Robert Sterling Yard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Sterling Yard (February 1, 1861 – May 17, 1945) was an American writer, journalist and wilderness activist. Born in Haverstraw, New York, Yard graduated from Princeton University and spent the first twenty years of his career as a journalist, editor and publisher. In 1915 he was recruited by Stephen Mather to help him in publicizing the need for an independent national park agency. Their numerous articles and publications became part of a movement that resulted in legislative support for a National Park Service in 1916. For a few years he served as head of the National Parks Educational Committee.

Wishing to concentrate on less governmental initiatives, Yard became executive secretary of the National Parks Association in 1919. He believed that the primary purpose of national parks was spiritual and cultural rather than recreational, and as a result was increasingly concerned with commercialism and industrialization of what he saw as "America's masterpieces". His high standards for parks, based upon an aesthetic ideal, led him to becoming involved in the protection of wilderness areas. In 1935 he became one of the founding members of the Wilderness Society, acting as its first president from 1935 until his death ten years later. Yard is now considered an important figure in the modern wilderness movement.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 National Park Service 3 National Parks Association 4 Conflict and the Forest Service 5 The Wilderness Society and death 6 Legacy 7 Selected bibliography 8 References 8.1 Sources

[edit] Early life and career

Born in 1861 in Haverstraw, New York to Robert Boyd and Sarah (Purdue) Yard, Robert Sterling Yard graduated from Princeton University in 1883.^[1] He became a prominent member of Princeton's Alumni Association and also founded the Montclair Princeton Alumni Association. In 1895 he married Mary Belle Moffat and they had one daughter, Margaret.^[1]

During the 1880s and 1890s, he worked as a journalist for the New York Sun and the New York Herald.^[2] He then served in the publishing business for fifteen years, from 1900 to 1915, variously as editor-in-chief of The Century Magazine and Sunday editor of the New York Herald.^[3]

[edit] National Park Service

In 1915, Yard left the newspaper business and moved to Washington D.C. at the bequest of a friend, Stephen Mather, who wished to establish an independent agency to oversee the national parks. Yard and Mather had met while working for the New York Sun and became fast friends; Yard was even the best man at Mather's wedding in 1893.^[4] Together they ran a national parks publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior, writing numerous articles that praised the scenic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational and recreational benefits.^[5] The unprecedented press coverage effectively spread word to influential Americans about the national parks, putting pressure on Congress to create an independent parks agency.^[5] One of his articles, entitled "Making a Business of Scenery", appeared in The Nation's Business in June 1916:

We want our national parks developed. We want roads and trails like Switzerland's. We want hotels of all prices from lowest to highest. We want comfortable public camps in sufficient abundance to meet all demands. We want lodges and chalets at convenient intervals commanding the scenic possibilities of all our parks. We want the best and cheapest accommodations for pedestrians and motorists. We want sufficient and convenient transportation at reasonable rates. We want adequate facilities and supplies for camping out at lowest prices. We want good fishing. We want our wild animal life conserved and developed. We want special facilities for nature study.

—Robert Sterling Yard, "Making a Business of Scenery"^[6]

Yard's most successful publicity initiate during this time was the National Parks Portfolio (1916), which, through photographs interspersed with text that lauded the scenic grandeur of the nation's major parks, connected the parks with a sense of national identity to make visitation an imperative part of American citizenship.^[7] Yard and Mather distributed this publication to a carefully selected list of prominent Americans, including every member of Congress.^[8]

The onslaught of publicity spearheaded by Yard and Mather resulted in the creation of a National Park Service; on August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that allowed the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therin, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."^[8] Internal conflicts within the NPS led to Yard being passed up for interim Director—a position that became available when Mather suffered a breakdown and had to take an extended leave. Yard, who has been described as "intense, urbane and opinionated",^[9] was angered when the position was given to Horace Albright, who was 27 years old at the time.

As a rift between the NPS and Yard began to grow, in June 1918 he was put in charge of the National Parks Educational Committee. Consisting only of himself and a secretary,^[10] the "division" aimed to create informative publicity in order to draw visitors to parks and develop programs to enhance the educational value of their experience.^[11]

[edit] National Parks Association

Yard believed that while the National Park Service, a government agency, was effective, it was not capable of advocating the wishes of the common American. He wrote in June 1918 that the national park movement must "be cultivated only by an organization of the people outside the government, and unhampered by politics and routine."^[12] On May 29, 1919, the National Parks Association (NPA) was officially created to fill this role. Yard, who would become a pivotal figure in the new society, was elected its executive secretary.^[13] His duties in this new role were practically the same as they had been with the Park Service—to promote the national parks and to educate Americans about their use.^[14] In its early years, the NPA was Yard's livelihood and passion; he recruited the key founding members, raised money, and wrote various press releases.^[15] Yard also served as editor of the National Parks Bulletin from 1919 to 1936. In its first issue, Yard outlined the organization's objectives in order to craft a broad educational program: not only would they attract students, artists and writers to the parks, but a "complete and rational system" would be created and adhered to by Congress and the Park Service.^[16]

