Crusaders for conservation
Kay Kerr, Sylvia McLaughlin, and Esther Gulick
were crusaders for Urban Conservation,
doing what was inconceivable at that time,
protecting a natural resource in an urban environment.
were crusaders for Urban Conservation,
doing what was inconceivable at that time,
protecting a natural resource in an urban environment.
In April, 1961, Kay Kerr, Sylvia McLaughlin, and Esther Gulick saw a petrifying illustration in the Oakland Tribune. It showed the US Army Corps of Engineers projection of what San Francisco Bay would look like in 2020- a narrow, lifeless channel for navigation and little more. Reacting to the illustration of the rampant filling, they began to organize to protest the continued destruction of the Bay.
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"Bay or River?"
(Register, 1961) |
- "Esther, Kay, and I were inspired by the vision of what we felt San Francisco Bay could be and the reality of what was happening to it. We regarded the Bay as one of this country's national treasures and to us, and to many others, it was unthinkable that most of this beautiful natural resource could be filled."
- -Sylvia McLaughlin, Save the Bay Association
"The bay needed saving"
"At that time, nature conservation in an urban setting was an alien concept. The first Earth Day was still 10 years away. The EPA didn’t exist.
While chatting over almond cookies and tea,
Kay, Esther, and I came to the conclusion that the Bay needed saving."
-Syliva McLaughlin, Save the Bay Association
"I remember Dave Brower saying. "Well, it's just exceedingly important, but the Sierra Club is principally interested in wilderness and in trails." The next guy, Newton Drury, said, 'This is very important, but we're saving the redwoods, and we can't save the Bay." |
They attempted to involve existing environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club and Audubon Society, in their cause. The groups agreed on the importance of saving the Bay, but all of them had other priorities. The women realized that if anyone was to take on this project, it would have to be them.
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"When the Save the Bay campaign began in 1961, Sierra Club executive director David Brower said his organization had other priorities. Preservation of pristine wilderness was more important than saving a gritty waterway surrounded by a heavily populated metropolitan region." |
"It was clear that if anything was going to be done we were "it,"
so we went to work, green as grass as we were."
-Esther Gulick in an interview with
Sylvia McLaughlin for California Land-Use Planning Series