December 1954 (age 55)

Despite Sigurd's role in the November conference that reinvigorated the campaign to save Dinosaur National Monument (see "This Month in Olson History" for November 1954) he felt frustrated with the National Parks Association. Like Devereux Butcher, the feisty editor of NPA's magazine who had lobbied Sigurd to take the presidency, Sigurd had experienced at first hand the timidity of the group's board of trustees. One of the issues the board raised stemmed from a 1954 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the federal government's power to revoke the tax-exempt status of any organization that spent a substantial portion of its funds or time on lobbying. This was a major problem for all of the national conservation groups, but they figured out ways to deal with it. The Sierra Club chose to solve the problem by creating the group Trustees for Conservation to take charge of its lobbying activities. Other groups cooperated to form an umbrella organization for lobbying purposes.

Typcially, leaders of conservation groups also played leadership roles in the lobbying organizations, making sure that any time they were engaged in lobbying the funds came from the non-tax-exempt organization. The NPA's board, however, was so concerned about preserving the group's tax-exempt status that Sigurd, invited to serve on the executive committee of the umbrella lobbying group Council of Conservationists, had to say no. The most he could agree to was to serve on a committee that prepared informational material for the Dinosaur campaign.

Sigurd also received complaints from trustees when they felt the organization's magazine was attacking too hard. He regularly previewed articles that might be controversial and occasionally asked for changes when he thought a tough word or phrase was unnecessarily antagonistic, but that did not prevent the complaints.

Devereux Butcher made the problem even more difficult for Sigurd, complaining about what he called NPA's "yellow streak." On December 23, 1954, for example, a month after the New York conference, Butcher wrote to Sigurd about an article he planned for National Parks Magazine:

I am going to point out that we are losing ground in the fight for the parks, and the item will be an unsigned one, so that it will reflect the Association's thinking. If the Board does not like what I say, all they will have to do after that will be to ask me to surrender my editorship of the magazine--and when they do that, it will be the end. I'll find a fighting organization to tie in with.

Such incidents left Sigurd feeling stuck in a no-win situation.

Butcher also complained about the day-to-day management of the organization by executive director Fred Packard. He said Packard too often was absent from the office and that he was never on top of correspondence. He also thought Packard was not hard-hitting enough in dealing with the Park Service and Interior Department.

Butcher's comments in part reflected different personalities. Although Butcher had brought Packard into the organization, they were true opposites. As former NPA president William Wharton wrote to Sigurd in 1952, "Dev is a fellow who takes things very seriously, and to some extent is always looking for trouble. Fred, on the other hand, while throwing himself wholeheartedly into his job, can laugh things off and not become too seriously involved emotionally." And part of the office problem simply was a matter of not enough people to handle all the work. But Sigurd, who enjoyed Packard as a person and believed that few people understood national park management issues better than Packard, nevertheless realized that much of what Butcher said was true.

"Being a stickler for order and attention to detail, it is a constant source of irritation and worry to me too," Sigurd wrote to Butcher on July 26, 1954. "I feel as you do that his office reflects on all of us. As President of the organization believe me I am not happy to have a poorly run Washington office."

The Dinosaur National Monument campaign, in particular, had illustrated the problems in the front office. There was the time, for example, when Packard had told David Brower, his counterpart in the Sierra Club, that the NPA would pay the cost of $14.25 to send letters to five hundred editors. But he failed to follow through, and Brower, who was dipping into his organization's permanent funds, exploded. He told the NPA's western field representative to charge the mailing to the Sierra Club. When the representative informed Sigurd about the incident, Sigurd was upset. "In the future," he responded, "when you come up against something like this, wire me and I'll be glad to absorb the cost personally. A small expenditure such as this should not be allowed to jeopardize an important move."

Even the New York conference in Novemer 1954 was something of an embarrasment to Sigurd. The NPA was the sponsor, but most of the work was done by Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society and Fred Smith, a public relations executive who served as director of the Council of Conservationists. After the Dinosaur campaign ended, Sigurd wrote to Packard that the NPA "followed along and at no time showed any real leadership." He continued:

There is one thing that has bothere me very much and that is the general feeling among allied groups that the NPA is not carrying its weight as it should. This began during the Dinosaur effort where the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and others carried the brunt of the fight....We lost ground during that effort and I have been constantly on the defensive ever since trying to explain that we did the best we could, we did not have the funds or the personnel, etc. etc. but at the same time I smarted under the inference....WHERE [ISSUES] CONCERN THE NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS OR ANY PART OF THE SYSTEM WE SHOULD TAKE THE LEAD. Let the Wilderness Society fight for wilderness wherever it may be but if any unit of the NPS [National Park System] is threatened or needs help, that is our sphere of influence....It is a sad reflection on the NPA to play second fiddle on any issues that are ours.

Sigurd's letter showed the frustration that would build over the next few years and lead to his resignation. [Today the organization, which long ago was renamed the National Parks and Conservation Association, is very active in protecting our national parks and monuments. For more information, go to the NPCA's website.]

December 1969 (age 70)

Sigurd got a great endorsement of The Hidden Forestfrom Natural Science Book News. The publication called the book "an ecological masterpiece." It also called the text "brilliant," accompanied by photos that "will literally stagger your senses....a supreme example of the art of bookmaking."