In a new twist on
the search for the first environmental law course,
Dan Farber at Legal Planet says he has identified the first environmental
ist law teacher:
I’m pretty sure that William E. Colby (1870-1964) qualifies as the nation’s first environmentalist law teacher, if only because environmentalism was very young at the time.. Colby was a lecturer on mining law and water law at Berkeley for twenty-one years, retiring in 1936. (That doesn’t make him the first natural resources teacher; Judge Lindley had taught mining and water law before him.) Colby was a close friend of John Muir. He joined the Sierra Club in 1898 and, except for two years, was the Secretary of the Sierra Club from 1900 to 1946. The Sierra Club credits him with contributing substantially to saving redwoods, enlarging Sequoia National Park, and establishing Kings Canyon and Olympic national parks. He was also the first Chair of the California State Parks Commission.
I was originally going to call Colby the first “environmental law” professor, but it’s not clear how much his environmental concerns entered into his teaching or scholarship about environmental law. Even then, the environmental impacts of mining were not unknown or without a legal dimension: a federal judge in the Nineteenth Century had halted hydraulic mining in California because of its devastating impacts on the state’s rivers. His Sierra Club bio does link his legal and environmental work, saying that his”notable eminence as an attorney who specialized in mining and water law . . . . served him well in his conservation work.” He did represent environmental interests in a couple of cases.
At the outset, I called Colby the nation’s first environmentalist law professor. Obviously, I’d be very interested to learn if there were others from the era, but I’m guessing the title will stand. (I’d also love to hear from anyone who knows more about Colby). Either way, it’s nice to know that law teachers became involved in environmental issues at such an early stage.
This is Carol-Renee Pierpoint. I had the honor to live in William Colby's Big Sur home in the early nineties. He built it in 1930 on the edge of the land giving a 180-degree vista of the majestic coast. He played a significant role in Big Sur and the creation of Pfeiffer State Park.
ReplyDeleteGoggle:
The collaboration between William Edward Colby and the Pfeiffer family is one of the most critical turning points in California conservation history. It directly resulted in the creation of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in 1933, permanently shielding the heart of Big Sur from commercial mega-development. [1, 2, 3]
Colby’s unique position allowed him to orchestrate this legacy through two powerful roles: his long-time leadership within the Sierra Club and his appointment as the first Chairman of the California State Park Commission in 1927. [1]
1. The Threat of Commercialization (1930)
By 1930, construction on Highway One was well underway, and developers knew it would unlock the previously isolated Big Sur coast to mass tourism.
A Los Angeles developer approached John Pfeiffer—son of Michael and Barbara Pfeiffer, Big Sur’s first permanent European homesteaders—offering $210,000 (an absolute fortune during the Great Depression) to buy the family’s 680-acre ranch. The developer planned to dismantle the wilderness and build a massive, exclusive subdivision and commercial resort. [1, 2]
2. Colby’s Strategic Intervention
John Pfeiffer and his wife Florence deeply loved the untamed land and were torn; they wanted the wilderness preserved but faced immense financial pressure. [1, 2]
As a neighbor in the Coastlands and a trusted legal mind specializing in land and water law, Bill Colby stepped in. Leveraging his brand-new authority as the head of the California State Park Commission, Colby proposed an alternative: sell the land to the State of California instead. [1, 2, 3]
Because the State Park Commission was severely underfunded during the Depression, Colby worked closely with the Pfeiffers to structure a deal they could manage. Rather than taking the massive developer payout, John Pfeiffer agreed to sell his 680 acres to the state for a fraction of the price in 1933. [1, 2, 3]
3. Creating the Park and the CCC Era
To honor the family's immense sacrifice, Colby and the Commission named the sanctuary Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. [1, 2]
Because the state had no immediate funds to build trails or infrastructure, Colby used his political influence to secure labor from the newly formed Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). From 1933 to 1941, CCC enrollees moved in, building the park's early trail networks, footbridges, and the rustic, craftsman-style Big Sur Lodge that still stands today. [1, 2]
The Broader Domino Effect
Had Colby not helped the Pfeiffer family secure that first state park, the dominoes of Big Sur conservation might never have fallen:
• It established a legal and cultural precedent that public preservation trumped private commercialization along the coast.
• It paved the way for subsequent acquisitions of Pfeiffer family lands, eventually leading to the creation of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (named after John’s sister) and Pfeiffer Beach. [1, 2]
He holds a very special place in my heart due to my connection to his home-sanctuary where he left numerous reminders of what mattered most to him.
Thanks for posting this article and pic of him ! crp
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