Dear Old Friends of the Earth

Gaylord Nelson and Martin Hanson


the passing of an era

Gaylord Nelson waves from his canoe on the Namekagon River that he fought to protect as a Wild and Scenic River. Gaylord was on the river to protest ATC Arrowhead transmission line from crossing this beautiful rare wild river       

 

Living in the deep woods of northwestern Wisconsin Martin Hanson was one of Gaylord Nelson’s best friends. Gaylord Nelson passed on July 3rd 2005 at the age of eighty-nine.  When Nelson served as Wisconsin governor and US Senator Hanson advised him to protect the Apostle Islands and the wild St. Croix-Namekagon Rivers.  Nick Vander Puy from the Superior Broadcast Network talks with Martin Hanson about Gaylord Nelson’s conservation legacy.

 to hear a five minute live stream broadcast click here

Gaylord Nelson at home in northern Wisconsin and loved by all

Gaylord's home away from home at Martin Hanson's lodge why up north in northern Wisconsin's forest Martin Hanson in his forest Clear Lake Wisconsin where Gaylord Nelson grew up
Martin Hanson in Clear Lake reading Gaylord's biography Gaylord's cabin at Martin's place Gaylord Nelson smiles from his canoe on the Namekagon
Gaylord Nelson and his wife Carrie Lee in Clear Lake Wisconsin

wrapped in a Pendleton blanket Gaylord Nelson is honored for his lifetime of protecting the earth

 Gaylord Nelson gives Sandy Lyon a hug in Springbrook located on the Namekagon River
Gaylord Nelson is welcomed to the Namekagon by a young Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa named Mariah Star the wild and scenic Namekagon River where ATC wants to put a huge transmission line crossing "Welcome Gaylord Nelson to our homeland and miigwech thank you for protecting the earth"
the Badger Singers of Lac Courte Oreilles sing an honor song for Gaylord Nelson as Buck Barber leads the dance Buck Barber's father Bill Barber was Gaylord Nelson's river guide in 1965 when Gaylord and Martin organized a river trip to first draw attention to the need to protect the Namekagon River Gaylord Nelson smokes the sacred pipe with Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Judge Fred Ackley
Sandy Lyon lovingly wraps The Father of Earth Day in a blanket. Nelson is seated in a chair that Lyon's father had made.Lyon's father used to canoe the Namekagon with her every year until he died of cancer. an eagle feather is placed on the Mole Lake Water Protectors eagle feather staff in honor of Gaylord Nelson a cane made by Andrew Jones is presented to Gaylord Nelson. The cane is made of maple with an antique birch bark scroll from Lac Du Flambeau Chippewa that has a turtle carved into it. The turtle is the animal that first attracted Gaylord Nelson to protect the earth.
Gaylord Nelson is honored by hundreds at the banks of the Namekagon an eagle flys overhead as Gaylord Nelson declares his opposition to the ATC Arrowhead line Mariah Star is the seventh generation of the founder of the village of Namekagon which became Springbrook
Gaylord Nelson on the Namekagon River with Buck Barber and his grandson Starman a hand sewn quilt made for Gaylord Nelson honoring his life long protection of the earth. The quilt was stitched by women whose homes would be harmed by the ATC Arrowhead transmission line Gaylord Nelson on the Namekagon River
Sandy Lyon and SOUL's attorney Glenn Stoddard at the Namekagon River. Stoddard's father Chuck was a good friend of Gaylord Nelson and Martin Hanson. SOUL is a grassroots organization of land owners affected by the ATC Arrowhead line. Save Our Unique Lands the wild and beautiul Namekagon River where ATC wants to place huge steel towers across the river Gaylord Nelson and the seventh generation of the Namekagon River Mariah Star Cooper. Behind them is a news clipping from the 1965 Milwaukee Journal about Gaylord Nelson protecting the Namekagon River
Sandy Lyon and Gaylord Nelson in Clear Lake Namekagon River Namekagon River
 

 

 Former DNR Secretary George Meyer and Gaylord Nelson at the Namekagon River
a gentle good bye from a great man


    Old Friends

 

by Nick Vander Puy and Sandy Lyon

 

Martin Hanson, former aide to Congressman Dave Obey, celebrates Gaylord Nelson’s life because Nelson brought a powerful and truthful message to the public about conservation.

 

Martin Hanson stands next to a wilderness lake in northwestern Wisconsin. There are a few cottages with screen porches. Some majestic white and red pines grace the grounds.  From the other shore a huge granite outcrop watches us across the water.

Hanson was born in Chicago in 1927. His father was a McCormick republican, his mother ran as a candidate for the Socialist Worker Party.  Martin Hanson and his brother Louis, coming up on a thirteen hour train ride from the city, spent their summers up north.

But the woods were demolished from the logging era.

Hanson says, “It was nothing but big stumps and rocky outcrops. The land was so abused by the timber barons it caused erosion and forest fires, and burnt the top soil.  I thought  it’ll be generations before we grow good timber again. At an early age I was really concerned.”

