[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16920]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 16920]]

                        TRIBUTE TO MARC REISNER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2000

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
announce the untimely passing of Marc Reisner, a leading environmental 
author who helped awaken the nation and this body to the urgent need to 
reform the way we thought about water policy.
  Mr. Reisner's 1986 book, ``Cadillac Desert,'' is not only one of the 
great pieces of environmental literature ever written, but a marvelous 
study of the political process. It is often said that in the American 
West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. Mr. Reisner's 
account of the historic water battles that have rocked California over 
the past 100 years puts new meaning into that old truism.
  Having spent much of the last quarter century working to bring 
federal water policy into the modern era, I salute Mr. Reisner for 
bringing these issues, and the urgency of adopting a new water ethic, 
before the public in a comprehensive and effective history. We continue 
the arduous and seemingly never-ending battle to modernize water 
policy, and much of what we have achieved, including the landmark 
Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992, has profited by the 
understanding of water policy and water politics promoted by Mr. 
Reisner and ``Cadillac Desert.''
  I want to express my condolences to his family, including his wife 
Lawrie Mott who is a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense 
Council, and their two daughters. While his passing is a devastating 
loss and unacceptingly premature, I hope they can find comfort in 
knowing that his work helped change this nation for the better, and 
will continue to influence policymakers and private citizens for many 
years to come.
  I submit for the Record at this point a story from the San Francisco 
Chronicle on Marc Reisner.
  The article follows:

           [From the San Francisco Chronicle, July 24, 2000]

         Marc Reisner, Lecturer, Author of ``Cadillac Desert''

                            (By Glen Martin)

       Marc Reisner, a writer and conservationist who wrote the 
     seminal text on the West's perennial water wars, died Friday 
     of cancer at his Marin County home. He was 51.
       Mr. Reisner wrote and lectured extensively on environmental 
     issues, but he was best known for his 1986 book, ``Cadillac 
     Desert,'' an angry indictment of water depletion in the 
     American West.
       The book was a wake-up call about destructive dam-building, 
     pork barrel water subsidies, and the general frittering away 
     of the West's scarce water resources.
       It stimulated a campaign for water policy reform that 
     continues to the present.
       Mr. Reisner was born in St. Paul, Minn., and was a 1970 
     graduate of Earlham College in Indiana. From 1972 to 1979, he 
     was a staff writer and communications director for the 
     Natural Resources Defense Council.
       He was awarded an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 
     1979, and began the research on water policy that ultimately 
     resulted in ``Cadillac Desert.''
       Mr. Reisner's book was a finalist for the National Book 
     Critics Circle Award in 1986. The book was the basis for a 
     $2.8 million documentary film series, which was first shown 
     on national Public Broadcasting stations in 1997. The film 
     won a Columbia University/Peabody Award.
       ``Cadillac Desert'' was ranked by the Modern Library as 
     61st among the 100 most notable nonfiction English language 
     works published in the 20th century.
       Mr. Reisner was also the author of ``Game Wars,'' a 1991 
     book that elucidated the career of Dave Hall, a now retired 
     special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who 
     specialized in busting international poaching rings.
       With author Sarah Bates, he co-wrote ``Overtapped Oasis'' 
     in 1989, an examination of Western water policy. During the 
     course of his career, his elegantly written essays and 
     articles appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers.
       At the time of his death, Mr. Reisner was working on a book 
     about the role natural disasters have played in shaping 
     California history and politics.
       In recent years, Mr. Reisner devoted much of his time to 
     promoting solutions to California's environmental problems.
       He was a consultant to the Pacific Coast Federation of 
     Fishermen's Associations on removing antiquated dams that 
     were interfering with anadromous fish runs.
       He also co-founded the Ricelands Habitat partnership, a 
     coalition of farmers and conservationists that worked to 
     promote environmentally friendly agriculture, improve 
     waterfowl habitat on cropland and minimize the negative 
     impact on fisheries caused by water diversions.
       Mr. Reisner was also involved in two private ``green'' 
     ventures.
       He managed the Vidler Water Co., which promoted 
     environmentally benign groundwater storage and water transfer 
     programs as an alternative to dams. And he worked with a 
     group of California rice farmers and engineers to make 
     fiberboard and other products from compressed rice straw.
       Recently, Mr. Reisner served as a distinguished visiting 
     professor at the University of California at Davis, lecturing 
     on the interaction of human civilization and the environment.
       He was a member of the board of the Natural Heritage 
     Institute, an honorary trustee of the Tuolumne River 
     Preservation Trust, a Rene Dubos Fellow and a recipient of 
     the Bay Institute's Bay Education Award. He also received a 
     special commendation from the American Whitewater Affiliation 
     for his efforts to promote river conservation.
       Earlier this year, Mr. Reisner was awarded a Pew Fellowship 
     in marine conservation. He intended to use the funds to 
     restore native salmon habitats in California.
       Environmentalists remember Mr. Reisner as someone who was 
     determined to mitigate the environmental problems he covered 
     in his writing.
       ``Before `Cadillac Desert,' the general public perception 
     was that dams and water manipulation were an unmitigated good 
     thing,'' said Michael Sherwood, a staff attorney for the 
     Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund who is involved in 
     litigation on endangered salmon and steelhead runs.
       ``Marc was instrumental in raising awareness of the damage 
     being done to fish and wildlife,'' said Sherwood, ``and in 
     recent years, he showed ways environmentalists and irrigators 
     could work together to find solutions that both protected 
     natural resources and allowed commercial uses for water. We 
     can be thankful he was here to open our minds on both 
     issues.''
       Mr. Reisner is survived by his wife, Lawrie Mott, a senior 
     scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council; and two 
     daughters, Ruthie and Margot, all of Marin County. Memorial 
     services are pending.

     

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