[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 127 (Monday, September 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1611-E1612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, DR. EDGAR WAYBURN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 16, 1996

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Edgar Wayburn, legendary champion of the 
environment and human health, celebrates his 90th birthday on September 
17. His 90 years represent a lifetime of commitment to the causes of 
protecting the environment and promoting human health throughout the 
world. Dr. Wayburn is an example to all of us.
  For more than five decades, Dr. Wayburn was a dedicated physician who 
worked to improve the human condition, as well as the environmental 
condition of our planet. His interest in the environment stemmed from 
his work

[[Page E1612]]

as a physician who recognized the effects of a degraded environment on 
human health. In addition to the many public lands issues that Dr. 
Wayburn has championed, he has also fought for clean air and a curb on 
cigarette smoking long before the general public became educated about 
the dangers. The world we live in today is better because of the 
efforts of Dr. Wayburn.
  To Peggy Wayburn, our special thanks for her contribution to these 
many challenges and successes; we appreciate the long hours, hard work, 
and special role Peggy has played on the Wayburn family team.
  Dr. Wayburn and his wife Peggy were captured by the unique beauty of 
the Alaska landscape on their first visit almost 30 years ago. That 
first visit was followed by hundreds more and the successful campaign 
to create the Alaska Lands Act, the largest public lands bill in the 
history of the Congress. Today, 104 million acres remain wild largely 
because of that first visit made to Alaska by the Wayburns.
  In California, Dr. Wayburn fought to preserve one of America's 
premier ancient forests, Redwood National Park. He fought alongside 
Congressman Phillip Burton to achieve this important goal which 
resulted in the addition of 58,000 acres to the park in 1978. Today, 
these redwood giants have a permanent home in their coastal preserve 
which has also become a world heritage site and biosphere reserve.
  Closer to home, in San Francisco, Dr. Wayburn demonstrated the same 
outstanding leadership in the effort to preserve at the national level 
that we now call the Golden Gate National Recreation Area [GGNRA]. 
These early and insightful efforts led to the now-famous collaboration 
with Amy Meyer and Phillip Burton in establishing the almost-continuous 
greenbelt from Point Reyes National Seashore south along the Pacific 
coast to Sweeney Ridge.
  The notion of an urban national park was an unfamiliar concept to the 
National Park Service and to the Congress in the late 1960's. Through 
Dr. Wayburn's endeavors and the lasting partnership with Amy, along 
with the commitment of the local community, environmentalists and 
Phillip Burton, the GGNRA found a protected home as a unit of the 
national park system in 1972.
  Today, the GGNRA is the most visited park in the national system, 
with over 22 million visitors each year. The efforts of Dr. Wayburn, 
Amy Meyer, and many others in the San Francisco community, have also 
contributed to the success of the Presidio and the Presidio Trust 
legislation in Congress. The GGNRA stands as a monument, in the 
National Park System and in our community, to the important work and 
tenacity of citizen leaders who dream, who struggle and who see their 
dreams come true. It took only a small spark, but the flame will burn 
forever.
  Throughout the world, Dr. Wayburn has initiated environmental 
missions on behalf of protecting forests, lands and waters in the name 
of preservation and in the name of Earth's future inhabitants. Our 
grandchildren will not know Dr. Wayburn, but his work will be known 
through the magnificent landscapes that abound because of his 
monumental efforts. Dr. Wayburn's selfless and tireless efforts, seen 
wherever he touched our Earth, will stand as a lasting monument to his 
vision and to his achievement.
  Dr. Wayburn has been the recipient of several awards to honor his 
accomplishments in the fields of environment and health: the Albert 
Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism from Johns Hopkins University, 
election to Global 500 of the U.N. Environmental Program, the Starker 
Leopold Award by the Nature Conservancy, and the John Muir Award by the 
Sierra Club.
  Thank you, Dr. Wayburn and Peggy, for giving your lives to the 
important causes that have made this a better world for so many people. 
You will always be remembered by your friends in San Francisco.

                          ____________________