            The Hanson family replanted trees. Martin and Louis Hanson everyday hauled a bucket of water to them.

An avid hunter, fisherman, and photographer Martin Hanson grew to appreciate the complexity and beauty of the land.  He joined other progressives like Aldo Leopold, Tony Wise, Herb Buettner, Sigurd  Olson, and Chuck Stoddard, becoming a conservationist.

 

When Martin Hanson first heard Governor Gaylord Nelson. giving a speech about development near Webster, Wisconsin, in the early nineteen sixties, he knew he’d found a kindred spirit.

Nelson talked with farmers in bib overalls and galoshes in the high school gym about the merits of living in a small town, “I’ve listened to some of the people here and they want tax base, industry.  It’ll never be the same. You’re going to lose your small town.  If you want tax base go to Gary, Indiana.  There’s all kinds of it there.  Smokestacks, highways, the whole thing.”  Hanson says the people clapped when  they heard this.  They understood.

Nelson was visionary. He implemented Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” into law.  In 1961 Governor Nelson created the Outdoor Recreation Acquisition Program. The goal was to acquire one million acres of Wisconsin park land, wetlands, and other open space, and it was funded by a penny-a-pack tax on cigarettes.

Elected to the US Senate in 1962, Nelson persuaded President Kennedy to go on a conservation tour.  Flying in a US Army helicopter near Bayfield, Martin Hanson showed President Kennedy the Apostle Islands.

Hanson remembers, “There were some sailboats by Bass Island and that gave me the opportunity to tell President Kennedy that from a safety viewpoint the islands had the lee side in case of storm for safety.  And of course his hobby was sailing off Cape Cod which is the North Atlantic and very rough.  And I got the big Kennedy smile out of that one.”

A decade later President Nixon signed Nelson’s bill creating the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

During trips away from Washington DC Gaylord Nelson and wife Carrie Lee often stayed with Martin and Louis Hanson at this small resort in northwestern Wisconsin. Nelson felt  at home here.  This place reminded him of his boyhood in Clear Lake.  At this lovely place in the woods, over steak and whisky and cigarettes, the Nelsons and their progressive allies came up with tactics to protect the commons.

Trying to prevent Northern States Power from building a coal fired electric generator upwind in Stillwater, Minnesota, a woman asked Hanson how to defend the rivers  in northwest Wisconsin.  Hanson had her ask Senator Nelson to declare the Namekagon-St. Croix  off-limits to industrial expansion.  With help from Hayward entrepreneur Tony Wise and thousands of conservationists in 1968 the Namekagon-St. Croix was federally preserved as a wild and scenic river.  Hanson quips, “If we hadn’t protected the river Hayward today would be a real mess.”

Nelson’s effectiveness as a politician had much to with growing up in a small town and his self-effacing charm. Hanson says one time when Nelson was US Senator, holding an agricultural hearing in Eau Claire he called Polk County chairman Harvey Duholm as the first witness.

“Well, Harvey came up, kind of a grumpy old man. And he said we all knew when Gaylord was a kid and raising hell he’d end up in an institution, but little did we know he’d end up in the US Senate.”

Hanson continues, “And of course this would put the whole audience at ease. Waiting for the next quip, they loved it.”

 And then Nelson went on to the dilemmas of our society and conservation.

An early critic of the Vietnam War  after a trip to Santa Barbara California witnessing an oil spill, Nelson translated the Vietnam War “teach-in” concept to the conservation movement.  This became the first Earth Day April 22, 1970.  More than twenty million people mobilized.  The modern day environmental movement took off.

Nelson never gave up the fight for justice. When some former Senators, like his 1980 opponent Bob Kasten sold weapons in the middle east, Nelson took a job advocating for the Wilderness Society.  Nelson donated his speech revenue for office space.

 

Fighting the utilities ill conceived giant electric line slicing across northwest Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson showed up two years ago amid the big pines with hundreds of supporters at the proposed Namekagon River crossing. We stood with him. Wisconsin Public Television filmed it.

Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin’s former governor raised his fist into the air and said, “There aren’t many rivers left around the country as beautiful and pure as the Namekagon. We should leave it as it is. I’ll have to be two hundred years old before I let the utilities cross our beloved river.” Footage from this event was recently shown on Wisconsin Public Television in “Earth Day and Beyond: Gaylord Nelson’s Good Fight”.

 Hanson describes Gaylord Nelson’s legacy.

“Well, it’s awareness of people that our resources are finite.  We’re  lavishly living and wasting our resources. An oil shortage is coming around the corner. And our society lives to drive cars and fly airplanes. We won’t have life on earth if we continue on our present path. There’s too many people. Pure and simple.”

 

 

Photos  by Kathy Olson, Nick Vander Puy, Sandy Lyon, and Terrell Boettcher

 

 

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"Growing up in the small town of Clear Lake Wisconsin helped shape the Father of Earth Day"

For more stories/pictures about Gaylord Nelson and his legacy visit, click here

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