Pennsylvania’s Conservation Heritage Oral History Project – Phase II final Report Submitted to the Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Advisory Board Submitted by Kenneth C. Wolensky, D. Ed and Vagel Keller, Ph. D april 9, 2015

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  Ohiopyle Rafting Take-out at Bruner Run, a project that the Allegheny Group tried, unsuccessfully to stop
  
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  Quebec Run Wild Area in Forbes State Forest, south of Uniontown, PA. Richard was unsure of its status, but a subsequent web search shows the Group's efforts were successful.
  
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  Whitetail Trail, connected to Quebec Run. Richard was involved in the original scouting for the trail.
  

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  Sam Hays "was dominant"
  
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  Phillip and Wyona Coleman, at California University of PA; Wyona (d.) handled coal mining issues
  
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  Gail Rockwood, state-level forestry issues
  
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  Hal Lockwood, state-level Sierra Club
  
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  Roger Westman, Allegheny County Health Committee Staff and Sierra Club member
  
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  Peter Wray, who Richard credits for seeing the Allegheny wilderness project through to "partial" success.
  

Richard was reluctant to opine on the present or make predictions about the future of Pennsylvania's Conservation history. He considers the 1970s, during which he was most active at the state level, to be a particularly important decade from the perspective of the Sierra Club, as a new generation of leadership became involved.

From: Richard H Pratt

Subject: Re: Pennsylvania's Conservation Heritage Oral History Project

Date: August 21, 2014 at 3:00:34 PM EDT

To: vagel keller

Vagel,

Regarding Sam Hays, he of course never held any official positions, but he tried and (often) succeeded in organizing other people. He identified underlying issues. He had an interest in having political action achieved.

I didn't mention that his wife Bobbie Hays went with me as my assistant when I was Academic Dean on Semester at Sea in 1984. I tried to get Sam to go too (as faculty on the voyage), but I didn't succeed. Bobbie was troubled with seasickness problems throughout the voyage.

Regarding Peter Wray, I forget whether I mentioned before that I regard Peter as the one who stayed with the Allegheny National Forest wilderness areas issue until it finally achieved (partial) success some years later, before he then left the Pittsburgh area.

Regarding Bruce Sundquist, in addition to keeping a quite active and successful Outings Program going over 35 years,  and publishing many editions of guides to the trails of the area, he studied and wrote extensively on forest management issues, on his website, I don't think ever published.  He was not too much involved in political action.

Well, the more one thinks about it, the more one remembers.

Richard


Interviewee: John Quigley, former Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources in the Rendell Administration and Secretary of the Department of

1. 
   Carbon capture and storage – a new technology to capture and liquefy atmospheric carbon and store it underground where it eventually mineralizes. DCNR received a Clinton Foundation grant to pursue this initiative resulting in a comprehensive plan. However, little was accomplished as the Rendell Administration left office in 2010 and there was little political will to move forward.
   
2. 
   Growing Greener II – This $600m bond issue led to infrastructure improvements in DCNR assets as well as the Conservation Landscape Initiative resulting in sustainable development. John recalls that the bond issue also led to the establishment of the ‘Pennsylvania Wilds’ in the north-central part of the state: a plan for sustainable development – jobs and the environment.
   
3. 
   Reduction in Keystone Fund appropriation – the Keystone Fund, enacted in 1993 (generated revenue from 1% realty transfer tax to fund parks, recreation and heritage resources) was ‘robbed’ in 2008 by the Rendell Administration and the General Assembly to help close a large budget deficit resulting from the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008. DCNR staff Cindy Dunn led a behind the scenes effort to save funding but with little success.
   
4. 
   Digital Map – John led efforts with other state agencies to create the first digital map of the Commonwealth at a cost of $20m. This was among the first such efforts in the country.
   
