Dinosaur dammed: an analysis of the fight to defeat Echo Park dam

In the early twentieth century, the United States Bureau of Reclamation proposed a series of dams along the Colorado River to help control the violent and destructive fluctuations of the river that ran through six western states. The sites of two of the dams, Echo Park and Split Mountain, were located inside Dinosaur National Monument (a little known and rarely visited area straddling the border between Utah and Colorado). Conservation organizations across the United States joined together to fight the Echo Park and Split Mountain project. One coalition, the Council of Conservationists, consisted of nine groups including the Sierra Club, the American Planning and Civic Association, and the Wilderness Society. These nine groups used their official publications to reach out to their members, rallying them to act in defense of Dinosaur National Monument and the National Park System as a whole. This dissertation analyzes the nine publications from 1950 to 1956-the years of the most heated debate-for a better understanding of the strategies and themes used in this, the first successful campaign of the modern conservation movement.

DINOSAUR DAMMED: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FIGHT TO DEFEAT ECHO PARK DAM by Debra Elaine Jenson A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Communication The University of Utah December 2014 2 Copyright © Debra Elaine Jenson 2014 All Rights Reserved 3 The Universi ty of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Debra Elaine Jenson has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Kimberley Mangun , Chair May 1, 2014 Date Approved Glen M. Feighery , Member May 1, 2014 Date Approved Sean T. Lawson , Member May 1, 2014 Date Approved David J. Vergobbi , Member May 1, 2014 Date Approved Matthew Baker , Member May 1, 2014 Date Approved and by Kent Alan Ono , Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School of Communication and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. 4 ABSTRACT In the early twentieth century, the United States Bureau of Reclamation proposed a series of dams along the Colorado River to help control the violent and destructive fluctuations of the river that ran through six western states. The sites of two of the dams, Echo Park and Split Mountain, were located inside Dinosaur National Monument (a little known and rarely visited area straddling the border between Utah and Colorado). Conservation organizations across the United States joined together to fight the Echo Park and Split Mountain project. One coalition, the Council of Conservationists, consisted of nine groups including the Sierra Club, the American Planning and Civic Association, and the Wilderness Society. These nine groups used their official publications to reach out to their members, rallying them to act in defense of Dinosaur National Monument and the National Park System as a whole. This dissertation analyzes the nine publications from 1950 to 1956-the years of the most heated debate-for a better understanding of the strategies and themes used in this, the first successful campaign of the modern conservation movement. 5 To my family. You know who you are. 6 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………..iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………….viii CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT POWELL SAW…………………………….1 The National Park System and the West…………………………5 Water and the West………...….………………………………….9 Waging War……………………………………………………..13 Study Design and Method……………………………………….18 Chapter Outline………………………………………………….24 2 HISTORICAL METHOD AND THEMATIC ANALYSIS.……………26 3 SIERRA CLUB: HOW DAVID HELPED SLAY GOLIATH…….........37 Building a Coalition…………………………………………..…54 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM……………………………………………………….…69 Beauty and the Bureaucracy ……………….……………..…..…78 5 AMERICAN NATURE ASSOCIATION: THE DINOSAUR DOMINOS……………………..………………………………………..85 The Duty to Defend………………...…………..………….…...101 6 NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY: DINOSAUR GOES TO THE BIRDS…………………………………………………………………..113 One Nation Under God…………………..……………….….…119 7 NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: HOW THE SAUSAGE IS MADE……..............................................................................................128 Wilderness and Wise Use………………………………..…......140 8 8 IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE: THE GLOVES COME OFF…………..160 Invasion!......................................................................................171 9 NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION: SEEING IS BELIEVING…....184 A Parks Principle…………………………………………….…200 10 AMERICAN PLANNING AND CIVIC ASSOCIATION: BRING IN AN EXPERT…………………….……………………………………..215 The Numbers Game………………………………………..…...231 11 THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: THE TIME IS NOW!........................251 A Movement Is Made……………………..……………………263 12 CONCLUSION: THE LESSONS WE LEARNED…………………….277 APPENDIX: MAPS…………………………………………………………………….295 vii 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the patient guidance and skillful editing of my advisor, Kimberley Mangun. She spent countless hours working with me. Her support and encouragement have been invaluable, and her feedback and expertise helped make me a better researcher and writer. Thanks, also, to the members of my committee. I appreciate the time and effort they have dedicated to this project. My husband, Keith, has spent seven years listening to me talk about every aspect of this process. He has never been there, but he knows more about Echo Park and Dinosaur National Monument than most people who live in Vernal, Utah. His love and support are endless, and he has taken on so many parenting duties while I have been researching and writing. Thank you for putting up with this whole thing just because I wanted to wear a poufy hat to college graduations. And to my children I say, thank you for being content with spending time next to me while I write. I look forward to attending your soccer games without a white binder in my lap. Thank you to my mom and dad. I'm happy to be able to report to them that my book report is done. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT POWELL SAW Standing opposite the rock, our words are repeated with startling clearness, but in a soft, mellow tone, that transforms them into magical music. Scarcely can you believe it is the echo of your own voice. In some places two or three echoes come back; in other places they repeat themselves, passing back and forth across the river between this rock and eastern wall…. Some of the party aver that ten or twelve repetitions can be heard." -John W. Powell, The Exploration of the Colorado and Its Canyons-1869 On the border between Utah and Colorado, the Yampa and Green Rivers meet in the shadows of 800-foot rock walls that rise so dramatically they appear to go on forever. John Wesley Powell, one of the first white Americans to explore this region, was delighted and thrilled at what he saw as he and his team rode the rapids. Powell's team named the confluence of the two rivers Echo Park (later to be named Steamboat Rock because of its striking similarity to the prow of a ship) and they camped there for almost a week before continuing down the Green River. Voices of the past still linger along the Green River-etched into the walls in petroglyphs just off the banks and in the voices of campers and river enthusiasts that still reverberate across the river in Echo Canyon. Farther south, after the Green merges with the Colorado River in southeastern Utah, the water has carved miles of canyons, breathtaking arches, and natural crossing points for humans migrating and exploring the landscape. But here, the echoes come from below millions of acre-feet1 of water. Cave 1 An acre-foot is the amount o f water it would take to cover an acre of land with water one foot deep. 2 drawings and family dwellings now lie beneath the surface of Glen Canyon Reservoir. The etchings in stone made by members of the Powell expedition down the river are now covered by the "lake" that bears their leader's name. During the twentieth century, the flow of Americans cut a wide path across the continent, settling in Western states, establishing urban and suburban oases in vast deserts, changing the landscape like its own river. World War II turned this stream of people into a torrent, with military projects, army bases, and massive population growth in the desert states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. This human swell created new areas of habitation that led to a dual need for water and power, and rivers were diverted from the ancient pathways that had steadily whittled vast canyons into the landscape to run in more convenient patterns. Dams were erected in an effort to satisfy the exploding needs of power and irrigation. New pathways were created and old landmarks were destroyed. Engineers created rivers and lakes with the construction of a dam, even as they erased hundreds and thousands of years of human history. The importance of this body of water cannot be overstated. The Colorado River stands as one of America's great rivers, with water flowing through seven states from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California.2 The Colorado and its tributaries reach roughly 22 percent of the land in the United States, yet according to Susan Neel, "The Colorado River is a geographical irony because the land through which it flows is the most arid region in America-an area once called the Great American Desert. … There was water in this desert land but it cared not for the needs of man."3 Even more important 2 United States Bureau of Reclamation, "Upper Colorado River Basin," www.usbr.gov/uc/, (accessed April 1, 2013). 3 Susan M. Neel, "Utah and the Echo Park Dam Controversy" (master's thesis, University of Utah, 1980), 14-15. 3 to the people of the Colorado River Basin was the fact that the river was not like the great rivers of the East-miles across with a smooth surface suitable for a steamboat or Huck Finn. For the people who lived and farmed along the Colorado, it indeed was a "natural menace" that taunted them with its unpredictable flow, frequent flooding, and crashing rapids that smashed boats to smithereens and took a person involuntarily miles downstream. Following World War II, the demand for water in the West reached a pitch that could not be ignored-an estimated eight million people were transplanted to these desert states, creating boom towns including Denver, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas-and the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior hatched a plan to harness the Colorado River through a series of dams stretching from northern Colorado down to Arizona.4 Engineers and planners from the Bureau approached this as a way to conquer an enemy, writing, "Yesterday the Colorado River was a natural menace. Unharnessed, it tore through deserts, flooded fields, and ravaged villages. … Man was on the defensive. He sat helplessly to watch the Colorado River waste itself, or attempted in vain to halt its destruction."5 The plan, known as the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP),6 was hatched in the early 1940s but was officially introduced in Congress in 1953. The plan included proposed dams all along the Green, Yampa, and Colorado Rivers to divide and supply water to the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and 4 Mark W. T. Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park and the American Conservation Movement (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994). 5 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, The Colorado River: "A Natural Menace Becomes a National Resource" - A Comprehensive Report on the Development of the Water Resources of the Colorado River Basin for Irrigation, Power Production, and Other Beneficial Uses in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming (Washington, DC, 1946), 25. 6This project is also referred to as the Upper Colorado River Storage Project in legislation and media accounts. 4 Utah.7 Two of the recommended dams, Echo Park and Split Mountain, were located inside Dinosaur National Monument and consequently, a showdown began. Though historians agree that this fight-the first to see multiple groups join together to form a coalition and successfully defeat a public policy-is the birth of the modern conservation movement, more than fifty years later, the importance of the Echo Park fight seems to have faded for the public.8 Research on the controversy around this specific piece of the CRSP has focused on political history of water development projects, laws related to water development and use, local reactions to and strategies for building the dams, historical retellings of the overall debate including transcripts from the Congressional record, personal correspondence of major policy makers, and the war of words waged in the major newspapers of the time.9 This project attempts to fill a research gap by analyzing the publications-newsletters and magazines-of nine national environmental groups to understand the ways they communicated about the CRSP and Dinosaur National Monument to their publics. Public outcry is often referenced as a major factor in the defeat of the Echo Park and Split Mountain dams and the groups advocating for Dinosaur were instrumental in mobilizing their members. This moment provided "the biggest defeat the western water 7 Wallace Stegner, This is Dinosaur: Echo Park Country and Its Magic Rivers (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1955). 8 Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness. Use of the term "movement" will be avoided in this project, due to the emerging study of social movements and new social movements. However, it must be noted that during the actual campaign to save Echo Park, several groups called themselves a movement and as such, the term may appear occasionally. 9 For other works on this topic, see Richard E. Baird, "Politics of Echo Park and Other Water Development Projects in the Upper-Colorado River Basin-1946-1956." (PhD diss., University of Illinois, 1960); Gary D. Weatherford, Phillip Nichols and Dean E. Mann, Legal-political History of Water Resource Development in the Colorado River Basin, 35(7) 1974, National Science Foundation Lake Powell Research Project Bulletin; Neel, "Utah and the Echo Park Dam Controversy"; Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness. 5 lobby had suffered until then"10 and is seen as the moment when "this activist brand of conservation … began to transform into environmentalism."11 Yet the voices of the grassroots effort, especially how environmental groups communicated with their members, have been only a footnote in previous treatments of the fight. In the historical analysis of this first conservation battle waged by the new recreation-class in America, the voices of the actual coalition members seem to be missing and this study seeks out those voices. The National Park System and the West The idea that the United States would protect and conserve areas of scenic or historic places was first established in 1790 when the District of Columbia was authorized, along with several National Capital Parks, the National Mall, and the White House.12 The first national park-Yellowstone-was designated in 1872, setting aside scenic areas in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. In 1906 the drive to protect sites, particularly in the Southwest, led to the Antiquities Act giving Presidents authority to set aside "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" as national monuments.13 By 1916, the Department of the Interior was responsible for nearly forty monuments and reservations and a movement was 10 Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert (New York: Penguin Books, 1986), 295. 