Lowell E. Baier | |
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Born | Lowell Edward Baier |
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Website | https://lowellebaier.com/ |
Lowell E. Baier (born January 6, 1940) is an American attorney, successful entrepreneur, and an environmental historian and author. He has dedicated his life to natural resources and wildlife conservation. Throughout his career he has been an advisor to many elected officials and educators, including every successive presidential administration since George H. W. Bush, and has been an active and instrumental member of several national conservation groups.
Lowell E. Baier was born on January 6, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up on a farm outside the small town of Remington, Indiana. He was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. He became an Eagle Scout in 1954, at the age of 14. In 1956 his Congressman Charles A. Halleck (R-2nd IN) appointed him to be his Page Boy in the United States House of Representatives, because he was the first Boy Scout to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout in Jasper County, Indiana. He developed a passion for wildlife and natural resource conservation early in life that has greatly influenced his career.
Baier received his B.A. in economics and political science from Valparaiso University in 1961. He went on to attend law school at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana, where he received his J.D. in 1964.
He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1956 to 1964.
Lowell E. Baier's intellectual curiosity during his long career has taken him from a practicing attorney, to an entrepreneur, to a tireless advocate for natural resources and wildlife conservation, to a legal and environmental historian and author. After law school, Baier moved to Washington, D.C., to practice law. During the early years of his law career, he formed Baier Properties, Inc., based in Bethesda, Maryland. This company develops warehouses, residential properties, award-winning office buildings, and shopping centers.
Baier has devoted much of his life's work to natural resources and wildlife conservation. He was one of the original founders of the Wild Sheep Foundation. This organization funds over $2.4 million annually to reestablish historically extant habitats and populations of the four species of wild sheep in North America. Baier's exploratory work for this organization led to his active participation in creating similar programs in Russia and Mongolia. [1]
Baier has been active in the Boone and Crockett Club (America's oldest wildlife conservation organization) since 1975. Baier is its first President Emeritus, and was elected an Honorary Life Member in 2016. [2]
Baier has taken his environmental and wildlife conservation passion into politics as well, having served as an advisor to many elected officials and educators. Baier took the lead in drafting President George H. W. Bush's wildlife conservation agenda in 1989, [3] and has been an advisor and counselor to all successive presidential administrations. From 1992 to 2010, Baier led in the creation of Ph.D. programs at four separate universities dedicated to postgraduate studies in natural resources and wildlife conservation management. [4]
From 2004 to 2007, he led a national campaign to raise $6.5 million to purchase for the federal government the last and largest remaining piece of privately held land that was initially Theodore Roosevelt's historic Elkhorn Ranch, established in 1884. [5] Adjacent to the existing Theodore Roosevelt National Park, also once part of the ranch, this purchase expanded the national park by virtually one-third its size. The Elkhorn is popularly called the "Cradle of Conservation" and the "Walden Pond of the West" since between 1884 and 1887 Theodore Roosevelt here conceived the cornerstones of the American conservation movement as we know it today. [6]
Baier has authored several books pursuant to his passion for wildlife and natural resources conservation, including Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act: Environmental Litigation and the Crippling Battle over America’s Lands, Endangered Species, and Their Critical Habitat (2016); [7] a sequel, Playing God with Nature: The Codex of the Endangered Species Act (forthcoming 2018); and is currently at work on Voices from the Wilderness: A Biography, celebrating America's wilderness preservation system and the fiftieth anniversary of the Wilderness Act (due 2019).
Lowell E. Baier's book Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act: Environmental Litigation and the Crippling Battle over America's Lands, Endangered Species, and Critical Habitats was named the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Grand Prize Winner in non-fiction in 70 categories from over 7,000 books submitted, as well as the Winner in the Science/Nature/Environment category. [8] His book has also been chosen as a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award finalist in the two categories of Ecology/Environment [9] and History, [10] as well as a finalist for the Forest History Society’s Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award.
One of America's preeminent experts on environmental litigation, Baier's 2016 book chronicles the century-long story of America's resources management, focusing on litigation, citizen suit provisions, and attorneys' fees. He provides the first book-length comprehensive examination of the little know [Equal Access to Justice Act] (EAJA) and its role in environmental litigation, focusing on its detrimental effect on wildlife and endangered species.
In addition to authoring several books, