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Jim: jdipeso@rep.org
(253) 740-2066 / 2009
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Hoover's Conservation Legacy
August
10, 2009
Today is August 10, the day Herbert Hoover was born 135 years ago. Few commemorate the 31st president’s birthday.
For older Americans, Hoover’s name is indelibly linked to the Great Depression. Not a happy association, especially now.
For
younger Americans, Hoover is a remote figure from a vanished time. His
legacy is the stuff of dry textbooks, skimmed quickly and easily
forgotten.
Not so easily forgotten are the haunting landscapes
that Hoover added to the national parks system for future generations
to marvel at.
Using his authority under the Antiquities Act,
Hoover proclaimed national monuments that secured lasting protection
for the lonely, forbidding beauty encompassed by Death Valley and White
Sands, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Sunset Crater
and Canyon De Chelly.
He expanded the protected area around
the Grand Canyon, an early step on the long path that culminated in the
enlargement of Grand Canyon National Park in 1975. What are now Arches
and Saguaro National Parks originally were monuments set aside by
Hoover.
The taciturn Hoover was not much for boasting about
achievements. Even if he were so disposed, few would have cared at the
time, with the country worn down by the Depression.
Still, it’s
worth remembering that preservation of natural treasures is never
inevitable. Given a different decision-maker and a different set of
circumstances, a place that is now a national park easily could have
become just another tacky resort or charmless subdivision. At several of America’s most important heritage lands, that didn’t happen, thanks to Herbert Hoover.
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