemers and land peddlers. Thanks to Under Secretary Russell Train of Interior and a responsive White House staff, federal support for the jetport was cancelled. During the discussions held at the White House and the Departments of Interior and Transportation, it became clear that the development of the Big Cypress watershed would have a very adverse impact on the western everglades ecosystem, yet it was an immense piece of land and any alternative was going to be expensive.
I became Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks. Almost immediately the administration turned to me to focus on the long range future of the Big Cypress and how to close up the jetport.
The key question: what was the future of the Big Cypress? The answer was: “Reed, prepare a major study of the potential alternatives from land purchase to limited development.” I had a superb assistant, George Gardner, who had worked with me for many years in the governor’s office and knew many of the key everglades scientists who were needed to answer various technical questions as we explored alternatives, from full purchase to limited pod developments.
It took months to prepare an environmental assessment that would withstand legal challenge. It took the hard work of the combination of George Gardner, the genius of Dr. Arthur Marshall, Florida's greatest ecologist and the world famous Dr. Luna Leopold, to prepare a document that categorically proved that the development of the Big Cypress would be the final nail in the everglades coffin.
Recognizing the importance of the Big Cypress to the future of the everglades ecosystem, to the fishery of the entire southwest coast, including the Ten Thousand Islands and the southwestern portions of the park, compromises among traditional users and preservationists had to be hammered out and became part of the legislation and legislative history.
I testified before the congressional committees in favor of the acquisition of the Big Cypress as a “National Preserve” that included in holdings, specific uses such as sport hunting, to the Congress and the American people that the Preserve was to be used for recreation and protection of unique areas without damaging its resources. It was important that the permitted uses conformed to the traditional uses by the Miccosukee Indians who had ‘rights’ that were ethically superior to any other use. I am particularly pleased that Chairman Colley Billie is here to celebrate the opening of this Visitor’s Center as evidence of his tribe’s genuine concerns for the management of the Preserve.
Initially, the preserve concept was not appreciated by the senior officials in the National Park Service who viewed the concept to be a radical junction from the traditional national park ideal.
I can state categorically, we could not have saved the Big Cypress or millions of acres of land in Alaska if the preserve concept had not been approved by the Nixon Administration and the Congress.
I leave you with one admonition: I know that there will always be debates over usage. Compromises are difficult to maintain. I know that the combination of Browder, Reed, Kirk, Hickel, Train, Senator Lawton Chiles, Chairmen Scoop Jackson, Morris Udall, and the Florida delegation pulled off a 'miracle'. It is up to us and our future visitors and users to make use concessions without damaging the integrity of the watershed.
For me, standing here before you, the creation of the Big Cypress Preserve will always be one of the greatest moments of a life that coincided with the birth of the environmental movement and the recognition that our world's resources are finite and need to be protected and preserved for as long as man lives on the face of this tiny earth, our only home in the vastness of space.
I thank God that I, Joe and hundreds of others who really cared about the Big Cypress were here and worked together giving and taking: concessions – yes – but with the clear belief that the integrity of the watershed was the Holy Grail of our joint effort.
Congratulations on the opening of the Big Cypress Visitor’s Center! I hope the full story of the Big Cypress acquisition will not be lost and will remain a part of the great American history.
Thank you for the privilege of being part of this unique ceremony.
-Nathaniel Reed
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