[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2379-E2380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO ALASKA'S CELIA HUNTER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 20, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month news came of 
the death of one of the pioneers of the conservation movement in 
Alaska, Celia Hunter.
  A founder of the Alaska Conservation Society--Alaska's first 
statewide organization of its kind--Celia Hunter was involved in many 
debates over the future of Alaska, including the ``Project Chariot'' 
plan to use nuclear explosives to dig a new deep-water port and the 
proposed Rampart Dam on the Yukon.
  And in the late 1970's, she was among the many people from across the 
country whose strong support made possible the enactment of the Alaska 
National Interests Land Conservation Act, introduced in the House of 
Representatives by my father, Mo Udall of Arizona.
  Now Congress has again been debating the proper balance between 
development and conservation in Alaska, and again Celia Hunter was 
active and involved in that debate right up to the day of her death. As 
she explained earlier this year, it remained her view that ``If we lose 
wild spaces, we could be a much poorer nation . . . the whole concept 
of natural areas, with intact ecosystems is vital to life . . . we need 
places of the world that are still natural.''
  Mr. Speaker, in the words of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Celia 
Hunter's death was a ``great loss for Alaska,'' and it leaves the whole 
country poorer. She earned our thanks and remembrance. She will be 
greatly missed.
  For the benefit of our colleagues, I am attaching a brief outline of 
her life as well as a newspaper editorial.

                              Celia's Life

       Many are called, but few choose to hear and give of 
     themselves completely. Celia Hunter heard the call of the 
     wilderness at an early age and answered it with her 
     adventuresome spirit, loving heart, and thoughtful mind.
       Born on January 13, 1919 in Arlington, Washington, Celia 
     grew up during the Depression in a logging community. After 
     high school graduation, she worked as a clerk for Weyerhauser 
     Timber Company for $50 a month, enough to buy a car. Each day 
     when Celia drove to work, she passed by Everett Airport and 
     saw an opportunity. An admirer of Amelia Earhart, she decided 
     to learn to fly. One week after her 21th birthday she took 
     off on her first flight and was immediately hooked.
       ``The viewpoint from on high is so different, and so much 
     more comprehensive . . . just that whole feeling of being 
     aloft. It gives you a feeling that birds must have. In fact, 
     I think, if I wanted to be reincarnated, I'd like to be a 
     bird of some sort.''
       Celia had discovered her first wilderness. Her love of 
     flying led her to train with the Women Airforce Service 
     Pilots, and she became skilled at flying a number of 
     aircraft, including large aircraft such as the P-47 that 
     zoomed up to 300 mph. Celia ferried aircraft across the 
     country for the Air Force during WWII and dreamed of flying 
     to Alaska one day to see the vast wilderness that other 
     pilots had described.
       In December 1946, she and pilot friend Ginny Hill were 
     hired to fly two Stinson airplanes from Seattle to Fairbanks. 
     They arrived in a snowstorm at Weeks Field in Fairbanks on 
     January 1, 1947, nearly a month-long trip with all the 
     weather delays. They decided to stay and work in the tourism 
     industry, ferrying visitors to a travel lodge in Kotzebue 
     during the summer.
       This experience inspired Celia, Ginny Hill Wood, and Woody 
     Wood to build Camp Denali, a wilderness camp just outside the 
     original boundary of McKinley National Park. There visitors 
     could see Denali and enjoy hiking and wildlife-viewing in a 
     magnificent setting.
       In 1960, Celia and Ginny help found Alaska's first 
     statewide environmental organization, the Alaska Conservation 
     Society. This small group of pioneering conservationists was 
     inspired by Olaus and Margaret Murie to work for the 
     establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Range and to 
     protect the special and unspoiled lands of Alaska.
       Working together, Celia and Ginny have tackled all of 
     Alaska's major environmental issues. They fought against 
     Project Chariot and the Rampart Dam project, became loving 
     stewards and advocates for Denali National Park, and worked 
     to create and pass the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands 
     Conservation Act, the greatest lands conservation act in 
     world history.
       In the late '70s, Celia's leadership moved to the national 
     level when she served as Executive Director for the 
     Wilderness Society. She also began writing memorable 
     environmental columns for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 
     Fearless and outspoken, Celia carefully studied a diversity 
     of issues and wrote articulate and compelling columns for 
     more than 20 years. Dedicated to the conservation movement, 
     she also helped found the Alaska Conservation Foundation in 
     1980.
       Through the years, Celia not only devoted her energy to 
     environmental causes, she also loved people and the web of 
     connections between them. She had the natural ability to 
     inspire and nurture countless individuals by listening to 
     their ideas and dreams and sharing her views. Her glacial-
     blue eyes could look into one's soul and bring out the best 
     of a person's spirit including a good laugh.
       Celia leaves a tremendous legacy of conservation 
     accomplishments. Her vibrant spirit will live on in the 
     wilderness she loved, in the lives of those she inspired, and 
     in the legislation that holds her tireless effort to protect 
     what she truly loved. The earth and all its a living things 
     are grateful. Alaska will forever remember Celia.



