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Fred H. Hutchison Papers MSS 124 in Boise State University, Albertsons Library, Special Collections Dept. This
collection was compiled by Fred H. Hutchison, who served in the late 1970s as
Senator Frank Church's legislative assistant for environmental issues. The
papers comprise his working files as a member of Church's staff in Washington,
D.C., and include correspondence (both of Church and Hutchison), legislation,
press releases, position papers, studies, and reference material relating to
wilderness legislation, Hells Canyon, the Sawtooth Mountains, River of No
Return, forest management, fish and wildlife, public lands, the Sagebrush
Rebellion, and other environmental issues Hutchison was working on.
Much of the collection is in photocopy form; they are copies of
originals from the Senator's general office files that Hutchison copied for
his own use. Many of those copies predate Hutchison's work with Senator
Church; he made copies for his own working files to trace the background of
issues and Church's positions over time.
During his entire 24 years in the Senate, Frank Church sat on the
Interior Committee and dealt with environmental issues and the management of
public lands. Hutchison's files
offer an historical perspective of environmental matters that the committee
confronted from 1956 through 1980.
Dates
of collection: 1925-1980 A guest column by Fred Hutchison commemorating the 25th anniversary of the creation of the River of No Return Wilderness appeared on the editorial page of the Idaho Statesman on July 23, 2005.
Table
of Contents
Introduction
Series III: Hells Canyon Region Series IV: Sawtooth Region
Series V:
Endangered American Wilderness Act
Series VI:
River of No Return Wilderness
Series VII:
Forestry
Series VIII: Fish and Wildlife
Series X:
Sagebrush Rebellion
Series XI : Interior Committee:
Issues
Series XII:
Correspondence
Series XIII:
Writings of Fred Hutchison Series XIV: High Mountain Sheep Dam Proposal
SERIES
I (Part One): WILDERNESS, 1956-1964 These office files consist of writings and legislation on
wilderness protection. As early
as 1919 there arose in the United States a desire to save "the scenic
spots where nature has been allowed to remain unmarred" (Arthur Carhart,
"The Vision Continues," in Wilderness, Spring 1979, p.4)
Between the world wars, the Wilderness Society was established to
"spread the conception that the wilderness is a valuable natural resource
of the people." In
1956, Senator Hubert Humphrey introduced the first bill for the creation of a
national wilderness preservation system.
After seven years and over sixty revisions the Wilderness Act of 1964
became law. Senator Church was
the floor leader for the passage of the bill through the Senate.
The papers in this series create a portal through which to peruse the
Congressional activities that designated areas "for the American People The
bulk of the papers in the box consists of photocopies of letters to and from
Senator Church leading up to the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, copied
Box
1: Wilderness, 1925-1964
Folder 1
Legislation (1956-1964)
WILDERNESS LEGISLATION (Box 1, Folder 1)
1957
Jan 5
H.R. 1960
1957
Feb 11
S. 1176
1957
Feb 11
Remarks Hubert H. Humphrey and Richard L. Neuberger, The
Wilderness Bill
1958
Feb
Committee Print No. 2, Substitute
for S. 1176
1958
Apr 15
Revised Wilderness Bill Richard L. Neuberger
1958
Jun 18
S. 4028
1959
Jan 9
H.R. 1929
1959
Feb 19
S. 1129
1959
Feb 19
S. 1123, Confidential Committee Print No. 3
1960
Jan 2
S. 3809
1961
Jan 4
S. 174
1961
Mar 28
S. 174 Amendment
1961
Mar 28
S. 174 Amendments
1961
Mar 28
S. 174 Amendment
1961
Mar 28
Congressional Record Reprint, proposed Amendments to the
Wilderness Bill
1961
Mar 28
Report Minority and Separate Views 1961 Aug 24 National Wilderness Preservation System
1961
Sep 5
Congressional Record Reprint, Establishment
of National Wilderness Preservation System
1961
Sep 6
S. 174
1962
Mar 1
Message from the President of the United States
1962
Oct 3
Report to accompany H.R. 776
1963
Jan 14
S. 4, Amendments
1964
Apr 10
S. 4
1964
Jul 2
H.R. 9070
1964
Jul 30
Congressional Record, National
Wilderness Preservation System,
Floor testimony
1964
Aug 14
Committee Print No. 34 Comparison
1964
Aug 15
S. 4 Committee Print
1964
Sep 3
Public Law 88-577
SERIES I (Part Two): WILDERNESS, 1970s
Folder
1
Salmon Wilderness Study (1972) Senator's Church's concern with
the destruction of the environment included America's rivers.
