ML Archives and Special Collections

Archives and Special Collections has recently made available the papers of Clifton R. Merritt, an environmental activist from the Helena Valley in Montana.  Merritt was instrumental in the preservation of public lands throughout the United States as well as in his home state of Montana.

 

Merritt helped found the Montana Wilderness Association in 1957 and also served in various positions for the Montana Wildlife Federation from 1950 to 1964. With these organizations, Merritt was a leader in getting the Montana Stream Preservation Act adopted and halting the establishment of the Spruce Park and Glacier View dams on the Flathead River, as well as spearheading the movement to get the 15,000 acre Jewel Basin Hiking Area established.   

 

 Map of Proposed Jewel Basin Hiking Area, undated, Clifton R. Merritt Papers

 

In 1966, Clifton Merritt established and oversaw The Wilderness Society’s regional office in Denver, Colorado.  Through the efforts of Merritt and his 15-person staff, working closely with local groups, millions of acres were added to the National Wilderness Preservation System.  Among those added were the Scapegoat, Absaroka-Beartooth, and River of No Return Wildernesses in Montana.

 

 Map of Proposed Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Montana Wilderness Association/The Wilderness Society, 1974, Clifton R. Merritt Papers

 

After leaving The Wilderness Society, Merritt co-founded the American Wilderness Alliance (known after 1983 as American Wildlands) in 1979.  The organization worked with conservation groups throughout the Rocky Mountain West to preserve public lands for wildlife habitat and recreation. American Wildlands was instrumental in getting the 161,000 acre Elkhorn Wildlife Management Unit established in Montana.

 

  On the Wild Side Newsletter, American Wildlands, Clifton R. Merritt Papers

 

 In 1990, Clifton Merritt began the Corridors of Life Program. The program would use Geographic Information Systems to map wildlife migration corridors between roadless areas and established wilderness areas. As of 2009, American Wildlands’ Corridors of Life Program continues to work to restore and maintain wildlife corridors.

 

 Proposed wildlife corridor from Yellowstone to the Yukon.  From an American Wildlands Corridors of Life Program member mailer, Clifton R. Merritt Papers

 

Merritt continued to assist in local conservation efforts until his death in August of 2008. 

 

Posted by Amy Casamassa

In March 2009, National Women’s History Month is celebrating “Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet”.  This post highlights two collections from the Mansfield Library’s Archives & Special Collections department that fit this theme.

 Elizabeth Reitell Smith Papers - Mss 623

 Born and educated in New York, Elizabeth Reitell Smith became inspired by the west in 1962 on a Montana Wilderness Society sponsored trip through what is now Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness.  That same year, Smith moved to Montana to become publications director for The University of Montana’s School of Forestry in Missoula.  It was in Montana that she met her fourth husband, environmentalist and wildlife biologist Eldon Smith. 

 

   Map of Proposed Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Montana Wilderness Association, 1972.  Elizabeth Reitell Smith Papers

From 1967-1980, Elizabeth Smith was director of the Montana Wilderness Association and she and her husband traveled the Western states advocating for wilderness and the environment. 

 

 

The Elizabeth Reitell Smith papers contain materials relevant to Smith’s work as a Montana wilderness and environmental activist. The materials include research, newsletters, drafts of speeches, position papers and correspondence dating from 1965 to 1980.  Smith remained actively involved in local and regional environmental issues until her death in 2001.

 GASP (Gals Against Smog and Pollution) Records - Mss 043

GASP was formed in the spring of 1968 by a group of Missoula women fighting against air pollution in the Missoula area. The group was active until 1970 and helped bring the provisions of the 1967 Clean Air Act to the Missoula Valley. 

 

 

GASP Newsletter. GASP Records

 The collection details the organization and history of GASP and documents air and water pollution conditions in Montana and in the United States. Included are correspondence, other GASP records, and an extensive collection of publications and clippings about GASP and pollution in general.

 

 Photo 98-1654, Intermountain Lumber Company, Missoula, Montana, 1968

 

 

 

Photo 98-1653, Teepee Burner, Missoula, Montana, undated