[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 6 (Thursday, January 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S442-S443]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN MEMORIAM: NORMAN LIVERMORE, JR.

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today I offer a few words in 
observance of the passing of Norman Livermore, Jr., a man who dedicated 
his life to the preservation of beauty in the natural world and left us 
a magnificent legacy of protected natural resources throughout the 
State of California.
  I extend my deepest sympathy and most sincere condolences to Mr. 
Livermore's family, especially his wife, Virginia Livermore, and their 
five children. My thoughts and prayers go out to them as they struggle 
with the death of a man they loved dearly.
  Norman B. ``Ike'' Livermore, Jr. was a successful businessman with a 
profound appreciation for his surroundings and a passion for 
environmental advocacy. The son of an engineer and an environmental 
activist, he learned at an early age to infuse a respect for the 
bottom-line with a deeply held reverence for the sanctity of nature. 
Throughout his life, Mr. Livermore would use this remarkable ability to 
form an environmentally conscious vision of the future that appealed to 
Californians of all ideological persuasions.
  As a youth, Mr. Livermore spent countless hours exploring the Sierra 
Nevada, beginning a love affair with the mountains that would guide him 
along his path in life. Strong and athletic, at age 15 he rode 200 
miles on horseback and climbed the Grand Teton in tennis shoes. Mr. 
Livermore would continue to display a robust vigor and zeal for life in 
early adulthood, representing our nation as a baseball player in the 
1936 Olympics and serving with great distinction and honor in the U.S. 
Navy during World War II.
  Before and after the war, Mr. Livermore operated an outfitting 
business that took people into the Sierra. He ran the business for 20 
years, during which time he crossed all 50 Sierra passes over 10,000 
feet. Mr. Livermore's outstanding business sense and intimate knowledge 
of the Sierra and the northern woods of California made him a valuable 
asset to a wide array of groups seeking to shape the future of the 
state. He was an active member of the Sierra Club starting in the 1930s 
and later, in the 1950s and 1960s, he served as treasurer of the 
Pacific Lumber Company.
  With self-effacing modesty, he once referred to himself as a living 
contradiction, but it was evident for everyone to see that all Mr. 
Livermore's actions were firmly rooted in a commitment to preserving 
the environment he encountered in his youth. His capacity to understand 
and engage the concerns of the industrialist and the environmentalist 
is what enabled him to be one of the most effective conservationists in 
California history. Recognizing Mr. Livermore's extraordinary ability 
and the high regard in which he was universally held, Governor Ronald 
Reagan tapped him to serve as Secretary for Resources in 1967.
  While serving on Governor Reagan's Cabinet, Mr. Livermore played an 
indispensable role preserving the state we know and love today. 
California is filled with testaments to his incredible achievement. The 
Redwood National Park is a product of Mr. Livermore's efforts to 
protect the forest and the

[[Page S443]]

jobs of lumberjacks by arranging an exchange of federally owned land 
for private plots that included the most magnificent old growth trees.
  With similar resolve and resourcefulness, Mr. Livermore successfully 
led the campaign to preserve the Eel River. The Army Corps of Engineers 
and the state Department of Water Resources were supporting the 
construction of the Dos Rios Dam on the middle fork of the Eel River in 
an effort to minimize the risk of flooding to areas downstream. The 
proposed dam would have flooded the Round Valley, home to the Yuki, a 
Native American Tribe that had lived in the valley for 9,000 years. 
Arguing that the dam would have traded ``permanent destruction'' for 
``occasional protection'', Mr. Livermore fought vigorously against the 
proposal and arranged a meeting between Governor Reagan and members of 
the Yuki tribe. The meeting had such a profound impact on the governor 
that he withdrew his support for the project, saving the Round Valley 
and preserving the natural state of the middle fork of the Eel River.
  Mr. Livermore combined well-reasoned arguments with emotionally 
compelling appeals to win the hearts and minds of those inside and 
outside the conservation movement. He recognized that we all care 
deeply about that which we are familiar and that effective advocacy 
depends on one's ability to draw connections between experiences. He is 
known by many as ``Reagan's environmental conscience'', but his impact 
on our State is not confined to the policy of one administration. Mr. 
Livermore's legacy is in the beauty of our state and the joy and 
inspiration it invokes in 37 million Californians.

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