The Browers had four children. His publicity and publishing experience seemed to make Brower the ideal choice, in , as the Sierra Club's first executive director. While some members of the Sierra Club supported or were undecided about the proposals, Brower was unequivocally opposed. A joint emergency committee, which included Brower and representatives from the Wilderness Society and the Isaak Walton League, initiated a campaign to educate the public through pamphlets, articles, speeches, and films.
At congressional hearings in January , Brower compared Dinosaur to the Hetch Hetchy Valley within Yosemite National Park, which had been dammed in the early twentieth century. While this project had provided water and power for the city of San Francisco, the reservoir behind the Hetch Hetchy dam had also obliterated a pristine valley and failed to live up to grandiose predictions of its potential for recreation.
Brower also pointed out errors in the Bureau of Reclamation's calculations on evaporation at one of the Dinosaur dam sites, demonstrating that an alternative location—Glen Canyon, farther downstream—would be more efficient. In the spring of the Colorado River Storage Project received congressional authorization, but without a dam in Dinosaur National Monument. The Dinosaur victory set the tone for keeping dams out of Kings Canyon in California, the Grand Canyon, and elsewhere.
However, to keep Dinosaur dam-free, Brower and fellow conservationists agreed not to protest the building of Glen Canyon Dam. For years Brower felt guilt-stricken about the compromise. He hoped this perceived mistake could be rectified by draining Lake Powell. Brower's style and tactics, displayed to maximum effect during the Dinosaur campaign, transformed the Sierra Club into a potent national organization. Under Brower, the Sierra Club branched out, moving beyond parks and wilderness towards policies on wildlife, pollution, and pesticides.
His provocative Sierra Club books and bold full-page newspaper advertisements had immense impact upon conservation campaigns. Brower's innovative and abrasive style, while important to many key conservation victories, simultaneously alienated more staid members of the Sierra Club.
One year after becoming director, Brower and his family took a trip to Dinosaur National Monument , located in the Uinta Mountains between Utah and Colorado. Twelve months after that trip, the U. Bureau of Reclamation revealed plans for the Echo Park Dam, set to be located within the national monument. By , conservationists won, and Congress eliminated the dam from the Colorado River Project.
Given the effective reception towards the book, Brower began creating more exhibit format books that brought awareness to wilderness preservation. In addition to igniting a boom in membership from 7, to 70, during his years of leadership, Brower took on on another battle with the Bureau of Reclamation, this time preventing the construction of two dams that would flood the Grand Canyon [9].
Despite having transformed what was previously a glorified hiking fraternity, and having proven victorious in additional conservationist fights in Yosemite and Diablo Canyon, Brower resigned in He eventually relinquished ties and sat on the board of directors, however his executive duties shifted towards new projects. After his resignation from the California-bound Sierra Club, Brower established Friends of the Earth , an internationally reaching organization.
Help protect wildlife and wild places, ensure clean air and water for all, and fight for environmental justice. By clicking Remind Me, you will also receive periodic communications from the Sierra Club. You can unsubscribe at any time. Skip to main content. William E. Colby Library. David Brower. Born in Berkeley, California, in , David Brower joined the Sierra Club in because of his interest in mountaineering.
It was in these and other roles that Brower played a significant role in protecting our national parks system from dams and reservoirs. As a first major accomplishment, Brower successfully led the fight to keep a dam from being built that would have flooded Dinosaur National Monument on the Upper Colorado River.
In the battle to preserve that place and our parks system as a whole, however, it was agreed that a dam and reservoir would be built in lesser known and recognized Glen Canyon.
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