11 Hal K. Rothman, The Greening of a Nation? Environmentalism in the United States Since 1945 (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998), 46. 12 National Park Service, "National Park System Areas Listed in Chronological Order of Date Authorized Under DOI," http://www.nps.gov/applications/budget2/documents/chronop.pdf, (accessed August 12, 2012). 13 American Antiquities Act of 1906, 34 Stat 225, 16 U.S.C. June 8, 1906, 431-433 6 brewing to preserve even more, larger areas. Congress established the National Park Service in the Organic Act of 1916.14 The story of the national parks, however, is not one without controversy. It is, in fact, one filled with turf wars, power struggles, larger-than-life personalities, good intentions, and (naturally) money. The lion's share of national park acreage is located in the Western United States, 15 but many Westerners do not often look on these designations as positive, or even legal.16 Most locals saw the designation, which came with limits on use and access, as an economic liability. Tourism would not replace the money that agriculture and industry could provide: initially, visits to national parks were for the wealthy and adventurous. Most parks and monuments had limited access points, travel was difficult, and the activities were dangerous. And it was just plain expensive. For a family to visit Yellowstone National Park in the days before the family automobile required quite an effort, and expenditure; a luxury that was out of reach, particularly during the Great Depression.17 In the middle of the twentieth century, a postwar boom allowed middle class Americans to shift their focus from immediate survival and life-sustaining activities to attention to leisure and so-called luxury recreation. And Americans-celebrating an end to war rationing of gas and rubber and enjoying a new highway system-hit the road to 14 Organic Act of 1916, 39 Stat F35, 16 U.S.C. §1, August 25, 1916. 15 According to the United States Census Bureau, of the 84.3 million acres of National Parks, over twenty-million of those acres are located in the eleven western states. 16 For a historical example of local displeasure over parks and monuments, see C. H. Vincent and P. Baldwin, National Monuments: Issues and Background (New York: Novinka Books, 2004). 17 Elmo Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation in the Truman-Eisenhower Era (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1973). 7 vacation in large numbers. 18 These travelers, encouraged by a newfound economic stability, visited the national parks in record numbers: In 1930, three million people visited national parks; by 1955, that number had grown to 62 million. According to historian Lee Whittlesey, "There weren't enough campgrounds. There weren't enough hotels. There weren't enough souvenirs. There weren't enough anything"19 when in 1948 over one million people visited Yellowstone National Park. The national parks became the playground of Americans, many of whom came from other regions to enjoy, for a spell, nature in its primeval state and then returned to their homes in Midwestern and Eastern states. As environmental historian William Cronon described it: One of the things that happened in the 1950s with the explosion of families in cars taking their kids on the road to visit the national parks was that more and more American children grew up with the national parks as a formative part of their childhood. And I think we often forget that, in fact, one of the aspects of the national parks that is most important to our American-ness, to our patriotism, is the fact that they are landscapes of origin and of childhood for so many Americans. They are the places where we grew up. They are the places where we experienced our families in some of their most intimate locations. And where our families and our childhoods connected to what it means to be an American.20 Americans were finding themselves in these parks, creating a love affair with the places and the memories they held. National parks and monuments were not, however, safe from all threats. As Alfred Runte has described it, the areas set aside by the NPS were often subject to the "worthless lands" idea: "Although Americans as a whole admit to the ‘beuaty' of the national parks, rarely have perceptions based on emotion overcome the urge to acquire 18 Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness. 19 Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. DVD. Directed by Ken Burns. Hollywood: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2009. 20 Duncan and Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. 8 wealth."21 The deep canyons and rushing waters that often made them so deserving of preservation also tended to make them attractive for other purposes. Even the most prominent jewels in the system-Yellowstone and Grand Canyon-had been targeted as perfect locations for industrial "improvements," including dams. And in 1913, the City of San Francisco won the rights to dam the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley, over the vocal opposition of John Muir and other conservationists.22 Beyond the scenic beauty of the valley, Muir and his colleagues argued that as part of Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy was protected from overdevelopment and (in this case) utter devastation. Their case was unsuccessful and part of the national park was deluged with water held back from the dam. At about the same time water began filling the scenic valleys of Hetch Hetchy, paleontologists were uncovering one of the largest caches of dinosaur fossils on U.S. soil. In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson created a new national monument just east of tiny Vernal, Utah, to protect eighty acres surrounding a bed of recently discovered bones. According to the National Park Service, Dinosaur National Monument was the thirtieth national park or monument established (and the twenty-sixth in a Western state). This section of land would be the largest reserve of dinosaur bones in North America. Management and protection of the monument was handed over to the National Park Service one year later. Finally, in 1938, enormous sections of the Green and Yampa Rivers, more than 200,000 acres of soaring canyons such as Split Mountain, dramatic rock formations including Steamboat Rock in Echo Park, and magnificent scenery was 21 Alfred Runte, National Parks: The American Experience (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987), 49. 22 Roderick Nash, Wilderness & the American Mind, 4th ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). 9 grafted onto the monument. According to Mark T. R. Harvey, "The preserve covered more than 360 square miles of northeast Utah and northwest Colorado, yet only a small corner contained deposits of dinosaur fossil bones. ‘Dinosaur' was simply a misnomer."23 The monument, from its creation and expansion, was mislabeled and misunderstood. In addition to being poorly named, Dinosaur National Monument had another hurdle: it was basically in the middle of nowhere. Uintah County, Utah, was home to 10,300 people in 1950. That's only a fraction of the more than one million people who visited Yellowstone National Park in the same year.24 Vernal, the closest city to Dinosaur, was a small town with a median family income of $4,863 annually. The town-known to outsiders only as a footnote in the escapades of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-was dependent on mining, oil drilling, and agriculture for survival, and water was limited.25 Water and the West The first Anglo-Saxon settlers of record in this desolate region were Pardon Dodds, Morris Evans, and Dick Huffaker, representatives of the U.S. government. Sent to serve as a liaison with Indian nations, Dodds and crew settled in the area nestled in the Uinta Mountain Range and close to the Green River.26As more settlers moved west across the continent, it became abundantly clear that water would be scarce to find, difficult to manage, and impossible to keep. The rivers moved swiftly, dangerously, and they ran unpredictably. Like a system of arteries and veins, the water was tangled 23 Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness, 15. 24 The Yellowstone Page, "Yellowstone National Park Statistics," http://www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/stats.htm, (accessed August 6, 2012). 25 Judy Oaks, Meet Vernal (New York: Bonanza Books, 1981). 26 Oaks, Meet Vernal. 10 throughout the land. Fights over when and where a river could be dammed or diverted began early and continued in earnest for decades. As early as 1878, major figures such as John Wesley Powell were urging the federal government to intervene and decide the fate of the Colorado River.27 When Congress passed the Reclamation Act of 1902, it was an attempt to establish federal authority over the water management in the West, but what it really did was heighten the resentment of many people in Western states-they wanted the water without having to beg some New England senator for even a teaspoon.28 By 1922, the year of the Colorado River Compact, delegates from the basin states met to divvy up the water. The compact split the basin into two regions with the line between drawn at Lee's Ferry in Arizona and devised a mathematical scheme for distributing the water. States in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) committed to allowing "75 million acre-feet of water to reach the lower basin every decade, or in more practical terms, 7.5 million acre-feet every year." 29 This compact would frame water decisions for the foreseeable future and would be used to defend the need for water storage projects and dams in the UCRB to help guarantee enough water stayed upstream. One federal law was not going to solve a problem rooted in a controversy that spanned generations. Settlers to this arid landscape struggled to irrigate the water from its raging source, and as more and more people came to the West, the debate grew more complicated. The unpredictable nature of the Colorado River varied so wildly from year to year meant that there was virtually no way to plan for dividing up the water equally among the states. With the water flowing from the Rockies in Northern Colorado, rushing 27 Norris Hundley Jr., Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975). 28 Reisner, Cadillac Desert. 29 Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness, 27. 11 through and feeding tributaries in six parched states before emptying into the Gulf of California, there were heated arguments over which state was entitled to what amount of water. At the northern end, Coloradoans felt a sense of ownership over this water whose source was the Rocky Mountains. They were wary of signing onto any agreement that bound them to allow a specific amount of water to flow downstream, because they knew-more so, perhaps, than anyone else-how truly random that flow could be. People in the Upper Basin States (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) felt that the water they used to irrigate farmland benefited the country as a whole, and they feared that Lower Basin States (Arizona, California, and Nevada) were overdeveloping and would soon come to demand more water than was available.30 Meanwhile, Lower Basin States residents were concerned that without some agreement, there was nothing to stop officials of Upper Basin States from simply damming up everything north of the Four Corners31 until eventually nothing would be flowing in those riverbeds and the Southwest would be permanently parched.32 As Helen Ingram explains, "The landowner's 30 The controversy around the division of the water is complex, but can best be understood when evaporation rates are explained. The federal government was planning large storage projects along the rivers of the United States, with the Army Corps of Engineers largely managing rivers in the Midwest and East and the Bureau of Reclamation in the West. These projects created large, man-made lakes, and depending on their size the lakes lost tens- even hundreds-of-thousands of acre-feet of water annually to evaporation. California, for example, benefited greatly when Hoover Dam was constructed and Lake Mead was created. Arizonans felt that California's water rights were based on the gross amount of water they took in, while California felt it was a net quantity. This is but one example of the complexity of water policy (and a simple one at that), but in desert states people battle fiercely over every drop. For more information on this battle, see Reisner, Cadillac Desert. 31 The geographical area where the borders of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. 32 John Upton Terrell, War for the Colorado River: Volume One The California-Arizona Controversy (Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965). 12 inclination to claim all the water on his premises created special problems in the arid West where upstream development could leave downstream users high and dry."33 The move to harness nature was not one of lock-step unison across the country, however. The debate over how to equally divide the waters of the arid West included whether and how to protect the national parks and monuments. But it also involved a debate between Eastern and Western states. Beyond concern for the actual water, Westerners were proud of the fact that they had built the West and they believed it belonged to them.34 In an apparent contradiction, however, they also wanted federal projects to help modernize the land, creating easier access to water, power and transportation. Many local leaders were aware of the economic boom that had come as a result of projects in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), "the showpiece of the New Deal's resource program," and they wanted a piece of the action, as it were.35 But many Westerners were also distrusting of any federal control over that land. Norris Hundley described it as an "attempt to get the purse without the purse strings."36 This desire came into natural conflict with Senators and Representatives from the East, who objected on the grounds of preservation or fiscal responsibility. Battles over wise use, multiple use, or just plain use of natural resources would see dividing lines shift depending on the details, but generally speaking, the loudest voices in the West called for exploitation of resources to serve the greater good while Easterners argued against the federal government paying 33 Helen Ingram, "Patterns of Politics in Water Resources Development" Natural Resources Journal 102, (1971), 104. 34 Reisner, Cadillac Desert. 