The Drive for Protection (page 4 of 6)

An essay by Ray Wheeler

Coming of Age

Most historians would probably agree that the modern environmental movement was born, and came of age, in a series of epic confrontations between developers and environmental groups on the Colorado Plateau.

The birth came in 1956, with the climax of a successful campaign to prevent the construction of the Echo Park dam on the Green River in the heart of Dinosaur National Monument. Led by Sierra Club executive director David Brower and Wilderness Society President Howard Zahnizer, the Echo Park dam campaign deployed an array of weapons that would be used time and again in future battles: a coalition of national environmental groups, a massive coordinated grassroots letter-writing program, and a full-bore professional public relations campaign including a the publication of a book, the production of a feature documentary film, and the successful cultivation of stories in a host of newspapers and magazines.

In essence, the environmentalists succeeded in killing the Echo Park Dam by holding hostage, in the U.S. Congress, the Colorado River Storage Project Act, a budget-busting pork barrelful of dam and diversion projects. Given the tensions between Arizona and California and the indifference or outright hostility of the forty-three states that would not benefit from the legislation, the bill would be highly vulnerable to adverse publicity and would require every possible vote in order to pass. A well-organized environmental campaign could turn just enough votes to kill the bill. Without really knowing it, the environmentalists held the balance of power.

But at the critical moment, instead of pressing their advantage, the environmental leadership accepted a devil's bargain. They would agree not to oppose authorization for a dam in Glen Canyon if the Echo Park dam was removed from the bill. Later David Brower visited Glen Canyon and realized that he had made a huge tactical mistake. Had he taken the Colorado River Storage Project Act down to defeat instead of helping it to pass, neither dam would have been built. Brower has been publicly apologizing for what he regards as an unforgivable mistake ever since.

Follow these links to:
Turning the Tide
The Birth of a New Grand Plan