5. 
   Marcellus Shale – John fought against leasing state forest lands to shale gas companies even though the Rendell Administration agreed to limited acquisition by Marcellus drillers. Over $190m was generated. However, in 1998 a large part of this amount was diverted to the General Fund. Only $20m was allocated to DCNR for its operating budget. DNCR and state forests became the Commonwealth’s ‘cash cow’ and John referred to Marcellus drilling as Pennsylvania’s ‘crack cocaine’ for generating revenue. John also comments that no one foresaw the damage that Marcellus would cause when the first well was drilled in 2004. He is acutely aware Pennsylvania’s experiences with extractive industries (coal, oil) and the damages they caused. However, few understood or understand this history. As in the past, the environment is put at peril for the sake of more jobs and more development. The Rendell Administration eventually put in place a temporary moratorium on drilling. The Corbett Administration removed it.
   

John has great passion for conservation and environmental protection. He describes environmental protection as being at great peril. Global warming provides such evidence. He states that governments and private industry are “not even close to getting it right” when it comes to environmental stewardship at great peril to future generations.

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  Mon-Fayette Expressway: involvement with the permitting process, bringing all the plaintiffs in federal law suits opposing it together
  
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  Brownfields: Industrial Sites Recycling Act of 1995, enabling the clean up and reuse of abandoned industrial sites, such as Hazelwood, which was at the heart of opposition to the Mon-Fayette Expressway
  
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  Trail work across the state; using trails to link users to the natural environment in all landscapes (urban, suburban, rural), now part of an on-going interstate network in development
  

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  "Environmental backlash" of the 1990s: the "wise use" movement challenged "heavy handed" government; landowners pitted against environmental regulators. It continues today.
  
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  Getting people to care. "When you look out your window, the environment looks pretty good." The problem is to get people to see beyond the local, to "think globally.
  

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  Brian Hill, who, as the then-Director of the Western PA office of PEC, hired Davitt
  
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  Joanne Denworth, who was President & CEO of PEC when Davitt joined the organization
  
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  John Oliver
  
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  "Doc" Goddard; "just being in his presence"
  

- creation of state forests and parks

- Growing Greener
Topics to address in the History of Pennsylvania's Conservation Heritage:

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  the example of Joseph Trimble Rothrock, who asked the philosophical question, "What can we do now to start toward a result that we won't live to see?"
  
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  the evolution of forestry from lumber production toward treating forests as a complex ecosystem
  
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  the contrast of the "purity of purpose" among environmental pioneers with the "internecine fights" among environmental groups in more recent history, "because things are more complicated" (wind power vs. bats and rapters, micro-hydro power vs. "the fish folks")
  
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  relative success, over time, in dealing with point-source pollution contrasts with the continuing challenge of non-point source pollution
  

- U.S. Representative William Klinger, Republican, Warren, PA, 1979 – 97, who Peter described as a "now-long gone, fairly moderate, well-to-do, Eastern Republican," from a moneyed family, lumber company, "a good person to work with."

- U.S. senators Schweicker and Heinz were both proponents, although Schweicker "less so."

- John Oliver, while at Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, was influential in getting Sen. Heinz's support. He was "key."

- John Butts, Supervisor of the Allegheny National Forest, also "a good person to work with" … "one of the few employees of the Forest Service who had a Ph.D."

- Gail Rockwood – on Citizens Advisory Board

- Audubon Society

- Trout Unlimited

- Izaak Walton League

- Friends of Allegheny Wilderness, formed by Kirk Johnson

- Local garden clubs were "very influential" in the Alaska Lands Campaign

- Heinz Endowments – major funder of environmental activist organizations
Major Initiatives that Peter was involved in as a leader in the PA Chapter of the Sierra Club:
- Allegheny Wilderness Campaign

- Alaska Lands Campaign (Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980)

- Wyona Coleman; very influential in policies regarding surface mining. Her biggest influence on Peter was "persistence."

be favorably acted on in the foreseeable future, because he feels there is too much resistance both locally and in Congress. For example, he discussed the lack of progress by Friends of the Allegheny Wilderness. In 1997, when he was Chair of the Allegheny Group, he received a letter and check for $40,000 from The Huplit's Trust, which had been set up by a couple who were retired school teachers from Philadelphia. Since then, the Allegheny Group receives $40,000 to $60,000 each year from that trust, and funds from this bequest has been used, in part, to help set up and continue to fund the Friends of the Allegheny Wilderness. But, according to Peter, "slowly, we realized they weren't going anywhere." Another example he sites for his pessimism about the current political climate is "battling with Allegheny County Council about fracking under county parks.