35 Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics. 36 Norris Hundley Jr., Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), xii-xiii. 13 for projects that would both destroy landscapes and benefit only Western states.37 According to Ingram, "Localities in the same river basin or adjacent basins where diversion is possible fiercely compete for water supply and development funds."38 As the battle raged out West, the fight for funding and congressional approval erupted in Washington, D.C. Waging War: Modernization and Water During the early twentieth century, the United States experienced a cultural shift that brought new emphasis on national growth and expansion, modernization and technology. As Bob Reinhardt described it, "Deeper cultural emphases on economic growth and ideological consensus combined with anxieties about national security to create an environment marked by both hope and fear."39 In a nation waging a Cold War, policy decisions were often fueled by fear and water policy was no exception. According to Hal K. Rothman, "Dams in particular could be construed as nationally important in the context of the Cold War, at its height in the 1950s; they were a symbol of the might of American industrialism, and the energy they produced could be harnessed in an instant to fight the Soviet threat."40 Both sides of the debate hurled accusations of communism at each other-supporters of Reclamation 37 This is not to say that all Westerners supported Reclamation projects. One prominent example is Bernard DeVoto, a native Utahn, historian, and journalist who argued passionately against the large federal projects and in favor of conservationists. DeVoto's position caused great ire in his home state and even led the Salt Lake Tribune to denounce him and declare him no longer welcome or safe in Utah. See Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness, 94. 38 Ingram, "Patterns of Politics in Water Resources Development," 103. 39 Bob H. Reinhardt, "Drowned Towns in the Cold War West: Small Communities and Federal Water Projects" The Western Historical Quarterly, 42, no. 2 (2011):149-72. 40 Hal K. Rothman, The Greening of a Nation? Environmentalism in the United States Since 1945 (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998), 38. 14 projects claimed that opponents were failing to contribute to the nation's defense, while opponents of the same projects argued that using federal money to build hydroelectric dams and create a government monopoly of the market was the very definition of communism.41 There was precedent, however, in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). As part of the New Deal, the federal government financed large dams throughout the valley to produce hydroelectric power for residents and scientists. As Thomas Robertson described it, "The TVA, a crucial part of the Manhattan Project, came to symbolize governmental resource planning for national security purposes."42 Each part of the federal government felt an obligation to contribute to the nation's military preparedness, particularly in the West where work on the atomic bomb demanded more accessible hydroelectric power. Large dams along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest were necessary for factories that produced aluminum for airplanes and the plutonium used in the bombs.43 The war effort and industrialization had led to an economic boom and America's prosperity was due, in large part, to its citizens' ability to conquer nature. Everywhere people turned, they were confronted with a new and impressive example of Yankee know-how creating a more livable space. The first cover of Life magazine, published in 1936, featured a photograph of the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River in eastern Montana. During the 1930s and '40s, the covers of Fortune magazine included artists' renderings of new freeway systems, an iron smelter, a city skyline bathed in neon, and a dammed river viewed from above. Articles extolled the virtues of capitalism and the 41 Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics. 42 Thomas Robertson, "'This is the American Earth': American Empire, the Cold War, and American Environmentalism," Diplomatic History, 32, no. 4, (2008): 561-84. 43 Reinhardt, "Drowned Towns in the Cold War West." 15 technological advances made with New Deal water projects. The romanticized coverage of industrialization in major magazines is just one example of the new American spirit of controlling nature and using it for modernization.44 These magazines reached millions of American homes and provided not only a stylized version of industry, but text filled with business boosting and-though Publisher Henry Luce was a staunch conservative- reluctant support of New Deal programs.45 Michael Augspurger has argued that these magazines and the images they presented played a major role in defining the relationship among business, professionals, and the general public: "The stress on unity and commitment to the nation may have blurred the political rhetoric and ideals of various groups, but the core political beliefs remained."46 The "core beliefs" presented in both these magazines were capitalism's ability to improve the lives of Americans and its importance over other considerations, including environmental concerns. Water policy presented a perfect quandary: the decision between proper use of resources and environmental conservation. American environmental thought is often centered on the distribution of public versus private goods. As William Sunderlin presented it, the issue is whether a market system is guided by an invisible hand and as such represents the best for the majority or if the value of the environment is in its uniqueness to each individual person.47 Bob Pepperman Taylor divided it as a pastoral 44 Examples and reproductions of the covers of Life, Fortune, and Time magazines can be found at http://www.life.time.com and Spivey's Rare Books http://www.spiveysbooks.com. 45 Chris Vials, "The Popular Front in the American Century: Life Magazine, Margaret Bourke-White, and Consumer Realism, 1936-1941," American Periodicals, 16, no. 1, (2006): 74-102. 46 Michael Augspurger, An Economy of Abundant Beauty: Fortune Magazine and Depression America (New York: Cornell University Press, 2004), 130. 47 William D. Sunderlin, Ideology, Social Theory, and the Environment (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003). 16 versus progressive view. 48 The pastoral view is represented by Henry David Thoreau and his belief in wilderness as idyllic and inspirational. According to Thoreau, people cannot truly live in cities and communities, they need the solitude and escape of wilderness to remain centered and moral. Thoreau's view is that nature is something to be left untouched.49 Conversely, Gifford Pinchot was seen as the champion of early twentieth-century environmental thought-a theory that sees nature as something to be appreciated, but managed. Pinchot's belief was that scientific management could be used to create a system that both protected beauty in nature and provided valuable resources for consumption. The two theories approach the relationship between humans and nature very differently. This question of how humans have interacted with and discussed the environment is central to the topic of public policy. It is a debate over the purpose of wilderness and its resources, and whether or how they should be used. The very existence of the Department of the Interior, whose purpose was to protect important natural and historical sites and the National Parks System, would suggest that the latter view holds greater sway in the U.S. Since the twentieth century, public policy in the United States has trended toward Pinchot's wise use theory. Elmo Richardson described postwar environmental policy as based on protecting forests, soil, and water supply, and in constructing roads and other facilities near thousands of communities. Only a few purists objected to the way in which these projects altered the ecology of the areas involved. Most Americans-whether Democrats or Republicans-were pleased that the work enhanced property values and aided local businesses.50 48 Bob Pepperman Taylor, Our Limits Transgressed: Environmental Political Thought in America (Lexington: University Press of Kansas, 1992). 49 Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings, ed. Joseph W. Krutch. (New York: Bantam, 1981). 50 Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics, 2-3. 17 By 1940 it was clear that developing natural resources for economic and tourist purposes would be a major government initiative, and projects were proposed at an almost astronomical rate.51 These projects would not be without detractors, though, and by the 1950s those detractors had found each other and, for the first time it seemed, they were organized. Since the beginning of the nation, the American people have been noted as a nation of joiners. Alexis de Tocqueville noted that Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; … if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate.52 Americans who wished to advance an idea or a cause could find a group of likeminded individuals with whom to join and work toward a common ideal: And what de Tocqueville noted in the 1800s continued on into the 1900s. The early half of the twentieth century was a time growth not only in industry, but in civic association. Robert Putnam noted that, with the exception of the decade surrounding the Great Depression, the number of social organizations in the United States grew each year.53 The American economic and civic boom reached a crescendo in the late 1940s and '50s and membership groups took full advantage of this new community boosterism. According to surveys conducted in 1961 and 1965, 80 percent of Americans identified themselves as a member of at least one voluntary association and nearly half (46 percent) 51 Ibid. 52 Alexis de Tocqueville, trans. Henry Reeve, Democracy in America, (New York: Colonial Press, 1890) 114. 53 Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000). 18 belonged to three or more groups.54 Groups of the 1950s and 1960s were characterized by individual memberships, local chapters, and high levels of commitment.55 Organizations kept in close contact with members through the use of regular newsletters or magazines. These magazines-often free with the price of an annual membership, but also available to the public with a paid subscription-kept members informed about important issues, provided tips for making one's hobby more successful, and issued reports on the groups' activities. In the days before Twitter, Facebook, and a group website, this was a common mode of communication for membership groups.56 The ability of groups to influence members to act would prove important in policy battles and by the 1950s the principal rule of public activism would be to "fight battles in the press where the public can make its own decisions."57 The battle over Dinosaur National Monument would be fought in the press, but its army would be mobilized in the publications of the organizations. Study Design and Method Almost from the moment the Bureau of Reclamation proposed the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), there was opposition from conservation groups. But it wasn't until 1949, after the Bureau and local newspapers in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado, began promoting the project that conservationists launched a vigorous campaign involving political pressure and public action. Many groups concerned with wilderness issues joined together to wage a five-year public campaign to stop the dams in 54 Nicholas Babchuk and Alan Booth, "Voluntary Association Membership: A Longitudinal Analysis," American Sociological Review 34, (1969): 31-45 55 Putnam, Bowling Alone. 56 Ibid. 57 Rothman, The Greening of a Nation?, 46. 19 Dinosaur.58 As environmentalist Roderick Nash noted, "Friends of the wilderness realized that their only hope lay in carrying their case before Congress and the public."59 Conservation groups, which had fought unsuccessfully to save Hetch Hetchy, saw the CRSP, and Echo Park and Split Mountain Dams specifically, as another move to sidestep the National Park Service (NPS).60 The NPS found itself in the familiar scenario of scrapping against fellow agencies in the Department of Interior for attention and resources. The Bureau of Reclamation, the agency behind the CRSP, had a track record of attempting to locate projects in various national parks61 and the NPS was largely hamstrung in the fight. It was a battle for the soul of the national parks: If national parks were not free from development and dam building, what land was?62 In November 1955, a group of organizations formed a coalition known as the Council of Conservationists (CoC) to fight certain components of the Colorado River Storage Project. The CoC had ten major groups: the American Museum of Natural History, the American Nature Association, the American Planning and Civic Association, the Audubon Society, the Conservation Foundation, the Izaak Walton League, the National Park Association, the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and the 58 Neel, "Utah and the Echo Park Dam Controversy." 59 Nash, Wilderness & the American Mind. 60 While both Echo Park and Split Mountain dams were part of the CRSP, the battle centered largely on Echo Park because the Split Mountain dam was dependent upon the Echo Park project-killing Echo Park would kill them both. 61 After the Hetch Hetchy dam in Yosemite National Park, the Bureau of Reclamation proposed projects in other parks including Grand Canyon National Park, Glacier National Park, Capitol Reef National Monument, Arches National Monument, and Olympic National Park. Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics. 62 Jared Farmer, Glen Canyon Damned: Inventing Lake Powell and the Canyon Country (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1999). 20 Wilderness Society. 63 This coalition brought together groups dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts, committed to proper planning and conservation of land, protection of primeval parks in the national park system, and concern for wild areas as habitat for animals.64 This dissertation expands on a previous pilot study that analyzed the public communication of a coalition of the members of the CoC and their resistance to the proposed Echo Park and Split Mountain Dams as part of the CRSP.65 The initial study used a sample of articles from the Audubon Society's Audubon Magazine and the Wilderness Society's magazine The Living Wilderness from the years 1952-1956. The study revealed that the Wilderness Society, with an avowed mission to protect wild areas in the United States, dedicated much more print space than the Audubon Society to Dinosaur National Monument. Second, the coverage in both magazines showed similar patterns of message framing in the three distinct areas of collective action frame theory.66 First, conservation groups made a conscious choice not to fight the entire CRSP, but instead they focused on protecting Dinosaur National Monument as a bellwether for 63 The Conservation Foundation is no longer an organization of record and no primary sources could be located for analysis. 64 This dissertation will use terms such as "environmentalist," "preservationist," and "conservationist" interchangeably, as the groups self-identified themselves using all three. While scholars have since drawn distinctions between the terms, in an effort to preserve the historical accuracy, this project will use the labels they selected for themselves. 65 Debra E. Jenson, "The Campaign Against Echo Park Dam and Collective Action Frame Theory: A Historical Analysis," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 25 (Spring 2010): 69-81. 