Elizabeth Austin - Grand Canyon to Hearst Ranch: One Womans Fight to Save Land in the American West

Elizabeth Austin is a historian and former librarian with masters degrees in both fields. She knew Harriet Burgess and knew or was able to meet Harriets family and many of her friends and business associates. She also had unrestricted access to the files of Harriets organization, the American Land Conservancy. Elizabeth and her husband, Russell, live in Sacramento, California. This is her second book.

THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE WITHOUT WHOM THIS BOOK WOULD NEVER have been written. The first, of course, is Harriet Hunt Burgess, who dared the impossible to leave a legacy of land for us all to enjoy. The second is Russell Austin, my husband and one of the principal attorneys for Harriets American Land Conservancy (ALC). He fully supported my work on a book about Harriet and her achievements from the time I first suggested the idea at 4 oclock one morning more than ten years ago until he read the final manuscript.

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Harriets family, particularly to Leslie King Cowan, whose contributions were many. She saved and gave me access to all of ALCs project files and other documents, from Harriets time sheets to the ALC newsletters. Leslie freely shared her stories of growing up with and working for her mother. She paved the way for me to talk with other members of her family and with Harriets friends and staff. Harriets daughter Julie was an excellent source for details on Harriets first trip through the Grand Canyon. Harriets son John was especially helpful in providing photos of Harriets family and details about growing up. Harriets first husband, Robert Hunt, shared his memories and photos. Harriets second husband, Joe Burgess, provided invaluable insights into Harriet and their life together.

Many thanks also go to Harriets friends, staff, and advisers. Martin Litton, Harriets inspiration and mentor, and his wife, Esther Litton, graciously responded to my inquiries and gave me excellent advice on how to get the most out of our trip through the Grand Canyon in a dory. It was a privilege to get to know them both. Lauren Ward, Harriets real estate adviser and flying buddy, gave generously of his time and knowledge. Phil Caterinos enthusiasm for the book helped keep me goingnever ever give up! His knowledge of the details of the Thunderbird Lodge project enhanced the chapter on Harriets magnificent obsession. Ame Hellman welcomed Russell and me into her Virginia home for a weekend of ALC talk, with some dressage digressions. Kara Woodruff answered all of my questions about the Hearst Ranch project and made her files available to me. Kerry OToole, Jeff Stump, Tim Richardson, and Chris Jehle all offered their perspectives on Harriet, both as a friend and as a boss. Ralph Benson and Steve Costa opened windows into Harriets work at the Trust for Public Land. Al Jahns shared his Harriet stories and helped choose the five quintessential American Land Conservancy projects chronicled here. John Blaustein generously shared his photographs.

Harriet was well known for her ability to work well with landowners. My thanks to Stephen Hearst, both for his contributions to the chapter on Hearst Ranch and for the foreword. Thanks to Marty Cepkauskas and Ben Higgins for our spectacular tour of the ranch. I also would like to thank Ross de Lipkau, who answered my questions about the gravesite of his great-grandfather, John Muir, and the effort that he and ALC made to convey the gravesite to the federal government.

My research, especially into the context of Harriets life and activities, was greatly facilitated by libraries and archives. The Sacramento Public Library provided many books that I needed and served as a conduit for essential books in the collections of other public and university libraries through LINK+. The digital archives of Northern Arizona Universitys Cline Library provided easy online access to their invaluable collection of oral histories. The oral histories collected by the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, and made available online also made an important contribution to my work.

Writing is largely a solitary endeavor. I was very fortunate to have poet and writing coach extraordinaire Rae Gouirand reading and responding to the words I wrote during the last two years of my work on the book. Rae also shared her expertise with me in her creative nonfiction workshops and online Scribe lab. She has an uncanny ability to go straight to the heart of a piece and offer just the right suggestion or ask just the right question to move the writing to the next level. I would also like to thank all of my fellow participants in Raes workshops and online sessions. I appreciated both their encouragement and constructive suggestions.

The Grand Canyon is at the heart of Harriets story. A big thank you to O.A.R.S. and the boatmen who showed us the Grand Canyon in the same way that Harriet experienced it. My trip on the Colorado River was a once-in-a-lifetime journey that would not have been possible without Kerstin, Duffy, and Roger Dale; Morgan Holpuch; Amber Shannon; and Brian Rudd. The journey would not have been the same without the company of my husband, Russell, and our son Michael. Our son, Peter, was there in spirit if not in person. His dedication to his writing is an inspiring example. The presence of my family was essential both to my survival in the Grand Canyon and to my happiness there and always.

THE PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS WERE EXCERPTED FROM ALC DOCUMENTAtion with some additions and revisions. If the project information is marked with a single asterisk, it is one of the five projects featured in the book. If the project information is marked with a double asterisk, it is described within featured projects with additional information included here. The remaining projects are described for the first time.

Projects followed by (E) indicate easements. All other projects were owned or conveyed in fee. At the end of 2005 when Harriet retired, ALC owned eleven properties that had yet to be conveyed to a public agency or sold to a private buyer.

BLM: Bureau of Land Management

CCSD: Cambria Community Services District

CDFG: California Department of Fish and Game

CRT: California Rangeland Trust

DPR: California Department of Parks and Recreation

NPS: National Park Service

NRCS: Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA

ODOT: Oregon Department of Transportation

SMMC: Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

USFS: United States Forest Service

USFWS: United States Fish and Wildlife Service

WCB: Wildlife Conservation Board

ALC facilitated the federal acquisition of a 43.49-acre inholding located in the center of Alaskas Denali National Park and Preserve. Denali is home to North Americas highest mountain, Mount McKinley (renamed Denali in 2015), at 20,320 feet and countless other spectacular mountains and glaciers. Covering six million acres, the park encompasses a complete subarctic ecosystem inhabited by grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose. The inholding was the largest remaining private property suitable for development in the historic Kantishna Mining District. Tied up for more than ten years in complex legal proceedings, the parcel suddenly was placed on the auction block in June 2001. In a live auction by telephone with Russell in Sacramento and Harriet in San Francisco using an instant messenger protocol to coordinate their bidding strategy, ALC bid against competing development interests and won the right to purchase the inholding. Within a few months after its acquisition, ALC successfully cleared title to the land and transferred it to the National Park Service. Project manager: Glen Williams.