Wilderness forever: Howard Zahniser and the path to the Wilderness Act

Abstract

Review: Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act By Mark Harvey Reviewed by Byron Anderson Northern Illinois University, USA Mark Harvey. Wilderness Forever: Howard Zahniser and the Path to the Wilderness Act. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2005. xviii, 325 pp. ISBN: 0-295-98532-1 (cloth). US$35.00. Acid-free and 90 percent recycled from at least 50 percent post-consumer waste. One of the most visionary and successful advocates of wilderness in the twentieth century is a person few Americans have any knowledge of today. Howard Zahniser (1906-1964) was a bureaucrat, editor, manager and lobbyist who lived most of his working life in Washington, DC. In 1945, he accepted the executive secretary position with the Wilderness Society, and became a consummate manager and institution builder, who helped turn a small group of naturalists into an important conservation lobby. During his tenure, the Society's membership increased ten-fold to over 25,000 members. His legacy included the growth of nationally protected wilderness from nine million acres to the more than 100 million acres that now make up the National Wilderness Preservation System. To safeguard wilderness by law became his chief focus and life's work. Zahniser wanted to keep wilderness as wild as possible, but faced fierce opposition from resort developers and commodity industries, including mining, timber, and petroleum. The book details many of his battles -- for example, his successful efforts to expand the Grand Teton National Park, the preservation of the Boundary Waters area, and his triumph over the proposed Echo Park Dam -- as well as battles that resulted in compromise or failure. Opponents of wilderness preservation frequently labeled such projects as elitist, that is, preserving pristine lands for use by a few. He fought hard to gain acceptance of the idea that wilderness was for all to use, and he had no wish to exclude anyone. He merely sought to preserve such areas for those who chose to go. By insisting that consumption and commodity uses need not be reduced in order to make room for wilderness, he gained many needed allies in the efforts to preserve designated areas. Zahniser loved crafting language, a role that played well in his editorial duties of the Society's magazine, Living Wilderness, as well as in his many letters, opinion pieces and legislative drafts. He was able to turn out comprehensive statements on the value of wilderness during a time of enormous post-war growth and development in the country. He loved the