66 Robert D. Benford and David A. Snow, "Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization," International Social Movement Reserves 1 (1988): 197-218. Collective action frame theory suggests that organizations that successfully motivate supporters to action do so by using three frames for messages: diagnostic, prognostic, and mobilizing. These frames identify the cause and solution to the problem, as well as suggest specific action for constituents to make. 21 future encroachments on the national park system. Next, the groups engaged in prognostic framing in two major ways: by challenging the technical data regarding evaporation rates presented by the Bureau of Reclamation and by identifying an alternative site that was both outside a national monument and had a lower evaporation rate. Finally, conservation groups engaged in mobilizing behavior by encouraging people to write letters, send telegrams, and ask friends to write on behalf of the threatened national monument.67 The pilot study showed that the Wilderness Society and Audubon Society used similar communication frames in the battle over Echo Park, but multiple groups and organizations rose in opposition to the project. This qualitative historical study analyzes how CoC member organizations communicated directly with their members by examining the magazines or newsletters published by the organizations during the most contentious years of 1950-1956. The primary sources included eight magazines and one regular newsletter and their content: traditional articles, editorials, letters to the editor, illustrations, and reproductions of correspondence between government officials. The magazines ranged from full-color publications that featured largely entertainment and informative articles to a bi-weekly newsletter that had no illustrations but reported in detail on roll-call votes and reports on subcommittee hearings. This dissertation also analyzes several key primary sources that were discovered during the pilot study, including a handwritten note from Howard Zahniser, executive director of the Wilderness Society, that was published in an issue of The Living Wilderness, urging individuals to contact their government representatives about the CRSP. The analysis attempts to understand the struggle waged by 67 Jenson, "The Campaign Against Echo Park Dam and Collective Action Frame Theory." 22 environmental groups through analysis of the messages they sent directly to their members and most ardent supporters. It has been studied as an example of local political groups attempting to logroll their federal representatives into a publicly-funded dam that would bring about a local economic boom and create a new destination for recreation.68 The fight has been used to demonstrate the influence that water use has had on American policies on preservation and conservation.69 It has also been analyzed through the communication of elites, between conservation leaders and government representatives, and has been pointed to as the birth of the modern conservation movement.70 Previous treatments of the Echo Park Dam controversy have largely excluded these gems possibly because they were focused on the politics or the so-called Great Men of the day. The preservation of Dinosaur National Monument was due, in large part, to public outcry-as Nash noted, the mail running to House members was 80 to 1 against the dam.71 Including in this analysis the organizations that engaged in the public campaign, which helped drive this sentiment, can give a unique glimpse into the strategies and even the emotional nature of the communication. The historical method used in this study involved gathering all issues of the magazines and newsletters listed above for the seven-year period, 415 issues in total. Each issue was reviewed to collect any items that referenced the CRSP, Dinosaur National Monument, Glen Canyon, Echo Park or Split Mountain dams, or the CoC. The items ranged from editorials to multipage articles with photographs, from reproductions of congressional testimony to letters to the editor written by members. Once collected, 68 Neel, "Utah and the Echo Park Dam Controversy." 69 Richardson, Dams, Parks, and Politics. 70 Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness. 71 Nash, Wilderness & the American Mind. 23 these items were then photocopied for detailed reading and analysis. The study focuses on how the CoC members used their publications to build an argument against encroachments into the NPS and motivate their readers to become personally involved in the campaign. Combined, these resources reveal new information about the campaign to save Dinosaur, and by extension, the Park Service. This information is useful in understanding one of the first major victories of the modern environmental movement and identifying communication strategies that have already proven successful in achieving policy change.72 The battle over Dinosaur National Monument in the 1950s is an important moment in the conservation movement in the United States, but it has been, for the most part, lost to the annals of history for environmentalists. Such an event, with its importance to a political movement and the modern history of the Western United States, should be given greater attention and analysis. As Richard Bradley put it, "Echo Park really kind of put conservation on the front page for the first time, instead of something back with the obituaries."73 The campaign gave activists a long-awaited victory over a powerful government agency and helped to create the modern environmental movement. This dissertation will give a more in-depth understanding of the campaign, the groups involved, and the strategies used to wage the battle. 72 While organizations had effected change-as in the case of the birth of the Audubon Society following a campaign to encourage women not to wear hats with real bird feathers-the Echo Park battle is recognized as one of the first examples of a coalition of multiple groups achieving environmental policy change. 73 Duncan and Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. 24 Chapter Outline Chapter 2 will address historical methodology. The value of historical work lies in examining "our feeling for the relationship of events in time, both for the continuity of human experience and its immense variety."74 The long, slow soak of historical work allows researchers to attempt to view the past truthfully, with as little influence from the present as possible. History puts the events of the past in context so that we may understand the importance of what has happened and the role it plays in what is happening now. Chapters 3 through 11 will investigate the publications of nine of the Council of Conservationists. Each of the groups published either a magazine or a newsletter and the 415 total issues gathered were then analyzed for any reference to Dinosaur National Monument, Echo Park Dam, the Colorado River Storage Project, or the CoC. The reading examined the organization's communication to members to understand the strategies and themes that mobilized these members. Chapter 12 will provide an overview of the major themes that appeared throughout the campaign as a whole, to explain the most prominent arguments used. The conclusion will compare the findings of this campaign from the 1950s and relate them to current policy discussions. The debates around environmental legislation and administrative programs rage on today-from attempted alterations to the Antiquities Act of 1906 to the Keystone Pipeline and oil leases in national park territory-it is possible that the arguments used to motivate the public to act in defense of the environment could 74 R.J. Shafer, A Guide to Historical Method: Revised Edition (Homewood, Il: The Dorsey Press, 1974), 1. 25 be informative to present-day activists of all topics. This dissertation will work to connect successful strategies of the past in an effort to better prepare the activists of the future. 26 CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL METHOD AND THEMATIC ANALYSIS Our histories serve the double purpose, which written histories have always served, of keeping alive the recollection of memorable men and events. -Carl Becker, Everyman His Own Historian To appreciate the role of environmental organizations in the defeat of the Echo Park Dam project, this dissertation requires collection and analysis of documents more than fifty years old. The value of such an endeavor can be found in Carl Becker's conundrum that history is the "unconscious and necessary effort on the part of ‘society' to understand what it is doing in the light of what it has done and what it hopes to do."75 In the years before email blasts, Facebook pages, tweets on Twitter, and flash mobs, how did organizations mobilize their publics for policy change? A historical analysis of the communication of these environmental organizations can provide greater understanding of past successful (and unsuccessful) attempts to influence policymakers, and achieve policy change. In short, historical analysis can provide context for present-day challenges. Questions abound inside the community of historical researchers as to the use of theory and quantitative information in historical research, the role of the researcher, and the relationship between scientific research methods and generalization of historical 75 Carl Becker, "Everyman His Own Historian," The American Historical Review 37 (Jan. 1932): 235. 27 knowledge.76 One vital question for historians centers on the purpose of history. Is it a field of study for elites and ivory-tower academics? Norman Wilson identifies six reasons for studying history, including "showing that change is one constant of the human experience," "highlighting differences over periods of time," "depicting the past as a foreign land and revealing the evolution to the present," "showing how historically conditioned our own situation is" to "understand ourselves as part of a society formed through time," and finally, to "create a collective memory that does not overburden us."77 All of Wilson's reasons revolve around the uniqueness and interconnectedness of the human experience. Knowledge of history highlights how similar we are-both across physical borders and time-and how those humans who have come before us created the society in which we live. It has been argued that "there is a demonstrated need for more comparative studies that assess communication behavior and issues across multiple cultures and longitudinally."78 Because we are dependent on the recollections and records left by others, others whose witness and memory are dependent on context and creed, we cannot ever truly know what occurred in the past. Historians attempt to satisfy "our feeling for the relationship of events in time, both for the continuity of human experience and its immense variety."79 However, understanding the history of humans and how we came to be the creatures we are in the cultures we inhabit has proven valuable. Kitson Clark 76 Communication history and history will be used interchangeably in this study. 77 Norman J. Wilson, History in Crisis? Recent Directions in Historiography (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999), 4-6. 78 Tony Atwater, "Communication Theory and Research: The Quest for Increased Credibility in the Social Sciences," in An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research, ed. Michael B. Salwen and Don W. Stacks (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996), 543. 79 R. J. Shafer, A Guide to Historical Method: Revised Edition (Homewood, Il: The Dorsey Press, 1974), 1. 28 declared that, "In very many matters the labours of scholars have produced a version of history which is a better guide to what really happened, a more secure basis for thought and action."80 Good historical work will not only ask an interesting question, it will also find a new way to answer that question through new sources and narratives or new analysis. One of the most important things historians do is to use past events to give context to contemporary discussions.81 This context has "aided man to adjust his life to a changing world, and the study of history in particular affords a mental discipline that helps him meet new problems soberly and intelligently instead of emotionally and superficially."82 There are those who claim, though, that these new problems are not exactly new. As R. J. Shafer argued, "the greatest function of historical study is as an addition to experience, tending to an appreciation of the existence in the past of the race of many confrontations with problems similar to our own." This leads to an "elimination of the supposition that all current problems are uniquely terrible in the history of man."83 History has the ability to allow humans to look at themselves in relation to their progenitors and perhaps to enlighten the impact of decisions yet to come. This study investigates past experiences from one of the earliest campaigns of the modern conservation movement: the fight to stop the federal government from building two dams inside Dinosaur National Monument as part of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). This project is an exploration of the communication environmental groups used 80 Kitson Clark, The Critical Historian (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1967), 10. 81 Michael Sweeney, "Everyman His Own Historian-Not! A Defense of Our Profession-And a Plea for Its Future." American Journalism (Winter 2006), 143-148. 82 Homer C. Hockett, The Critical Method in Historical Research and Writing (New York: Macmillan Company, 1967), 4. 83 Shafer, Guide to Historical Method, 14. 29 in the 1950s to mobilize their members in defense of the National Park System and will provide a window into the ways groups conversed in the past. The study of history has gone from aiming for exact reproduction dependent upon eyewitness accounts, to a focus on authority figures establishing appropriate accounts of history. Both treated history as something that would follow a predictable line. The discipline then made a move away from authority and began focusing on evidence, even at the risk of displeasing the power structure. According to Homer Hockett, "The historian like the geologist interprets past events by the traces they have left; he deals with the evidences of man's past acts and thoughts. But the historian, no less than the scientist, must utilize evidence resting on reliable observation."84 While other researchers have addressed the controversy surrounding Dinosaur and the CRSP, most have done so through the lens of government elites and policy-makers. Analyzing the communication strategies of conservation groups, largely outside the power structure, gives new understanding to the way nonelites talked about the controversy and the way it was presented to conservationists. The historical method is unique in that it cannot possibly hope to attain objective reproduction of its subject. To say that historical research is subjective should not be mistaken as being unreliable or untrue; as such the aim is "to get as close an approximation to the truth about the past as constant correction of his mental images will allow, at the same time recognizing that that truth has in fact eluded him forever."85 The research process has been parsed and detailed by many a historical scholar. For Louis Gottschalk, there are four steps: subject selection, source collection, source verification, 84 Hockett, Critical Method, 8. Original emphasis. 85 Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History: A Primer of Historical Method, 2nd ed. (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1969), 47. 