Honoring Wilderness Act architect

I never knew my grandfather, but when I recently attended a Summit County Council meeting, I was proud to see that our local leaders may walk in his footprints with a recommendation that the High Uintas Wilderness Area be expanded as part of Rep. Rob Bishops Public Lands Initiative.

My grandfather was Howard Zahniser, the chief architect of the Wilderness Act, passed 50 years ago this month. Building on the successes of the early proponents of wilderness, namely Aldo Leopold, Arthur Carhart, and Bob Marshall, my grandfather became the principal leader in the campaign for federal wilderness legislation in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1946 he left a secure government job to work for The Wilderness Society alongside Olaus Murie, who was president at the time.

In 1955 he began an eight-year effort to establish a national wilderness preservation system. After over sixty drafts and eight years of work, it was signed into law on Sept. 3, 1964, by President Lyndon Johnson. My grandmother, Alice Zahniser, was there to receive the honors. Sadly, my grandfather had died of a heart attack four months earlier. My mother told me it was believed that it was her fathers unwavering drive to work relentlessly until Congress supported the bill that brought about his premature death.

I never knew my grandfather; I was born four months after the bills signing. But I have come to know my grandfather through the many stories told and retold. He was a consummate wordsmith. Defining wilderness succinctly and poetically was one of his greatest contributions. In the Wilderness Act he defined wilderness as:

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.

I have come to know the wilderness areas that inspired my grandfather. My summers were spent at the Zahniser camp in the Adirondacks. It was here that the Wilderness Act was first envisioned, and it was from that modest cabin with a view of Crane Mountain that many passages of the wilderness bill were drafted.

I have learned to embrace my grandfathers values. At the age of 25, I listened to an impulse that urged me to leave Washington, D.C., in search of stillness and beauty. A calm overcame me when I came to Park City in 1989; the mountains impacted me at a deep level. Today, Park City is no longer a sleepy little town, which means I am more grateful than ever to be living 20 minutes from Kamas and the Gateway to the Uintas.

Howard Zahniser never knew any of his nine grandchildren, but because of who he was, all of us know much about him. And if given the opportunity, we will speak on behalf of wilderness as a way to continue his legacy and his vision for the country.

It is a vision that still serves us well. Just as I developed some of my core values and family bonds visiting wild places with my parents, so do many of todays Utah children benefit from family visits to our precious wild lands. We need to ensure that what we have inherited is passed on to those who come after us.

I hope Rep. Bishop develops legislation that protects all of our remaining wild lands in Utah, including those in Summit County.

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Honoring Wilderness Act architect