[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 147 (Monday, December 4, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2119-E2120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING DAVID BROWER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 4, 2000

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay my final respects to David 
Brower, one of the true heroes of the environmental movement. David 
Brower was utterly devoted to the health of our planet. He affected 
America's physical and cultural landscape with his staunch defense of 
the Earth. He changed the way Americans view the environment and 
changed the environment in which they lived. David Brower was one of 
the Earth's greatest friends.
  When David Brower joined the Sierra Club in 1933, the group was 
mainly an association of hikers interested more in enjoying nature than

[[Page E2120]]

in preserving it. An able mountaineer, he spent a great deal of time 
climbing the peaks in Yosemite and nearby areas. During World War II, 
Brower joined the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, where he wrote a 
training manual on mountaineering and taught climbing techniques.
  In 1952, after having published the Sierra Club Handbook and having 
served on the Board of Directors, Brower became the first Executive 
Director of the Sierra Club. Under his leadership, the group, and 
indeed the conservation movement, changed dramatically. The 
organization of 2,000 hikers became a national political force with 
77,000 members. Its budget grew from $75,000 to $3 million.
  Brower turned the Sierra Club into an uncompromising defender of the 
Earth. One of his first campaigns was to stop the federal government 
from building dams in the Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah-
Colorado border. Brower won by building public support for the cause 
through an array of innovative means; he produced a film about the 
area, conducted boat tours on the river, and published a book that 
supported his position. Over the years, he became known for these and 
other creative techniques including full-page newspaper advertisements 
and coffee-table books.
  In the 1960's, he vigorously fought efforts to build two 
hydroelectric dams in the Grand Canyon. He also worked to create new 
national parks and national seashores and to pass the Wilderness Act of 
1964 in Congress.
  In 1969, he left his position as Executive Director of the Sierra 
Club. He immediately founded Friends of the Earth and co-founded the 
League of Conservation Voters and carried on with his work. In 1982, he 
founded the Earth Island Institute to support environmental projects in 
other countries. Most recently, he founded the Global Conservation, 
Preservation, and Restoration Service to work to restore damaged areas. 
Through these groups, he continued to be in the forefront of the 
environmental movement.
  David Brower can never be replaced, but his work will live on in the 
people he inspired and the groups he founded. His principles dictated 
his every action, and his commitment was contagious. His impact was 
felt across the country and around the world. David Brower was the 
greatest conservationist of modern times, and he will be sorely missed.
  My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Anne, his children, 
Kenneth, Barbara, Robert, and John, and all of his family.