30 and source extraction. Topic selection should focus on a researcher's ability to investigate the subject and its significance both to the past and society today. When collecting sources, researchers should aim for primary sources whenever possible because "they are contemporaneous . . . in close proximity to some past occurrence."86 The value in a primary source lies in its relationship to the topic, and its ability to give "first-hand understanding."87 Secondary sources, while valuable, are more susceptible to questions of authenticity-a major concern when interpreting events of the past. Because the process involves interpretation, the rigor of historical research is occasionally challenged. David Sloan and Michael Stamm counter that there are ways to ensure academic precision. They include gathering a "sufficiently exhaustive" collection of sources, recognizing "possible alternative explanations," and understanding the "various geographical, economic, religious, social, cultural, and political forces" that helped shape the issue or event.88 Gottschalk's four steps are dependent on the researcher to determine the authenticity of the information and artifacts gathered and then to uncover some new information or identify a new vantage point around the subject. Extraction requires a willingness to abandon the major narratives of history. Several scholars have urged researchers to move beyond traditional interpretations of events to create a new cultural history.89 This should look past the dates and names of prominent actors and seek to give context, flesh, and feeling to the actions. One example of this research is James W. 86 Wm. David Sloan and James D. Startt, Historical Methods in Mass Communication, 3rd ed. (Northport, AL: Vision Press, 2010), 194. 87 Sloan and Startt, Historical Methods in Mass Communication, 196. 88 Ibid, 236. 89 For an impassioned argument in favor of unique interpretations of historical narratives, see J.W. Carey's "The Problem of Journalism History," Journalism History 1 (Spring, 1974), 3-5, 27. A more recent review of Carey's argument, and the many responses it inspired, can be found in David Paul Nord's "James Carey and Journalism History: A Remembrance," Journalism History, 32, (Fall 2006), 122-127. 31 Davidson and Mark H. Lytle's tracing of the evolution of the historical narrative of Andrew Jackson.90 They begin with Fredrick Jackson Turner's landmark theory of the American West and his claim that Jackson's behavior is evidence of this Frontier Spirit, providing ample support for Turner's conclusions. But Davidson and Lytle then compare the frontier Jackson to later research that gave a strong argument for the foppish Jackson or even the class-warrior Jackson. Both theories were originally presented as evidence of a larger theme of Jackson's time, but Davidson and Lytle argue they actually mirror the presentism of the researchers. The many interpretations of Jackson lead to the conclusion that historical research will never be exact in the same way the natural sciences are. Past events have sometimes been interpreted in terms of modern values and concepts. Indeed, there is no single version of history. Another challenge to the historical method lies in the gathering of primary sources. In her thirty years of research on the life and career of public relations practitioner Doris E. Fleischman, Susan Henry admits to over-reliance on official, sanctioned sources, including books authored by her husband, the PR pioneer Edward Bernays. Once Henry gathered and analyzed private, unpublished documents from Fleischman's later years, she discovered a more complete picture of the woman that gave context and explanation to her life as a whole. Henry argues that historians need to expand their focus to include outside and unofficial sources. Researchers must learn to search beyond the traditional items of record: The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times can only tell us so much about events of the day. In order to fully understand a historical subject, researchers need to turn to personal or unofficial sources of 90 J. W. Davidson and M. H. Lytle, Jackson's Frontier-and Turner's," in After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, 5th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill). 32 information. By analyzing the publications of the member groups of the Council of Conservationists, instead of the media representations and legislative records of the campaign, this study will provide a more complete picture of the strategic communication and specific messages used to mobilize their publics. This dissertation will utilize a thematic analysis to interpret the publications of CoC groups to better understand the campaign to defeat the proposed Echo Park and Split Mountain dams inside Dinosaur National Monument. Thematic analysis is a "method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. It minimally organizes and describes your data set in rich detail."91 This method is noted for its flexibility- allowing researchers the freedom to read sources deeply to identify essential ideas and supporting subcategories-as well as its rigor, requiring multiple passes at analysis and interpretation.92 Thematic analysis has been used in several disciplines, including health sciences and history.93 While it is new to communication, it is ideal for research that works to provide a nonlinear description and interpretation of narrative materials that is not limited or driven by previous theoretical claims.94 The deep, close reading of sources in historical research is time consuming and differs from quantitative research in that it does not begin with a theoretical framework. In order to avoid being limited to previous conceptions of characters and events, 91 Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke, "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology," Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2006): 79. 92 Mojtaba Vaismoradi, Hannele Turunen, and Terese Bondas, "Content Analysis and Thematic Analysis: Implications for Conducting a Qualitative Descriptive Study," Nursing & Health Sciences 15 (September 2013): 398-405. 93 For a historical use of thematic analysis, see Steven Wallech, Craig Hendricks, Anne Lynne Negus, Peter Wan, Touraj Daryaee, and Gordon Morris Bakken, World History, A Concise Thematic Analysis (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). 94 Vaismoradi, Turunen, and Bondas, 399. 33 researchers attempt to approach their topic with the proverbial "blank slate." According to David Sloan and Michael Stamm, the good historian does not set out with a theory and marshal facts to fit it. The best history is always a search for truth. As facts are gathered to find the truth, they may lead to a theory, but theory should never be used to determine facts. Interpretation arises instead from the gathered facts.95 This inductive approach to research is especially appropriate for understanding groups that have been marginalized or operate outside of the mainstream. Historians who have studied progressive issues have addressed this problem-researching the struggle of "equality against the powerful forces of wealth and class."96 Theory is often developed through a lens of the powerful. Environmental groups, first labeled as such in the 1960s, operate and attempt to create social change in a "dominant social structure [that] is more responsive to powerful upper-class interests and less likely to heed the call for change when it comes from outside its own class."97 During the Dinosaur fight, the disparate conservation organizations that made up the Council of Conservationists would have been seen as neither upper class nor mainstream. They were not the policymakers, they were the outside agitators attempting to persuade their publics. The narrative materials analyzed for this dissertation were the membership publications of the groups comprising the Council of Conservationists (CoC) from 1950 to 1956. While the Dinosaur controversy raged, CoC groups published more than 400 issues of magazines and newsletters. These materials were gathered from libraries across the western United States. Each issue was read for any items related to Dinosaur National Monument, Echo Park or Split Mountain dams, the Colorado River Storage Project, and 95 Sloan and Stamm, Historical Methods in Mass Communication, 24. 96 Sloan and Stamm, Historical Methods in Mass Communication, 34. 97 Julia B. Corbett, Communicating Nature: How we Create and Understand Environmental Messages (Washington, D. C.: Island Press), 285. 34 recreation areas in Eastern and Southern Utah including Glen Canyon and Navajo Canyon.98 All articles related to these topics were then photocopied and organized chronologically by publication. The second read of the materials looked for unique passages. A passage was deemed unique if it possessed originality, a repetition from another source, or if it used a distinctive appeal. These passages were then entered into a spreadsheet for labeling. For each publication, passages were read individually and a label was assigned. Initial categories identified included "national park system," "value," "spiritual," "alternatives," "bureaucracy," and "posterity." If a passage did not fit in a category already identified, a new category that best described that passage was created. Next, passages were reviewed by category to ensure similarities existed and to rule-out repetition or overlap. To identify major themes for each publication, categories were then analyzed for overarching ideas. For example, the categories of "spiritual" and "beauty" often expressed a larger idea of the "value of nature to humanity" and so were combined into one larger theme of "Value of Nature." The passages in that theme were mined for compelling and representative examples of the narrative of the newsletter or magazine. The themes of each publication were then compared to identify any similarities across groups or explainable differences between groups. In all, of the hundreds of articles, thousands of passages were read for categorization and thematic analysis. As recurring themes were identified, frame theory emerged as a way to study the overall communication of the groups. 98 Both were sites of another proposed CRSP dams. Glen Canyon Dam, that created Lake Powell, would be the bargain that conservationists struck to save Dinosaur. 35 Framing theory is the idea that "an issue can be viewed from a variety of perspectives and be construed as having implications for multiple values or considerations."99 Linguist George Lakoff argued that a frame includes "a message, an audience, a messenger, a medium, images, a context, and especially, higher-level moral and conceptual frames."100 Each of these elements helps create our understanding of an event or idea. Beyond the interpretation, though, Dennis Chong and James Druckman argue that frames have the ability to "affect the attitudes and behaviors of their audiences."101 If, as Julia Corbett argued, the goal of conservation groups is to create social change, then framing would be an appropriate theoretical concept for examining the communication of these groups. Indeed, researchers have found that not only are frames used by groups, but that the public responds to frames and can form opinions that match those frames.102 Robert Benford and David Snow claimed that framing is "a central dynamic in understanding the character and course of social movements."103 Finally, according to Jennifer Jerit, differing groups will frame an issue differently. This includes varying framing strategies from political elites and policymakers compared to interest groups. These frames are discussed fully in the conclusion chapter. The battle to keep dams out of Dinosaur National Monument was waged by conservation groups across the country. The groups varied greatly in area of interest and 99 Dennis Chong and James N. Druckman, "Framing Theory," Annual Review of Political Science 10 (June 2007): 104. 100 George Lakoff, "Simple Framing: An Introduction to Framing and Its Uses in Politics," Rockridge Institute 14 (2006). 101 Chong and Druckman, "Framing Theory," 109. 102 Arjen E. Buijs, "Public Support for River Restoration. A Mixed-Method Study into Local Residents' Support for and Framing of River Management and Ecological Restoration in the Dutch Floodplains," Journal of Environmental Management 90 (June 2009): 2680-2689. 103 Robert D. Benford and David A. Snow, "Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment," Annual Review of Sociology, 26, no. 1 (2000): 612. 36 expertise, as well as style and formality. Yet nine organizations joined together to stop a billion dollar federal project that was considered by many to be vital, to the survival of Western states and even the country itself. This campaign is one of the first for modern conservationists in America. And its victory was the death knell for Glen Canyon, one of the greatest recreation losses in the history of the United States. Analyzing the communication strategies used by a consortium of disparate conservation groups, and how they out-maneuvered two powerful federal agencies and passionate local lawmakers, will help provide a greater understanding of the events themselves, and possibly a blueprint for future environmental campaigns. 37 CHAPTER 3 THE SIERRA CLUB: HOW DAVID HELPED SLAY GOLIATH People, more than we'll ever know, were writing the letters and showing the pictures and riding the river and telling the other people who wrote still more letters and talked to still more people all of whom, in the nameless but undeniable aggregate, chalked up the National Park System's biggest victory. -David Brower, Sierra Club Bulletin On a cold Wednesday in January 1954, Sierra Club Executive Director David Brower stood before the House Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation. He scribbled furiously at a blackboard. Brower had been invited back to testify for a third time in two days. At several points during the Tuesday hearing, committee members expressed concern that they were getting lost in the math. The solution was to find the only blackboard available at the Capitol Building so that lawmakers could see the numbers clearly. He was called back once a chalkboard could be found. He had been attempting "to demonstrate to this committee that they would be making a great mistake to rely upon the figures presented by the Bureau of Reclamation when they cannot add, subtract, multiply, or divide."104 He was not claiming any great amount of knowledge; rather, he was showing that "a man who has gone through the ninth grade and learned his arithmetic"105 could see that the Echo Park dams were a bad idea. 104 Brower testimony, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Hearings on H.R. 4449 et al. on CRSP (1954), 824. 105 Brower testimony, 824. 38 During his testimony, Brower introduced a dizzying array of figures and used basic math skills to demonstrate that storage and evaporation rates of various dam sites of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) were incorrect. The calculations were being used to justify building two dams inside Dinosaur National Monument. The transcript of the Sierra Club leader's testimony reads like a story problem-riddled with numbers and equations-but the evaporation errors "became a major source of embarrassment for the Department of Interior."106 And Sierra Club Executive Director David Brower became the face of the Echo Park fight. The Sierra Club was founded by John Muir and the poet Robert Underwood Johnson. The two had formed a strong friendship in the late 1880s and joined forces to lobby for the preservation of major wilderness areas in California. By 1892, thanks in large part to the men's efforts, Yosemite was the first area set aside for protection and preservation by the United States government. Future efforts to dedicate other national parks would be as easy and the two soon decided that a coherent argument for an organized conservation program in the United States was necessary.107 They founded the Sierra Club in 1892. Initially, it was a collection of educated outdoor enthusiasts who met regularly with the goal "to do something for wilderness and make the mountains glad."108 106 Jon M. Cosco, Echo Park: Struggle for Preservation (Johnson Printing: Boulder, CO, 1995), 73. 107 Michael P. Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, 1892-1970 (Sierra Club Books: San Francisco, 1988). 108 Linnie Marsh Wolfe, ed., John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938: Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979), quoted in Michael P. Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, 1892-1970 (Sierra Club Books: San Francisco, 1988). 39 In addition to the establishment of national parks, the club "devoted itself to the study and protection of national scenic resources."109 As the conservation issues that faced the nation changed and evolved, so did the organization. Early on, the Sierra Club had to declare a guiding principle on wilderness use. Would they follow a Pinchot-inspired style that focused on management and utilitarian development for economic benefit? Or would the group continue to follow Muir's more naturalist view of saving the trees because trees could not save themselves? The hope was to find a balance between use and preservation because "idealistic members believed that these were not conflicting aspirations."110 In 1893, the club launched the Sierra Club Bulletin, its official national publication. The magazine was 3½ inches wide and 8 inches long. Issues varied in page length and featured a diverse range of subjects, from burro trips through the mountains of Peru to a hike through the Himalayas. The magazine also included announcements of Club-sponsored adventure trips. Much of the content was unsigned. Throughout the Dinosaur campaign, the Bulletin experienced an annual shuffling of editorial staff, but the Sierra Club had steady guidance from two prominent conservationists, David Brower and Richard Leonard. Brower and Leonard were both avid mountaineers from Berkeley, California. Richard Leonard was a lawyer who used his courtroom experience to help further his environmental objectives.111 In 1953, Richard Leonard was preparing to take over as president of the Sierra Club, and he had a plan to grow the organization. The Sierra Club had previously operated on an annual budget of $50,000 and had roughly 7,000 members 109 Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1953, 2. 110 Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, 17. 111 "Sierra Notes," Sierra, Nov-Dec. 1993. 40 (the vast majority from California). Leonard saw the possibility of bringing the club out of the Golden State and making it a national group that could move policy at the federal level. He proposed that the board of directors authorize a salary for a fulltime executive director, and David Brower was just the person for the job. He was a University of California dropout whose military service had earned him a Bronze Star.112 During the Dinosaur fight, Brower served as chairman and editor of the Sierra Club Bulletin. He had been an active member of the Club for years, and was now driving the content of the publication. By 1953, the budget had doubled.113 And by 1960, the membership reached 77,000.114 Richard Leonard described himself as "a voice of moderation and compromise."115 David Brower, on the other hand, was proud to be labeled as radical: "Radical should be good. Radical has something to do with roots. I believe in roots, good roots. Roots are always going on beyond, they're not stuck where they are."116 Yet these two men, with their vastly different personalities, led the Sierra Club through a period of unprecedented growth that coincided with the battle to save Dinosaur National Monument. Brower believed that the leaders of environmental groups could come together to stop "the wreckers."117 He was instrumental in forming the Council of Conservationists. Leonard saw the campaign as a "a return to the magnificent battles that 112 David Kupfer, "David Ross Brower," Progressive, May 1994. 113 Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club. 114 Kupfer, "David Ross Brower." 115 "Sierra Notes," Sierra, Nov-Dec. 1993. 116 Kupfer, "David Ross Brower," 39. 117 Ibid, 39. 41 were fought by John Muir and William Colby."118 That battle was waged, in large part, in the pages of the Sierra Club Bulletin. Between 1950 to 1956, the Sierra Club Bulletin dedicated a considerable amount of coverage to the Dinosaur controversy. Nearly eighty items in the magazine discussed the topic, including a pamphlet about the proposed dams. Over the next three years, the content consistently consisted of between five and ten stories each year. But from 1954 to 1956, at least fifteen stories addressed the topic. The first item was published in the July 1950 issue and informed readers of Interior Secretary Oscar Chapman's decision to authorize the Dinosaur projects. In the September magazine, editors declared that the monument was "of high national park caliber and that every effort should be made to protect it."119 One month later, the resolutions of the annual convention of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs included a statement to "reaffirm strongly the national policy that our national parks, national monuments and formally dedicated wilderness areas shall be reserved for the primary purposes as set forth."120 The February 1951 issue included several Echo Park items. One highlighted nine "Danger Spots" in conservation, and "the spectacular and colorful canyons in Dinosaur National Monument" were number one.121 Another item chronicled the unceremonious removal of National Park Service Director Newton Drury.122 Drury had been embroiled in conflict with the leader of the Bureau of Reclamation and it had cost him his job. Conservationists saw this as an omen for dealing with the entire Department of the Interior. Readers were also given additional content in February. A pamphlet titled "Will 118 Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, 146. 119 "Board of Directors Meets at Norden," Sierra Club Bulletin, September 1950, 5. 120 Federation Convenes at Norden, Sierra Club Bulletin, October 1950, 4. 121 "Danger Spots," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1951, 15-16. 122 "Mr. Drury's Departure," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1951, 17. 42 You DAM the Scenic Wild Canyons of Our NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM?" was distributed with the magazine.123 This eight-page pamphlet was dedicated to the proposed dams. The argument was that the parks belonged to the people and the dams "would flood this entire area and submerge all of Steamboat Rock except a small island at the top."124 It also included a map of the monument and the locations of the two proposed dams. The seventeen conservation organizations that had helped sponsor the publication were listed on the back of the pamphlet. Of those groups, eight were members of the Council of Conservationists (the only group missing was the Audubon Society). The April Bulletin featured a speech delivered at the 1951 Second Wilderness Conference Dinner sponsored by the Sierra Club.125 Howard Zahniser-executive director of The Wilderness Society and editor of The Living Wilderness-was the speaker. He encouraged the audience, and by extension readers of the Bulletin, to be aware of and active in the fight against threats to America's wild spaces. By June, the club had held its annual organizing meeting. The Bulletin included the news that officers were speaking out publicly against the Dinosaur dams. The October magazine had similar information relating to the board meeting where the "officers and the Editorial Board were authorized to plan a strong campaign in support of the National Monument, to be presented through the Sierra Club Bulletin."126 The Dinosaur debate was prominently covered in the December 1951 issue. The opening pages reprinted items from the Denver Post. The Post editorial board had 123 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1951. Original emphasis. 124 "Will You DAM the Scenic Wild Canyons of Our NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM?" Sierra Club, February 1951. 125 Howard Zahniser, "How Much Wilderness Can We Afford to Lose?" Sierra Club Bulletin, April 1951, 5-8. 126 "Board Meets at Norden," Sierra Club Bulletin, October 1951, 9. 43 lambasted Interior Secretary Oscar Chapman for appearing to waiver in his support of the Echo Park project. During a speech at the Audubon Society's annual dinner, Chapman had said, "I sincerely hope that we might work out a solution whereby the Split Mountain and Echo Park Dams need not be built in Dinosaur National Monument."127 The Denver Post editorial staff argued that "from all standpoints, including the prevention of the loss of water through evaporation, Echo Park and Split Mountain provide the best available sites."128 They declared that Chapman's "switch in attitude requires a fuller explanation than he has given so far."129 This editorial appeared on page 5 of the Bulletin, and was followed on page 6 by a response from J. W. Penfold of the Izaak Walton League. Penfold argued in the Post that the editorial was "not quite fair nor entirely accurate."130 He defended Chapman, stating that he was fulfilling his "public responsibility with vision, honesty … and courage."131 Next readers were given excerpts of Chapman's speech so they could judge for themselves whether the dam was necessary. He called for cooperation and welcomed conservationists' "continued support in our efforts to guard and manage wisely the resources entrusted to us."132 Excerpts from yet another talk by a Truman administration 127 "Address of Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman at the Annual Dinner Meeting of the National Audubon Society, New York City, November 13, 1951," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1951, 9. Oscar L. Chapman. 1951. "Address [on national park, water resources and wildlife policies of the Department of the Interior] of Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman at the Annual Dinner of the National Audubon Society," Pamphlets on Water Resources; v. 4, November 13, 1951. 128 "Reversing His Field," The Denver Post, November 15, 1951. "The Dinosaur Controversy: Reversing His Field," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1951, 5. 129 "Reversing His Field." 130 The Dinosaur Controversy: Guest Editorial," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1951, 6. 131 The Dinosaur Controversy: Guest Editorial," 6. 132 "Address of Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman," 9. 44 official immediately followed. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Dale E. Doty had spoken at the annual dinner of the Sierra Club and declared that he hoped alternative plans could "eventually be worked out to avoid the use of that National Monument for water storage purposes."133 Readers of the Sierra Club Bulletin were hearing directly from bureaucrats and conservation leaders regarding the Colorado River Storage Project and its proposed dams. It would take a full year for Dinosaur to reappear in the Bulletin. The December 1952 issue featured Stephen Bradley's account of floating the Green and Yampa Rivers through the monument. He had joined a party of nine novices as they rode the waters with the help of noted river guide Bus Hatch. Bradley described Dinosaur as "some of the most arrestingly beautiful canyon country in America."134 Bradley was an avid skier and kayaker. As the manager of Winter Park Resort in Colorado, a ski resort, Bradley was a supporter of wilderness development for recreation.135 By the end of the trip, he was incredulous that "anyone could propose the construction of Echo Park Dam as long as he knew and appreciated the unique beauty which the dam would forever seal from our view."136 133 "Remarks of Assistant Secretary of the Interior Dale E. Doty, at the Annual Dinner of the Sierra Club, Los Angeles, November 10, 1951," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1951, 11. Dale E. Doty, "Remarks on National Park and Conservation Policies and Activities of the Dept. of the Interior of the Hon. Dale E. Doty, Assistant Secretary for the Department of the Interior at the Annual Dinner of the Sierra Club," Pamphlets on National Parks; v. 8, November 10, 1951. 134 Stephen J. Bradley, "Folbots Through Dinosaur," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1952, 1. 135 Bradley Foundation Genealogies, "Stephen Joseph Bradley," http://www.bradleyfoundation.org/genealogies/Bingley/tobg161.htm, (accessed March 10, 2014). 136Stephen J. Bradley, "Folbots Through Dinosaur," 6. 45 Also appearing in the December magazine was a paper, written by Charles C. Bradley (older brother of Stephen Bradley), on the importance of conservation. Bradley was a geologist at Montana State College and had delivered a paper at the faculty forum in January 1952. He argued that it was important for the public to "clearly understand the two values … wilderness for study and conservation."137 He called on his colleagues to "throw a little of your weight with some organization like the Wilderness Society which is putting up such a grand sustained intelligent battle."138 The Bulletins of 1953 included several stories about resolutions regarding Dinosaur and a cover photo of a boatload of river riders dwarfed by the cliffs that hung over the Yampa River. The annual convention of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs adopted a reiteration of support of three 1951 resolutions on which action is still to be taken. This covers (a) Prohibition of any project for storage or delivery of water within or which may adversely affect National Parks and Monuments; (b) Opposition to the proposed dams in the Dinosaur National Monument.139 Two months later, the report from the quarterly Board of Directors meeting gave the directive that the Club would be active in the campaign to protect wild areas, and specifically to protect Dinosaur.140 The September 1953 "Summer Roundup" informed readers that "180 Sierra Club members idled and sped down 84 miles of the Yampa and Green rivers."141 The river trips were a direct rebuttal to the repeated claim that the canyons and rivers were too treacherous for the public to enjoy. Throughout the year, readers were also encouraged to get a closer look at Dinosaur by registering for the 1954 137 Charles C. Bradley, "Wilderness and Man," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1952, 62. 138 Charles C. Bradley, "Wilderness and Man," 67. 139 "Federation Notes," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1953, 5. 140 "Directors' Actions, February Meeting," Sierra Club Bulletin, March 1953, 5. 141 "For the September Record," Sierra Club Bulletin, September 1953, 3. 46 outings through the monument.142 And if they could not ride the river themselves, the Bulletin advertised dates and locations for showings of Phillip Hyde's photographs from Dinosaur.143 Hyde, a member of the Sierra Club, has been called the "underappreciated master landscape photographer of the 20th century."144 The coverage in 1954 was frequent and fierce. The cover of the February Bulletin featured the Rainbow Recess, a prominent rock formation on the Yampa River. Beneath the picture, the caption warned that there was "Trouble in Dinosaur."145 Editors declared that the rainbow canyons of the Yampa and the Green, corridors through a primitive paradise unequalled anywhere, are a unique gem of the National Park System. They are now needlessly threatened. You can prevent their destruction.146 The issue began with a review of the 16mm color film, "Wilderness River Trail."147 This film was produced to showcase the beauty and power of Dinosaur National Monument. The next article posed the question: "Two Wasteful Dams-Or a Great National Park?"148 Editors argued that the dams were not urgent or necessary and then challenged readers to contact legislators in defense of Dinosaur. A brief note was added to the top of the very next page. It presented an alarming scenario in which the "demand for Colorado 142 "The 1954 Wilderness Outings: Preliminary Announcement," Sierra Club Bulletin, November 1953, 5. 143 Miscellany, Sierra Club Bulletin, March 1953, 2. 