[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 31, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1353-E1354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          IN RECOGNITION OF THE 95TH BIRTHDAY OF MARTIN LITTON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2012

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a legendary environmental 
hero on his 95th birthday. Martin Litton is the quintessential take-no-
prisoner environmental activist of his era. Thanks to his perseverance 
and passion, there is no dam in the Grand Canyon and there is no Disney 
resort next to Sequoia National Park.
   Mr. Litton has been fighting for the environment for decades and 
still has plenty of fight left in him. He grew up in Gardena near Los 
Angeles and enjoyed hiking in the Southern Sierra as a child and 
teenager. When he was 18, he wrote a letter to the LA Times denouncing 
the diversion of water from Mono Lake to the growing population of Los 
Angeles. His wrote, ``The people of the entire state should rise up 
against the destruction of Mono Lake. Mono Lake is a gem-among 
California's greatest scenic attractions.'' It has been with this 
sentiment and determination that he pursued all battles in life.
   In the 1940s, Mr. Litton worked in the circulation department at the 
LA Times and started writing environmental freelance articles. He 
caught the attention of David Brower, executive director of the Sierra 
Club, who in 1952 hired Mr. Litton for a campaign against the 
construction of two dams in Dinosaur National Monument. Mr. Litton 
explored the Green and Yampa rivers in a wooden dory and the resulting 
publicity helped persuade the Congress to vote against the dams in 
1956.
   This was the first of many campaigns that stopped the building of 
dams. In 1964, Mr. Litton led a river trip through the Grand Canyon 
with David Brower, photographer Philip Hyde and writer Francois Leydet 
which led to the publication of the book Time and the River Flowing 
with photographs by Ansel Adams and Hyde. The Sierra Club then took out 
full page ads in the New York Times--Mr. Litton's idea--opposing the 
building of a dam in the Grand Canyon. Public opposition to the project 
was sealed.
   Mr. Litton started his love affair with the Grand Canyon in 1955. He 
was only the 185th person to float the Colorado River first pioneered 
by John Wesley Powell. He continued to run the river for decades. In 
1971 he founded Grand Canyon Dories and throughout the 1970s and 80s 
led commercial trips. Other river runners used rubber rafts, but Mr. 
Litton preferred the small wooden boats that were

[[Page E1354]]

originally used in Oregon and adapted them so they could be used on the 
Colorado. Mr. Litton sold the business in 1990, but continued to raft 
the Grand Canyon. Just three years ago he broke his own record as the 
oldest person to run the canyon in a dory.
   From 1954-1968 Mr. Litton was the editor of Sunset Magazine. His 
cover story ``The Redwood Country'' in 1960 launched a movement that 
eventually led to the establishment of Redwood National Park. As a 
life-long pilot, Mr. Litton flew then Governor Edmund ``Pat'' Brown 
over the redwoods in Northern California to convince him not to sign a 
bill that would extend a freeway through the forest. It worked.
   Mr. Litton continues to fight for the redwoods. He is deeply engaged 
in a campaign to stop logging in the Sequoia National Forest and the 
Giant Sequoia Monument.
   Surpassing Mr. Litton's love for the environment is only his love 
for his wife of 69 years, Esther.
   Mr. Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to rise with me to 
honor Martin Litton who has kept some of the most beautiful places in 
America pristine and in existence for all of us to admire and enjoy. 
His tenacious spirit serves as an inspiration to all of us.

                          ____________________