He saw a need to preserve "free flowing rivers that possess unique
water conservation, scenic, fish, wildlife, and outdoor recreation values of
present and potential benefit to the American people."
Church supported the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act along with the
Wilderness Act of 1964 in order to keep a small portion of the country as our
ancestors found it. The
Clearwater and the Salmon rivers of Idaho were the first waterways mentioned
in the initial act. Their
inclusion, by the Senator, in the bill was based on a need to prohibit dam
construction that would inhibit the spawning of anadromous fish from the
Pacific. Later Church encouraged
the inclusion of additional rivers or portions of rivers within Idaho, such as
the Bruneau, Priest, and the St. Joe. Box 2: Wild Rivers
Folder 28
Salmon River Preservation Bill (1960-1963) Box
3: Wild Rivers
Folder
1
Salmon River Proposal (1965) SERIES
III (Part One): HELLS CANYON REGION One of the
earliest speeches Frank Church delivered on the Senate floor (March 7, 1957)
was in support of the construction of the Hells Canyon Dam.
Church stated that "water is the life-blood of our economy in
Idaho". The speech
summarized his support of the building of the dam for the "development
of our great rivers -- a tradition that has served the people well and
contributed much to the building of west." The papers in the
series reflect Senator Church's envolving view on dam contruction in Hells
Canyon region. The
question is continuously raised in this series as to the types of dams to be
built, the size, the costs, as well as who should build them, control them,
and benefit from them. During
the 1960s opposition to the construction of dams increased based on
environmental issues. As the country entered the 1970s, the perception of
Hells Canyon began to include environmental considerations.
A moratorium on dam building was proposed by Secretary of Interior
Walter J. Hickel in 1969 to restrict the uses of the Snake River.
Senators Church and Len B. Jordan introduced legislation in 1970
supporting such a moratorium for a ten year period to evaluate the needs of
users. Box
3: Hells Canyon Region
Folder 14
Hells Canyon (1957) Box
4: Hells Canyon Region
Folder
1
Moratorium; Federal Power Commission (1971)
SERIES
III (Part Two): HELLS CANYON NATIONAL
RECREATION AREA The
Hells Canyon Recreation Area was created to establish a balance in land,
water, and recreation uses of the area. In
1973 Frank Church proposed a bill that would provide permanent protection for
the Middle Snake River and the Hells Canyon area, stating that the people can
no longer look at any region with tunnel vision.
The bill was to create a Hells Canyon wilderness area on the
undeveloped portion of the Middle Snake and to protect upstream water rights
and grazing practices. Box
4: Hells Canyon National
Recreation Area
Folder
5
News Releases (1972-1973) The
Sawtooth mountain range of central Idaho is as remarkable and as pristine as
any in America. The question
posed in these files is what to do to assure it remaining so. Should it be
declared a wilderness, a national park, or a national recreation area?
Emotions were aroused when such considerations touched the income of
miners, ranchers, and others who would be directly effected by such
designations. Intense debates and
arguments ensued as determination studies persisted during the 1960s and early
1970s. Evidence of management
disputes are found in the photocopies of the correspondence concerning this
subject. To
the east of Idaho's Sawtooths are the White Cloud Peaks.
This locale is similar to the Sawtooths and engendered the same heated
discussions about their use. Senator
Church included both regions in his Sawtooth National Recreation Area
legislation. In his speech to the
Senate, Church described it as "America's Alps."
The region was declared a National Recreation Area on August 22, 1972,
after several compromises between conservationists and land users.
