My personal recollections are that the HCPC was founded in 1967...
same year as I was appointed to be the Sierra Club's and Federation of Western
Outdoor Club's Northwest representative (March). I believe my first meeting
with them (about September, 1967), referring to their "new"
formation, is in my archives at the University of Washington Library.
Although
there had certainly been opposition to Brownlee, Oxbow, and Hell's Canyon
dams before that time, it was not effective and except for perhaps the Idaho
Wildlife Federation, not very well-organized. That doesn't mean that there
weren't precursors (in the form of opposition to dams in Hells Canyon); it just
means that no such entity as HCPC per se, existed.
So
my understanding when I came upon the scene in 1967 was like your own, Charlie
-- the dam(n) builders built the easiest Snake River ones first -- easier
politically for Idaho Power as a "private company" as well as
logistically... it was when they attempted a project that affected three
states, that the "public power" people challenged them, here).
Many
of our kind of people then were also rightly fearful of the proposed Nez Perce
Dam, just a mile or so below the confluence of the Snake and the Salmon --
because it would have drowned out the Lower Salmon gorges too. Somewhere around
that time, the two applicants shifted the proposed site to High Mountain
Sheep, just upstream of that confluence, I recall. Anyone who floats
down the Snake past that original site now can still see those
white-painted initials way way up: "PNPC, Pacific Northwest Power
Company" -- the private boys.
Last
time I saw that one, coming off the Salmon and floating (with Ric Bailey's
crew) out onto the great living Snake, he pointed out those initials to us --
and everyone got goosebumps. My own heart leapt, jumped for joy, that that
is all that was left of such a monstrous river-destroying venture -- those
initials, 5-600 feet above us.
I
imagined then, with a shudder -- if that dam had been built, no one ever again
would know what this place was like... instead of the songs of the canyon
wrens, the grand play of early-morning
light
and shadow on the cliffs, the murmur and tugs of a great living river at
our boats, we instead would have all been in diving suits in the gloom of
500 feet of deadness above us.
Someday,
when everything else is safe and saved, I suggest we seek to preserve those
initials -- as a kind of National Monument -- a memorial to the love, passion,
and courage of our small bands, willing to stand and fight for it all, despite
all the money and political power on the other side..
My
first connection with the issue came in May 1967, while attending the meeting
of the ExCom of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Sierra Club (then comprising
all the SC members in the four NW states -- things were so tenuous and
so much smaller in those times), on Hood Canal, WA. To this meeting came one
Floyd Harvey, river boat operator from Lewiston. He asked the Sierra Club for
help, and I was directed -- "look into this Brock," etc.
I
was very gloomy because, from my previous law practice, I knew that the legal
case -- of WHO got to build the new dam, public or private power, was before
the Supreme Court -- and it was the only issue -- who, not whether.
So, what could be done at this late date, when all seemed so, well, impossible?
Remember there were no environmental laws at all then, no NEPA, no ESA, no
nuthin'.
I
have told the story before (in the Falcon,
some years back), but I had not yet heard anything about any specific
organization like HCPC dedicated to fighting this dam, which may only mean
that my information wasn't very good. And I hadn't yet visited Idaho, part
of my "territory." I know i would have certainly tried to contact
them had I known, even though the legal situation seemed like grasping for
straws. Remember, other Idaho stalwarts had just lost the battle over Dworshak
Dam on the Clearwater, not to mention Hells Canyon, Oxbow, etc.
In
those days, it was dam builder heaven wherever there still existed a
free-flowing stretch of river... just as it was logger's heaven, wherever there
were big trees.
So
I was gloomy, depressed about that directive, to "investigate and do
something about it..." Then in early June I noticed a short paragraph
in my daily copy of the Lewiston Tribune, to the effect that Justice
Wm. O Douglas had somehow persuaded his colleagues that "we cannot
decide the issue of who gets to build this proposed dam until we first decide
whether it is in the public interest to license any dam at all here..."
Or words -- such wonderful words! to that effect.
Heresy!
The dam-building juggernaut was in full force across the whole Northwest at the
time; the idea of any dammable river being allowed to flow free was utter
heresy -- nonsense.
But
here was an opportunity, a tiny opening -- for us, at last, to DO
something!... and not to belabor the story here, I filed a Petition of
Intervention before the Federal Power Commission, and much to the disgust and
disdain of the dam builders we were accepted into the case that September.
While I was preparing the legal documents (July-August), I tried to find
plaintiffs who would have some credibility, both within the court, and also in
the public arena -- for we all knew that the legal action was just a precious
delay... it was in the public/political forum where we would have to finally
save it... if we could. I couldn't file such a case in my own name.
The
problem was that then, in those far-off times, enviro legal actions were little
understood. I had to explain to the Presidents of the Sierra Club and FWOC what
a plaintiff was! And had to have someone from Idaho, to satisfy the local
credibility question.. But that summer, not yet having heard of HCPC, the only
group I knew of from the state who would likely respond was the Idaho
Alpine Club, based in Idaho Falls. They signed on too, that August.
As
things grew more and more serious, and it looked like we just might have a
chance to build a real campaign, I thought to myself -- "I'd better get
over there and have a look." So I first visited the Canyon in early
September, was stunned by the beauty and magnificence of the place. And it was
around that time that I believe I met some folks from what they told me was the
newly-formed HCPC... probably including Jack, Jim Campbell, Jerry Jayne, Russ
Mager, Pete Henault... all of whom, and so many more over the years --
Russ Brown, Boyd Norton, come to mind, Ken Witty... and of course Jack, a
lion of a man always out front whenever the issue was raised -- assumed the
grassroots political leadership, on the ground, which was so crucial to our
final successes in the 70s. Especially re Congressman Al Ullman, Senator Frank
Church, and Bob Packwood... and neutralizing Senators Len Jordan and Mark
Hatfield. What a grand bunch of comrades to have by anyone's side, I
have always felt.
Those
were very hot and heavy times, especially in Eastern OR, where no one will be
surprised to know that dam-building sentiment was higher there than
anywhere else. So it took really brave people, like Jack, Ken Witty, Carmelita
Holland, bless them every one, to stand up and be counted in those scary
times.
And
as it turned out, those same leaders of the Idaho Alpine Club who signed
my Petition of Intervention turned out to be the very core, the heart and
soul of the HCPC which they had just formed, too! One of the finest and
happiest results in all my campaigning experiences.
So
that's my recollection of how it all began in my memory. Whatever there may
have been before, the Hells Canyon Preservation Council came to be in 1967 as I have always
understood it, from working with those on the ground in those times. It's
possible that my archives on the Hells Canyon struggle, housed in the
University of Washington Library's Special Collections, may shed more light on
the matter.
Sorry
for such a long tome, but I felt that some of you would enjoy the context.
Best
wishes, Brock
HCPC is proud to have Brock Evans on the Hells Canyon Preservation Council Board of Directors
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