Bernard Frank (wilderness activist)

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Bernard Frank (March 7, 1902 – November 15, 1964) was an influential American forester and wilderness activist. He was a co-founder of The Wilderness Society.

Frank was born in New York City. He studied at Cornell receiving his bachelor's and Master's degrees.

In 1927, Frank joined the US Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. He worked for the Forest Service for more than 30 years usually in positions in the Forest Service headquarters in Washgington, D.C. He often worked with other agencies like the Tennessee Valley Authority or committees of Congress on matters related to forestry and water.

In 1960, he became a professor of watershed management at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

A founding member and long-time leader of The Wilderness Society, he was active in many other conservation-oriented organizations including the Society of American Foresters, the Soil Conservation Society of America, the National Audubon Society, and the Colorado Mountain Club. He was a leader in organizing the Rock Creek Watershed Association which worked to restore and preserve the area around Rock Creek in Washington, DC. He participated with Justice William O. Douglas in the effort that lead to the creation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

Franks wrote numerous articles and two books:

• Our National Forests (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1955)
• Water, Land, and People (New York: Knopf, 1950) with Anthony Netboy.

[edit] References

• "Organized Groups Planning to War On Rock Creek Park Deterioration" by Aubrey Graves in The Washington Post and Times Herald, Page 18. December 2, 1954.
• "The Debt That We Owe to Bernard Frank" by Irston R. Barnes in The Washington Post and Times Herald, Page K11. September 25, 1966.
• "Bernard Frank" [obituary] in Living Wilderness, 87:8-9. Winter 1964.
• "Nature in Print" [review of Our National Forests] by Howard Zahniser. Nature Magazine, 48:340-341. August 1955.
• "Frank, Bernard" in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography 51:414. 1969.