144 Sierra Club, "History: Philip Hyde," www.sierraclub.org/history/philip-hyde/, (accessed March 30, 2014). 145 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, cover. 146 Ibid. 147 "New Color Film on Dinosaur, Ready February 1," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 2. Produced by the Sierra Club, this film can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfyFC8CX1Nc, (accessed April 10, 2014). 148 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 3. 47 River water will increase until it eventually exceeds the supply."149 Beneath the note, editors listed five main arguments against the dams and detailed responses to claims in favor of the dams.150 The article presented General Ulysses S. Grant III's expert opinion on the project, including his counterproposal and evaporation calculations. However, the editors noted that "it is not up to the conservationist to devise specific alternates and compute data concerning them."151 The back cover of the February 1954 issue labeled the Echo Park dam as wasteful and called on members to help protect the park system for posterity. By May 1954, the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee had voted on the Upper Colorado Project. It had squeaked by with a vote of 13-12. Coverage in the Sierra Club Bulletin included a timeline leading to the vote and an article featuring David Brower's litany of arguments against the dams.152 He argued five main points: power, agriculture, water storage, precedent, and beauty. Brower claimed that dam proponents were using suspicious math and spurious assumptions to rush through the project. And he cautioned that the dams would create ugly fluctuating reservoirs that would destroy the spirit of the monument.153 Artistic renditions of Dinosaur were becoming popular. Two side-by-side illustrations appeared on the same page of the May magazine. The images were drawings of Dinosaur National Monument's Steamboat Rock and Kings Canyon's mountain peaks. The sketches were hazy and gray, except for the very top, representing the high-water 149 "Today's Thought for the Future," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 5. 150 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 5. 151 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 11. 152 Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954. 153 David Brower, "Arguments on Parade," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 4. 48 lines of the reservoirs that would "drown our parks" if proposed dams were approved.154 The issue also encouraged readers to view the Sierra Club's movie Wilderness River Trail as it was shown to conservation groups across the country.155 The last article presented information from the Board of Directors meeting. David Brower had just completed his testimony before the House Subcommittee and the board praised "the Executive Director's outstanding effectiveness in the Dinosaur campaign."156 The June 1954 Bulletin read like an unofficial Dinosaur promotional magazine. It presented, in full, the text of David Brower's testimony before the House Subcommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs.157 Titled "Preserving Dinosaur," Brower's testimony had tremendous impact on the proceedings. He expressed a "hope that ample time will be allowed for the very thorough scrutiny such a proposal needs before the nation as a whole commits itself to the very complicated and necessarily costly project which is before you."158 The next item was an essay comparing the Dinosaur project to the destruction of Hetch Hetchy earlier in the century.159 Robert Cutter's essay countered that Hetch Hetchy had created "just another dammed artificial lake," and that Dinosaur would be another.160 David Brower added to the conversation with his "Footnote to Hetch Hetchy."161 He 154 "Don't Let Them Drown Our Parks," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 5. 155 "Wilderness River Trail," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 5. 156 "Director's Meeting, May 1: Organization, Park and Forest Problems," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 13. 157 David Brower, "Preserving Dinosaur," Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1954, 1-10. 158 David Brower, "Preserving Dinosaur," 2. 159 Robert K. Cutter, "Hetch Hetchy-Once Is Too Often," Serra Club Bulletin, June 1954, 11-12. 160 Cutter, "Hetch Hetchy-Once Is Too Often, 11. 161 Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1954, 13-14. 49 argued that "just as in Dinosaur, it was not necessary in Hetch Hetchy to choose between water or scenery."162 Publisher August Frugé's river journal from his 1953 ride down the Yampa and Green Rivers included details of one of the Sierra Club-sponsored trips to Dinosaur.163 The journal gave readers an intimate portrait of the monument, its rivers and canyons, and its wildlife residents. It read like a novel, at times lazy and peaceful, and at others roaring and exhilarating. A photo essay spanning sixteen pages compared before-and-after images from Hetch Hetchy and photos of Dinosaur's wild rivers and steep canyon walls.164 The essay included captions describing the beauty and then devastation of dams and warned of the same in Echo Park. The only other news about Echo Park in 1954 in the Sierra Club Bulletin came in a report on the annual meeting of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs. This group, of which David Brower was an active member, issued a series of resolutions, including one "urging that Dinosaur National Monument be given National Park status, and opposing the sacrifice of unique and irreplaceable values there."165 Coverage of the Dinosaur controversy in 1955 began in January with the news that the Sierra Club had established a nonprofit organization under California law. This move, approved by the Board of Directors, was designed to give the Club more freedom to "take the message of conservationists directly and vigorously to Congress, without fear of violating the tax laws."166 Tax laws in the 1950s did not "permit the Sierra Club to 162 David R. Brower, "Footnote to Hetch Hetchy," Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1954, 13. 163 August Frugé, "River Journal: Yampa and Green Rivers, 1953," Sierra Club Bulletin, 15-26. 164 "Once is too Often: A Picture Story," Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1954. 165 "Federation Acts on Conservation Issues," Sierra Club Bulletin, October 1954, 6. 166 Richard M. Leonard, "We Defend the Parks," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 5. 50 carry on a full-scale legislative campaign, either state or national, to protect our parks."167 The nonprofit status of an organization could be threatened if said organization engaged in too much direct government lobbying. And if that status was lost, donations would no longer be tax deductible. In order to address this legal minefield, the Sierra Club announced a restructuring plan: As a wise precaution, the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, at their meeting in February 1954, at the beginning of the Dinosaur controversy in Congress, passed formal resolution instructing members of the Sierra Club not to solicit, collect, or receive contributions in connection with the fight to protect Dinosaur National Monument. Thus the Sierra Club has been fully protected up through the end of the 83rd Congress. Now, however, a "new look" is essential for the serious battles to preserve our national park system.168 This change was accompanied by the establishment of two umbrella organizations. The Trustees for Conservation was a coalition created for Western organizations, while the Council of Conservationists united mostly East Coast groups.169 These two groups provided the legal protection many of the conservation groups needed to engage in much more aggressive direct lobbying. Items in the Bulletin implied that there was an East/West division in the labor between the two groups. The Sierra Club is the only group of the Council of Conservationists to mention the Trustees, and it is the only group of the CoC headquartered west of the Mississippi. This suggests Sierra was the only organization to be officially part of both the Trustees of Conservation and the Council of Conservationists. 167 Leonard, "We Defend the Parks," 3. 168 Ibid, 4. 169 David Perlman, "Our Winning Fight for Dinosaur," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 5. 51 Another article in the January issue named Dinosaur the "number one issue of the year."170 David Perlman, a Sierra Club member from a local California chapter, gave background and context for the fight and then vowed that "the Sierra Club will continue its campaign, in print and wherever it finds an appropriate forum, to present the principles involved, and the facts."171 A photo spread in the issue showed the consequences of building a dam and creating a reservoir.172 Images showed the impact of fluctuating water levels of Lake Mead and then predicted "in Dinosaur National Monument, what the dams would destroy-white water, green oases, grand canyons."173 Other items in the Bulletin highlighted the activities of local groups in the Club's primarily Californian membership. Chapters from across the state were engaged in the fight to stop the Echo Park dams in several ways, including public showings of Wilderness River Trail and group discussions for community members.174 The back cover of the March 1955 issue featured an article by David Perlman in which he wrote that "the battle to save Echo Park from the dam-builders is turning into an extraordinarily bitter one."175 By May, Dinosaur was on the cover of the Bulletin, with the caption, "Dinosaur: Hour of Decision."176 In the lead article, David Brower warned that "only the House can save a great park."177 And later in the magazine, the recommendations of the Club's Fourth Biennial Wilderness Conference included support 170 Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 11, 14-15. 171 David Perlman, "Number One Issue of the Year: River Canyons or Dinosaur Dams," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 15. 172 Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 12-13. 173 Ibid. 174 "Chapters Active on Local, National Tasks," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 22- 23. 175175 David Perlman, "Razzle-Dazzle on the Colorado," Sierra Club Bulletin, March 1955, 8. 176 Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, cover. 177 David Brower, "Dinosaur: Hour of Decision," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, 3. 52 for appropriations to fully fund the national parks and a "pledge to continue opposition to the inclusion of the Echo Park Dam in the Upper Colorado Storage Project."178 Finally, the back cover featured a review of Wallace Stegner's This is Dinosaur: Echo Park Country and Its Magic Rivers. The reviewer asked whether the Dinosaur issue would, for the National Park System, be "a milestone or a headstone."179 By the end of 1955, the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs had met again, and once again passed resolutions in support of Dinosaur National Monument and the entire National Park system.180 The November issue also warned that Utah supporters of the Echo Park dams were ramping up their activities to convince legislators to vote for the project.181 The Dinosaur controversy was covered prominently in 1956, beginning with ten items in the January magazine. The January issue was "devoted to a review of the year 1955, presenting leading problems in the preservation of parks and wilderness from the point of view of the Sierra Club."182 Donald Teague, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, presented readers with several ways they could help move the work along, including visiting national parks and monuments.183 The activities of the Council of Conservation groups, in defense of Dinosaur, were recounted. Brower described the campaign as a concert, and the Sierra Club was "one of the instruments that played in that 178 "What the Conference Recommended," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, 6. 179 Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, back cover. 180 "Federation Convention at Idyllwild," Sierra Club Bulletin, November 1955, 3. 181 Fred Smith, "What We Must Do," Sierra Club Bulletin, November 1955, 5. 182 "Conservation Year," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 2. 183 Donald Teague, "These Are Ways You Can Help…" Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 2. 53 concert."184 Next, Perlman talked about the fight. He spoke of a "new mobilization of conservation resources" and predicted a victory that would last for generations. 185 Throughout the campaign, dam supporters had claimed that the opposition, and the conservation movement even, were a small minority. Sierra Club member Dana Abell responded in an opinion piece in January 1956. Abell admitted that the numbers of people who would call themselves conservationists were limited, but she wondered "whether we might not find that our minority point of view is shared by an overwhelming majority of American citizens."186 Several short items related to Dinosaur were scattered throughout the January issue. They ranged from an advertisement for the publicity book This Is Dinosaur to a San Francisco Chronicle cartoon featuring a stampeding dinosaur chasing down a man in a suit carrying a banner that read "DAMS IN NATIONAL PARKS."187 The Sierra Club's Green and Yampa River trips were advertised in the March 1956 Bulletin. They had been part of the Club's summer outings agenda for three years and were becoming an important element of the campaign to give citizens a firsthand view of the monument to demonstrate its beauty and value. The cover of the June 1956 issue featured a photo of a riverboat navigating the Hell's Half Mile rapid at the entrance to Lodore Canyon. Inside the magazine, the Sierra Club published a recommendation that the United States Forest Service conduct a Scenic Resources Review. This review would study the wilderness and wildlife of the parks and their "intangible values which are 184 David Brower, "The Sierra Club on the National Scene," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 3-4. 185 Perlman, "Our Winning Fight for Dinosaur," 8. 186 "Dana Abell, "Are We Really a Minority?" Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 19. 187 Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1956, 7. 54 steadily increasing in importance to our culture."188 The idea was to demonstrate the importance of the national park areas to America as a country and its citizenry. The same issue included a resolution from the Club's Board of Directors to support the proposed Dinosaur National Park. In September 1956, the back cover, called the Bulletin Board, informed readers that "The inclusion of Echo Park Dam in the Upper Colorado River Project was decisively defeated-a crowning conservation victory."189 Building a Coalition Coverage in the Sierra Club Bulletin of Dinosaur National Monument, the Colorado River Storage Project, and the proposed Echo Park dam featured three major themes. Each of the themes would appear in at least one of the Council of Conservationists publications. The first theme was an emphasis on the conservation movement and a call for members to mobilize in defense of the monument, often using the language of war. This mobilization featured a unique trend, though, in a call for members to actually visit the monument. The second theme focused on the value and benefit of the National Park System, both to the nation and its citizens. This theme was characterized by the spiritualization of nature. The third theme addressed the logic of the proposal, especially focusing on the mathematical dueling of the bureaus and agencies entangled in the debate. The first theme in the Sierra Club Bulletin coverage emphasized the important action of the conservation organizations and their members scattered across the nation. Using battle terms, "Brower and the Sierra Club's directors foresaw in 1954 that the fight against Echo Park would need new political armaments. So they alerted other 188 David Brower, "Scenic Resources," Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1956, 5. 