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PREFACE

MY FATHER, Stewart Udall, was a true son of the West. He grew up in the small ranching and farming community of St Johns, Arizona, where he was close to the land and learned to appreciate nature and the environment. An instinctive ecologist, Stewart believed that we are all part of the community of life.

Elected to Congress in 1954 as a liberal Democrat from an increasingly conservative part of the country, he found in Washington a “big tent on the environment” and became rightly celebrated as a visionary statesman of the modern conservation movement. His legacy as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to ‘69 is marked by such accomplishments as the creation of four national parks, six national monuments, eight seashores and lakeshores, twenty historic sites and fifty wildlife refuges. He changed the way we think about conservation and the value of public land by freeing us from the idea that it’s only purpose lay in what could be extracted from it.

In 1963, the year after the publication of Rachel Carson’s classic, The Silent Spring, Stewart wrote The Quiet Crisis, in which he expanded on Carson’s work to chronicle America’s conservation efforts and take the broader view, beyond Carson’s condemnation of the effects of chemical pollution, to the more encompassing effects of progress on the total environmental. He elevated the work of Aldo Leopold and his “land ethic” into public policy discussion. He dealt with urban environments, as well as wilderness, with the need for legislation and individual action. He warned Americans against the overuse of natural resources, and cautioned us to be mindful of clean air and water. He was, indeed, an environmental pioneer, part of the transition from conservation to activism. Many of the significant environmental protection laws of the 1970’s and 80’s reflect his influence and commitment.

Caring for the world around us was how Stewart lived his life. As he wrote in a letter to his grandchildren, “cherish sunsets, wild creatures and wild places. Have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the earth.”

Although it has been over fifty years since its initial publication, The Quiet Crisis still speaks to us. It has informed my years in pubic service and I believe it will inform your life as well. Read and enjoy.

SENATOR TOM UDALL

New Mexico

April, 2016