You are Making this All Too Complicated

Helen Fenske

I cannot recount Donald McLean’s major contribution to the formation of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge without including his wife, Martha, who first suggested to us that Donald might be helpful, and without relating Donald’s great talents to my own work, then and now. Many people connected with the great Swamp project do not realize to this day that it was Don’s ingenuity, generous time and direction which made the decisive difference in preventing the Great Swamp from becoming the world’s largest international jetport. It is doubtful if the powerful New York Port Authority had ever been thwarted in a major decision before or since. Establishment of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge hence remains one of the major citizen conservation success stories of the century.

Just before Christmas 1959, the newspapers leaked news that the New York Port Authority planned to build the world’s largest international airport in New Jersey in a 10,000-acre area called Great Swamp. This sent most New Jerseyians to maps to locate the here-to-fore unfamiliar area, but a state of shock set in for residents of of the four small villages of Green Village, Millington, New Vernon, and Sterling, which were to be obliterated; and the neighboring communities of Morristown, Madison, Chatham, Summit, Basking Ridge, and Bernardsville.

By February 1960, two separate but complementary citizen organizations had emerged to fight the Port Authority proposal. One was to attack on the political front; the other was to bolster much earlier conservation initiatives to protect for all time this remarkable natural resource. A conceptual understanding was struck with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that a national wildlife refuge would be established if approximately 3,000 upland acres within the Great Swamp were acquired through private effort to supplement 3,000 acres of marshland which would be eligible for federal acquisition funding. Contrary to its name, Great Swamp, formed by the Wisconsin Glacier thousands of years ago, is topographically a composite of upland forest, marsh, and meadows.

One thousand two hundred acres had been gained through acquisition or donation by May 1963, and roughly $800,000 contributed by citizens throughout the metropolitan area. But the flow of contributions had slowed, and land acquisition was at a standstill. How to interest more people and get the project moving again? The answer was to stage a superb exhibit, called Nature’s Showcase, in a 90 foot long, multi-windowed store made available by the Prudential Insurance Company at the new Short Hills Mall.

Attracting over 10,000 people during the month, the exhibit was manned by garden club volunteers from throughout New Jersey, an effort organized by the Summit Garden Club and, more specifically, by one of its members, Martha McLean. This was our first contact with the McLeans - a fortuitous one for it dramatically changed the course of the project. Martha convinced Don that he should give us a hand.

His “hand” did not follow the pattern of other volunteers. Durning one of our early conversations, I tried to outline the complexities of the project. Donald smiled and commented, “You are making this all too complicated; it really is very simple!”

And it was simple, given his approach to solving problems. “You need only find three things,” he said. “Find the person who runs ‘the show’. Find the person who makes the decision. And find the person(s) who can provide the resources.” He quietly systematically and with unfailing humor guided “the show” from that time until a year later when Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicated the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

This strategy to problem-solving undoubtedly was applied to all Donald’s work. It seems worthwhile, however, to touch on its application on behalf of the Great Swamp project. 

“Find the person running the show.” That obviously was me as executive director of the Great Swamp Committee. Daily morning conversations - systematic, but gentle, humorous, and  nudging, provided the direction for the rest of the strategy.

“Find the person who makes the decision.” That was John S. Gottschalk in Boston, then Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service and later its national director. Commitment by the Service as to when and how a refuge would be created was the pivotal issue. Land acquisition of the specified 3,000 upland acres by the Great Swamp Committee was crucial to the “when” and “how”. The Gottschalk-McLean solution was to proceed with acquisition anywhere within the proposed boundary-line of the Refuge where the Great Swamp Committee could find willing sellers.

To reinforce the Service’s commitment to potential contributors for the establishment of a refuge, Donald had John Gottschalk invited to a special Sunday afternoon gathering. In attendance was a “special cast of a hundred.” “Find the person(s) who can provide the resources” was accomplished.

One month later, the projected $2 million needed to complete land purchases was donated or promised with more and more volunteers’ energy and talent being devoted to the project. “Everyone enjoys being on a winning team!” Donald smilingly commented to my state of amazement.

All that was needed was the official dedication; the event which would officially establish an operating wildlife refuge and once and for all time put the issue of a jetport to rest. Donald was convinced that the four years of citizen involvement and contributions totaling over $3 million merited the appearance of Interior’s head honcho, Secretary Stewart Udall. This, as the conclusion to Donald’s “simple” strategy, almost proved to be his only failure.

Secretary Udall had responded to an invitation three years earlier for a Great Swamp benefit, so strongly felt that a second appearance was not called for. Needless to say, Donald felt otherwise. As it happened, Donald discovered that Secretary Udall would be visiting Laurence Rockefeller in his office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, also Don’s office building. Somehow - we were never told how - Donald was able to descend from the 56^th floor in the same elevator in which Udall was riding. By the time the ground floor was reached, Donald had Udall’s commitment to attend the dedication fifteen days later.

The rest is history, or almost. Donald felt his work on our behalf was completed. I was not so sure. It is one thing to place land in protection and another to see that it remains protected. Given the enormous community interest and energy devoted to protecting the Great Swamp, I also felt a citizen force could and should continue in order to save other lands. Donald agreed to assist in converting the Great Swamp Committee to a permanent organization, now called the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

The organization today exerts one of the strongest influences in the state on behalf of conservation of New Jersey lands. It has also had a decisive role in protecting the Pine Barrens and seeing the region become the first National Reserve. The Foundations continues to act on behalf of environmental impacts affecting Great Swamp with its credo, “Saved but not safe.”

And so Donald’s heritage in New Jersey lives on to benefit this and so many more generations.

Helen C. Fenske, Green Village, New Jersey, was Executive Director of the Great Swamp Committee, later the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. For 30 years she was a leader in efforts to protect and manage the nation’s natural resources. She later served as Assistant commissioner for natural resources, New Jersey department of Environmental Protection.