However, contention over the issue of management materializes still in
the 1990s. Box
4: Sawtooth Region
Folder 12
Articles (1960) Box
4: Sawtooth National Recreation Area
Folder 19
Senator Church's Position (1969-1971) Box
5: Sawtooth National
Recreation Area
Folder
1
Position Papers (1972) Box
5: Sawtooth National Park SERIES
V: ENDANGERED AMERICAN WILDERNESS ACT OF 1978 This series
documents Senator Frank Church's role as a leader in the effort to pass the
Endangered American Wilderness Act, 1977-1978, and Fred Hutchison's work as
his legislative assistant in that effort. The original intent of the
Endangered American Wilderness Bill was to target specific public lands for
protection under the Wilderness Act of 1964.
It was introduced at the request of the Sierra Club in response to
the National Forest Management Act of 1976 that would jeopardize lands that
had de facto wilderness status but no specific legislative protection.
This new legislation permitted Congress to designate specific areas
for wilderness status. In his
discussion of the bill, Senator Church encouraged Congress to do
long‑range thinking in regards to wilderness, stating that there
should not be blanket decisions
made for wilderness or utilization of any public lands.
Often given the name Omnibus Bill, this bill was, in Church's opinion
the most significant conservation measure to be acted upon during the Carter
Administration. Church saw the
necessity for Congressional intervention as he regarded the Forest Service's
narrow perspective as not being in tune with the original intent of the
Wilderness Act. The bill was passed in 1978. Box 5: Endangered
American Wilderness Act of 1978
Folder 4
Background Material (1976) The
Gospel Hump region of Idaho's Nez Perce Forest was desired by both
environmentalists and developers for their own exclusive purposes.
At the initiative of Grangeville, Idaho, civic leaders a task force
composed of contending special interest groups was formed. The Natural
Resources Task Force was established to resolve the stalemate at the local
level. In March of 1977, a compromise plan of conservation and utilization
was achieved for Frank Church to present to Congress.
The path to this compromise and the compromises that followed can be
found in these files. A
significant folder, Maps, illustrates the many and varied boundaries that
were considered for the Gospel Hump Wilderness Area.
Church constantly stressed that the most significant part of the this
legislation was that the thrust for resolution came from the local level and
he hoped that this would be the strategy for deciding future conflicts. Box
5: Gospel Hump
Folder 44
Nez Perce National Forest Land Use Plan
(1976) Box
6: Gospel Hump
Folder
1
Correspondence (1977)
Folder 6
Idaho Fish and Game (1977) SERIES
VI (PART ONE): RIVER OF NO RETURN WILDERNESS
The
Salmon River, also known as the River of No Return was perceived by Senator
Church as the heart of wilderness in Idaho.
Its rugged unspoiled landscape creates a protected realm for abundant
wildlife. The territory
furnishes the life-waters to the free flowing Salmon.
Its limited timber productivity made it a natural candidate for
wilderness status. The
designation did not come easily, however. Legislation was originated by an Idaho grassroots
organization headed by Ted Trueblood and Ernie Day.
The Carter Administration, under the direction of Secretary of the
Interior Cecil Andrus, proposed
its own bill, as did the Forest Service.
It took five major bills, numerous amendments and countless hours of
mediation over a three year period for the Central Idaho Wilderness Act to
become a reality. Senator
Church strived to save “the last best part of the west” and in 1984 he
was honored for his work when Congress changed the name of the area to the
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. "Senator Church was determined to find a way to protect the
magnificent resources of the area at the same
time protect the effected local economics.
He accomplished this
task admirably and throughout demonstrated his characteristic fairness and
extensive knowledge of the subject matter.
[He] was truly the father of the River of No Return Wilderness." Senator Dale Bumpers, March 1, 1984 Box
7: River of No Return Wilderness Folder
1
Idaho Primitive Area (1975)
Box
8: River of No Return Wilderness Folder
1
Congressional Correspondence (1979) Box
9: River of No Return Wilderness Folder
1
Correspondence (1979-1980) |