[[Page E2380]]



          [From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Dec. 4, 2001]

                        A Great Loss for Alaska

       Celia Hunter died still doing the work she loved most--
     fighting for Alaska's environment.
       The night before her death Hunter had been putting together 
     a list of U.S. senators who might be considered undecided 
     regarding the Senate vote on drilling in the Arctic National 
     Wildlife Refuge.
       Hunter spent more than 50 years as a pioneer and 
     conservationist in Alaska, most often working side-by-side 
     with her long-time companion and fellow conservationist Ginny 
     Wood.
       Hunter's years of dedication to the protection and 
     preservation of Alaska and her work to that end on the local, 
     state and national levels meant that she played a vital role 
     in shaping Alaska's environmental future.
       Her work and contributions to increase public awareness of 
     Alaska's unique natural resources have been pushed even more 
     into the public eye as the nation began focusing on solving 
     national energy policy issues. One of the biggest questions 
     directly related to Alaska has been what role if any should 
     ANWR play in that policy--the very issue Hunter contemplated 
     during her last days.
       Hunter and Wood first flew in Fairbanks in January 1947, 
     piloting two planes to be delivered to the Interior. Extreme 
     temperatures kept the pair here longer than expected, and 
     after spending a bit of time in Europe, they were back to 
     stay.
       The list of her works in conservation and environmentalism 
     are lengthy. In the 1950s, Hunter and Wood built Camp Denali, 
     an early combination of ecology and tourism. Not long after, 
     Hunter was a founding member of the Alaska Conservation 
     Society, the first statewide conservation society in Alaska. 
     Later on, she was instrumental in the formation of the Alaska 
     Conservation Foundation and served as its first board chair. 
     Hunter was interim executive director of The Wilderness 
     Society in the 1970s. In 1991, she was presented the Sierra 
     Clubs' highest honor and has received innumerable awards in 
     recognition of her dedication and service to conservation.
       News-Miner readers recognize Hunter as a longtime 
     contributor to this page--she began writing her column in 
     1979. While her opinions quite often differed from our own, 
     our respect for Hunter was beyond question.
       In the days since her death, Hunter's friends and 
     associates have described her in a variety of ways: pioneer, 
     voice of responsible environmentalism, adventurer, kind and 
     honest with everybody. And all said that her passing would 
     leave a void in Fairbanks and in Alaska.
       In during a 1986 interview with a News-Miner reporter, 
     Hunter said that her basic philosophy was that much of the 
     damage done to the earth was caused by people making a 
     living. That creates an obligation, she said: ``Each one of 
     us has a responsibility to take care of the part of the world 
     we live in.''
       Hunter's life-long goal was to minimize the footprints that 
     humans leave on our environment. But through her work and her 
     passion Alaska, she has left behind an impression that will 
     long be remembered.

     

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