189 Bulletin Board, Sierra Club Bulletin, September 1956, 8. Original emphasis. 55 conservation groups and the arms were forged."190 The groups used weapons that included lobbying and public mobilization, but that required some changes for the Sierra Club. The leaders of the Club helped create the Council of Conservationists and Trustees for Conservation. These groups were created to publicly lobby elected officials. The campaign to move members was much more public, though. Writers in the Sierra Club Bulletin were the first to refer to this coordinated effort as a "movement."191 Richard Leonard called the Trustees for Conservation "a new fighting arm of the conservation movement."192 And David Perlman called the Dinosaur campaign "the most critical in all the history of the conservation movement."193 The campaign was important not only to save Dinosaur, but it was the beginning of a greater movement. Another hint that something larger was afoot can be found in the diversity of the groups and the wide range of topics appearing on the radar. Geologist Charles Bradley described this: We hear of a nation-wide battle in which the Nature Lovers try to preserve Dinosaur National Monument from the 'predatory' Bureau of Reclamation, and at the same time we hear of a women's club in a midwestern city waging a lesser battle to preserve the yellow lady-slipper from the predatory dairy cow. Organizations like the Wilderness Society and the Audubon Society spring up and grow in strength as wilderness and wildlife diminish to the vanishing point.194 For the leaders of the Sierra Club, this new movement would be a big tent that welcomed any group or individual who desired to preserve a piece of nature. Bradley's language is threatening and warns of the importance of strength in numbers. Nature was being preyed 190 David Perlman, "Our Winning Fight for Dinosaur," 5. 191 As noted in Chapter 1, there is academic debate regarding when something becomes a "movement," but it is clear from the language used in the Sierra Club Bulletin that its writers and the Club leaders believed they were a movement, regardless of current academic definition. 192 Richard M. Leonard, "We Defend the Parks," Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1955, 3. 193 David Perlman, "Number One Issue of the Year," 11. 194 Charles C. Bradley, "Wilderness and Man," Sierra Club Bulletin, December 1952, 59. 56 upon by larger entities. Whether it be organizations fighting the Bureau of Reclamation, or proper ladies battling to save a flower from trampling livestock, this would be a David-versus- Goliath battle and the more cooperation the better. The assortment of the groups was seen as a strength, and not a weakness. Brower described it as a new unity among conservationists, which the proponents of Echo Park dam ran head into in what became the most important battle for the national park idea since the invasion of Hetch Hetchy. The many organizations who joined to protect Dinosaur were disparate in kind.195 Connecting Dinosaur to the previous sacrifice of Hetch Hetchy created a narrative of continuity. The diversity in the coalition was part of what allowed the Sierra Club to play such a role. Modern readers may not remember that the Sierra Club was still considered a California group in the 1950s. Between 1954 and 1955, the membership grew from 8,306 to 9,175 but was still overwhelmingly located in the Golden State.196 The comparison to Hetch Hetchy would have hit home especially hard for Sierra Club members, so many of whom had seen either the beauty of the valley or the destruction wrought by its dam, or both. In the fight to save Dinosaur, the many different groups played different roles. The campaign was compared to a concert and the Sierra Club was one of many organizations playing an orchestrated part. The strength was that each group was recognized for its unique focus and that of its members. According to Brower, this "combined harmony produced a magnificent symphony and we shall need to keep the score at hand and play it again from time to time."197 The strategies and tactics used to 195 David R. Brower, "The Sierra Club on the National Scene," 4. 196 Sierra Club Bulletin, March 1955, 2. 197 David R. Brower, "The Sierra Club on the National Scene," 4. 57 protect Dinosaur were just the beginning of a movement-and if successful, would be used in future campaigns. The editors of the Sierra Club Bulletin declared to readers that "Now is the time for all good conservationists to come again to the aid of the National Park System, which is gravely threatened."198 Repeatedly, the call was issued to "lend a hand"199 or "do your part."200 The drive for conservationists to be publicly active in the campaign may have been daunting. The environmental movement did not gain public recognition until the 1960s and Dinosaur was one of the first campaigns.201 Private citizens were encouraged to act because "the voice of the individual conservationist, out where the grass roots grow, is what counts now."202 Sierra Club member Donald Teague urged readers to "be proud that you are a conservationist. Don't be afraid to express yourself."203 The writers and editors of the Bulletin recognized that in the debate over placing dams in Dinosaur, the "conservationist backbone will need stiffening, to put it mildly."204 They were attempting to rally and embolden the troops. One of the greatest challenges conservationists faced was the appearance that somehow supporting the dam was patriotic, and opposing it was not. One item warned that the country was drifting dangerously close to the vortex of a third world conflict, a sixth column of speculators, profiteers, and exploiters is beginning to stir. Since this column 198 "Dinosaur Bill Out of Committee," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 3. Original emphasis. 199 Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, front cover. 200 David Brower, "Arguments on Parade," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 4. 201 Julia B. Corbett, Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages (Washington, D. C.: Island Press). 202 "Dinosaur Bill Out of Committee," 3. 203 Donald Teague, "These Are Ways You Can Help…" 2. 204 David Perlman, "Razzle-Dazzle on the Colorado," 8. 58 ostentatiously waves the shining banner of patriotism it will require utmost vigilance of the part of leaders and public.205 The war language was inspirational and accusatory. In technical terms, the sixth column is the strategic use of citizens to engage in spreading falsehoods and rumor to confuse the enemy.206 The patriotism that dam proponents were displaying was false. The dams would sacrifice greater values and natural resources than would be created. There were repeated calls for "vigilance."207 Conservationists were being asked to join the campaign-to personalize it-by participating directly. Writers encouraged people to arrange for showings, both private and in local public libraries, of Philip Hyde's photographs of Dinosaur National Monument. The displays had been highly successful in cities across the country.208 Another way to get involved was to "help in scheduling showings [of Wilderness River Trail] as soon as possible."209 Editors argued that people who saw the film could not "stand idly by while they try to destroy Dinosaur."210 And once people decide to get involved, they were urged to use "all the methods of communication you can arrange for. Let your organizations know-if you have time to-what you're going to do to help."211 205 "For the February Record," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1951, 3. 206 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. "Sixth Column," http://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/sixth%20column, (accessed April 8, 2014). 207 "For the February Record," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1951, 3. "Board Meets at Norden," Sierra Club Bulletin, October 1951, 9. "New Color Film on Dinosaur, Ready February 1," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 2. Dinosaur: Hour of Decision. Only the House Can Save a Great Park," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, 3. 208 "Wilderness River Trail," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, 5. 209 "New Color Film on Dinosaur, Ready February 1," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 2. 210 "New Color Film on Dinosaur, Ready February 1," 2. 211 "For the Defense of Dinosaur-An Outline," Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 6. Original emphasis. 59 By far the most common suggestion was for readers to write their Congressman. The thinking was that "there are enough Congressmen against Echo Park dam-this is the feeling-to kill it if the conservationists make themselves heard in time."212 Readers were encouraged to write the ending to this story. You can help. You can write to your congressman and to your senators. You can write them to DELETE ECHO PARK AND SPLIT MOUNTAIN from any bills authorization dams, and furthermore to ADVOCATE AN AMENDMENT TO PROTECT OUR NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM from all such invasions.213 Readers were not only asked to write, they also were given very specific instructions. They were told to "always write as an individual. It is better to write a good letter than it is to send a form letter used by a group."214 In a speech, Charles C. Bradley told his Montana State colleagues, "tomorrow you could go on record for wilderness preservation by writing your representative, Mike Mansfield, a strong letter asking him to be sure to delete Split Mountain and Echo Park sites."215 Readers were encouraged to write directly to "Congressman William H. Harrison, chairman of the subcommittee, for the record. The President and your Congressmen should also know your wishes."216 In such a long campaign, the call for letter writing could have been repetitive, but David Brower addressed the exhaustion that may have set in. He addressed the risk that conservationists "got tired. ‘Write a letter? I wrote one or two last year' seems to summarize an attitude prevalent in many places. Last year's letters did a good job last 212 Dinosaur: Hour of Decision. Only the House Can Save a Great Park," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1955, 3. Original emphasis. 213 "Will you DAM the Scenic Wild Canyons of Our National Park System?" Original emphasis. 214 Donald Teague, "There are Ways You Can Help…" 2. Original emphasis. 215 Charles C. Bradley, "Wilderness Man," 66. Original emphasis. 216 "Two Wasteful Dams-Or A Great National Park? Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1954, 4. 60 year, and were filed out of sight last year."217 The mobilization efforts had been effective before, and they would be again. As the campaign moved to a close, David Perlman claimed that victory had come in large part because "letters began pouring into Congress, as they had the year before."218 The mobilization in the Sierra Club Bulletin had one unique aspect not seen in any other Council of Conservationist groups. The Club pushed members and Bulletin readers to visit Dinosaur National Monument and share that experience. Dam proponents often argued that the monument was inaccessible and dangerous. They claimed that a dam would tame the river and create a space for safe recreation. To help dispel this myth, the Club organized several trips down the Yampa and Green rivers. In 1953, several groups of Sierra Club members had run the rivers, without incident, and to their great entertainment. Martin Litton's account of one of these trips was printed in an August issue of the Los Angeles Times. Litton's story included photos from the trip and described his four-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son as "merrily riding rubber boats through the ruggedest canyons the Green River has to offer-in the heartland of Dinosaur National Monument."219 During the hearings on the Colorado River Storage Project, Utah Congressman William Dawson (R) presented several letters from Vernal locals as evidence of the threat rivers posed to riders.220 The Bulletin editors countered that "none in the Sierra Club 217 David R. Brower, "Dinosaur: Hour of Decision," 3. Original emphasis. 218 David Perlman, "Razzle-Dazzle on the Colorado," 6. 219 Martin Litton "Children in Boats Run Utah Rapids," Los Angeles Times, August 30, 1953. 220 House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Hearings on H.R. 4449 et al. on CRSP (1954), 853-855. 61 parties, whose ages ranged from 4 to 77, will agree."221 During his statement before Congress, David Brower addressed Representative Dawson directly: You used the word "treacherous" to describe the rivers. I think that the 200 Sierra Club members who went down them over the course of a single month last summer would like me to disagree with your application of the word. It could be used far better to describe Highway 40. We were all delighted to get off that treacherous highway and to settle back and relax in those safe boats.222 Brower then invited Dawson to join the Club next summer for a trip down the river. Dawson was not the only official invited, and "it was again agreed that it was important to interest civic leaders in taking river trips to Dinosaur National Monument."223 The trips were designed to give individuals a firsthand glimpse of the monument in all its grandeur, to fully demonstrate its value to the American people. But Club officials recognized that not everyone would be able to make the trip, so they encouraged readers to share their experience: If you take a trip to an area that is under controversy, give your local newspaper an account of the trip and mention briefly what the controversy is about. Most people on vacation send postal cards to friends. Why not mention that someone wants to build a dam in the canyon shown on the front of the card?224 The trips, or firsthand accounts of the trips, would give Americans a better understanding of the monument, the system as a whole, and the rights of all Americans to enjoy them. It would create ownership-it is hard to destroy something when you feel a connection to it. David Brower predicted that it would help create more people who would "fight for this right-the present-day Thoreaus and Leopolds and Marshalls?"225 221 "For the September Record," Sierra Club Bulletin, September 1953, 3. 222 David R. Brower, "Preserving Dinosaur Unimpaired," Sierra Club Bulletin, June 1954, 9. 223 "Organization, Park and Forest Problems," Sierra Club Bulletin, May 1954, 13. 224 Donald Teague, "These Are Ways You Can Help…"2. 225 David R. Brower, "Preserving Dinosaur Unimpaired," 3. (Names reference Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, and Bob Marshall.) 62 The second theme discovered in the Sierra Club Bulletin coverage of the Echo Park dam was a focus on the value of the national park system. That value was expressed in the spiritual and cultural benefits it provided the American people. The great challenge was the need "to make more and more people aware of the beauty and inspiration found in the out-of-doors. If this can be done, the threats to our National Parks, Monuments, and Wilderness Areas will diminish."226 Dinosaur National Monument, and the National Park System as a whole, were o