At first the only full-time employee of the association, Yard believed that eligible national parks had to be considered scenically stunning. He noted in his 1919 volume The Book of the National Parks that the major characteristic of almost all national parks was that their scenery had been forged by geological or biological processes. He wrote, "[W]e shall not really enjoy our possession of the grandest scenery in the world until we realize that scenery is the written page of the History of Creation, and until we learn to read that page."^[17] Yard's standards also insisted upon "complete conservation", meaning that commercialism be kept out of the parks. Often referring to parks as "American masterpieces", he sought to protect them from economic activities such as timber cutting and mineral extracting. In such, Yard often advocated the preservation of "wilderness" conditions in America's national parks.^[18]

In 1920, Congress passed the Water Power Act, which granted licenses to develop hydroelectric projects on federal lands, including national parks. Yard and the NPA joined again with Mather and the National Park Service to oppose the intrusion on Park Service control. In 1921, Congress passed the Jones-Esch Bill, amending the Water Power Act to exempt existing national parks from hydroelectric development.^[19]

[edit] Conflict and the Forest Service

Despite agreeing on most issues regarding the protection of national parks, friction between the NPA and NPS was seemingly unavoidable. Mather and Yard disagreed on many issues; whereas Mather was not interested in the protection of wildlife and accepted the Biological Survey's efforts to exterminate predators within parks, Yard vehemently criticized the program as early as 1924.^[20] Yard was also very critical of Mather's administration of the parks which led to plush accommodations and city comforts, two things that clashed with Yard's ideals. While visiting Yosemite National Park in 1926, Yard became convinced that the valley was "lost" after finding crowds, automobiles, jazz music, and even a bear show.^[21] Yard became steadily less welcome at the NPS because of his strong convictions against commercialism and wilderness activist tendencies.

In 1924, the Forest Service initiated a program to set aside "primitive areas" in the national forests that not only protected wilderness, but also opened it to use.^[22] Yard, who preferred to give the land that did not meet his high standards to the Forest Service rather than the NPS, began to work closely with the Forest Service. The NPA and Yard received criticism from activists who feared the two organizations would merge, however, and Yard often felt isolated and under appreciated.^[22] He wrote in 1926, "I wonder whether I'm justified in forcing this work upon people who seem to care so little about it."^[22]

[edit] The Wilderness Society and death

Yard's preservationist goals began to stretch beyond the Park Service in the 1930s.^[23] Pushing for the preservation of what he called "primitive" land wherever it occurred, Yard drifted away from the national parks lobby and, at the age of 74, was invited to become a founding member of the the Wilderness Society. The society was officially formed in January 1935 to spearhead wilderness preservation. Other founding members included notable conservationists Bob Marshall, Benton MacKaye, Bernard Frank and Aldo Leopold.^[24] In September, Yard published the first issue of the society's magazine, The Living Wilderness. He wrote of the society's genesis, "The Wilderness Society is born of an emergency in conservation which admits of no delay. The craze is to build all the highways possible everywhere while billions may yet be borrowed from the unlucky future. The fashion is to barber and manicure wild America as smartly as the modern girl. Our mission is clear."^[25]

Although Marshall first proposed Leopold for the position of president, Yard eventually accepted the role.^[25] He ran the society from his home in Washington, D.C. and single-handedly produced The Living Wilderness during its early years, although there was only one annual issue until 1945.^[26] Described as a cautious and non confrontational leader,^[27] Yard directed the society's activities while continuing to push for national park standards. During his final illness, Yard ran the society's affairs from his bed; he died at the age of 84 from pneumonia on May 17, 1945.^[26]

[edit] Legacy

Robert Sterling Yard is considered an important figure in the modern wilderness movement.^[28] After his death, Benton MacKaye replaced him as president of The Wilderness Society and Howard Zahniser took over the society's magazine, making it into a quarterly publication. Yard's effect on society proved long lasting; he was responsible for initiating cooperation with other major preservationist groups, including the NPA. As early as 1936, Yard established an alliance with the Sierra Club that would prove important during the eventual passage of the Wilderness Act. The Wilderness Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964, enabled Congress to set aside selected areas in the national forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges and other federal lands as units to be kept permanently unchanged by humans.^[29] Since its conception, The Wilderness Society has contributed a total of 104 million acres (421,000 km²) to the National Wilderness Preservation System.^[29]

[edit] Selected bibliography

• The Publisher (1913)
• The Book of the National Parks (1919)
• The National Parks Portfolio (1921)
• Glimpses of Our National Parks (1927)

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Dowie, Mark. 1995. Losing Ground : American Environmentalism At the Close of the Twentieth Century . Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press. ISBN 9780585357768.
• Fox, Stephen. 1986. The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299106349.
• Miles, John C. 1995. Guardians of the Parks: A History of the National Parks and Conservation Association. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1560324465.
• Sellars, Richard West. 1997. Preserving Nature in the National Parks : A History . New Haven Yale University Press. ISBN 9780585350684.
• Sutter, Paul. 2002. Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement. Seattle: University of Washington press. ISBN 0295982195.