By
Budd Titlow
There’s a revered—many would say mythical—landscape in northwestern Montana that features 1.5 million acres of pristine lakes, crystal rivers, snow-capped mountains, and evergreen valleys. The name of this magnificent wilderness jewel is simply “The Bob”.
Wilderness has always been in Dr. Robert “Bob” Marshall’s blood. While he didn’t live to see the completion of his namesake wilderness area—a fitness fanatic, he ironically died far too early at age 38—his legacy as a conservationist and humanitarian will forever stand strong in Montana as well as throughout all the other wilderness areas now found scattered throughout the US.
Born on January 2, 1901 as the son of Louis Marshall—a wealthy civil rights lawyer and philanthropist—in New York City, Marshall spent his summers at the family home, named “Knollwood”, on Lower Saranac Lake in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. As a teenager and young adult, he roamed all over his beloved mountain group, eventually becoming a member of “46ers Club” by virtue of climbing all 46 of the range’s peaks that are above 4,000 feet.
After graduating from the Ethical Culture School in New York, Marshall attended Columbia College, the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse, and then Harvard University. From there, his national wanderings took him to the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest Experiment Station in Missoula, Montana where he worked from 1925–28. Then his peripatetic habit kicked in again and he went back to school in 1928 at Johns Hopkins University to get a Ph.D. degree in plant physiology—one of three doctorate degrees he earned in his lifetime.
In February 1930, Marshall’s most poignant essay, The Problem of the Wilderness, was published by The Scientific American and became one of the most important works in conservation history. In this piece, Marshall opined that there are many reasons for preserving wilderness beyond just its esoteric value as landscape untrammeled by human activities: “There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness.” Today, many wilderness historians credit The Problem of the Wilderness as being a seminal “call-to-action” while setting the stage—more than 30 years later—for the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Protection Act.
While much has been made—and rightfully so—about Marshall’s work for wilderness preservation, his life’s interests extended far beyond such backcountry pursuits as hiking, mountain climbing, fishing, and horseback riding. Although he came from a very wealthy family, he had a deep and abiding—bordering on the spiritual—concern for those who were less fortunate than himself. In particular, Marshall cared about the indigenous groups of people he met during his extensive travels in pursuit of wilderness preservation.
For example in 1930 and 1931, while living among the native Koyukuk people in the remote Alaskan village of Wiseman, Marshall got the inspiration for writing his first book, Arctic Village. The book became a best-seller in 1933 and earned him $3,600—a princely sum of money back then. After the book came out—instead of pocketing all the money for himself—Marshall gave away half of the profits in the form of checks made out to each of the Koyukuk he had known during his stay in Wiseman.
Then throughout his multi-faceted career as a federal public lands administrator, he made equal rights for all people—no matter what race, sex, creed, or religion—a personal priority. He worked diligently to fully involve all Native Americans in the management of their tribal forests and mountain ranges. After realizing that their customs and freedoms of religious worship had been stripped away, he fought to provide them with the level of equality he felt all Americans should enjoy. In fact, Marshall diligently worked to provide every American with equal access and visitation rights to all recreational areas on all federal lands. He even proposed subsidized travel so families with less expendable incomes could experience the beauty of the American landscapes on a first-hand, “up-close-and-personal” manner. [i]
Back now on the wilderness track, Marshall believed that truly wild lands had intrinsic values for the human spirit—providing places where people could go to find themselves and rekindle their souls. While serving as Chief Forester for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1935, Marshall—along with Aldo Leopold, whom we’ll meet later in this section, and others—established the Wilderness Society, an organization dedicated to preserving the wilderness in its unspoiled state. Then as Assistant to the Chief of the US Forest Service—a position he held until he died—Marshall devoted much of his energy and intelligence to the development of the National Forest’s wilderness system.
Marshall’s name and strong promotion of America’s wilderness preservation system will forever remain a driving force for land conservation today. When he passed away in 1939, he bequeathed one-fourth of his $1.5 million estate to the Wilderness Society— thus assuring the organization’s future in the name of wilderness preservation. Today, the “Bob Marshall Award” is the highest honor bestowed by the Wilderness Society.
“(Wilderness) is the song of the hermit thrush at twilight and the lapping of waves against the shoreline and the melody of the wind in the trees. It is the unique odor of balsams and of freshly turned humus and of mist rising from mountain meadows. It is the feel of spruce needles under foot and sunshine on your face and wind blowing through your hair. It is all of these at the same time, blended into a unity that can only be appreciated with leisure and which is ruined by artificiality.”
– Robert “Bob” Marshall
“How many wilderness areas do we need? How many Brahms symphonies do we need?”
– Robert “Bob” Marshall
Throughout Bob Marshall’s remarkable—albeit far too short—life he demonstrated an uncanny blend of caring deeply about both natural preservation and equal human rights for all people. This is exactly the type of dual thinking that will allow us to bring Climate Change solutions home to all people on Earth. The people in developing countries must understand and believe that they are fully involved in every decision that is being made and every action that is being taken. They can no longer feel like the “Environmental Justice Movement” has bypassed them in favor of catering to the wealth and power of the countries.
Text excerpted from book: “PROTECTING THE PLANET: Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change” written by Budd Titlow and Mariah Tinger, published by Prometheus Books.
Author’s bio: For the past 50 years, professional ecologist and conservationist Budd Titlow has used his pen and camera to capture the awe and wonders of our natural world. His goal has always been to inspire others to both appreciate and enjoy what he sees. Now he has one main question: Can we save humankind’s place — within nature’s beauty — before it’s too late? Budd’s two latest books are dedicated to answering this perplexing dilemma. “PROTECTING THE PLANET: Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change”, a non-fiction book, examines whether we still have the environmental heroes among us — harking back to such past heroes as Audubon, Hemenway, Muir, Douglas, Leopold, Brower, Carson, and Meadows — needed to accomplish this goal. Next, using fact-filled and entertaining story-telling, his latest book — “COMING FULL CIRCLE: A Sweeping Saga of Conservation Stewardship Across America”— provides the answers we all seek and need. Having published five books, more than 500 photo-essays, and 5,000 photographs, Budd Titlow lives with his music educator wife, Debby, in San Diego, California.
CONSERVING NATURE WITH WORDS & PHOTOS 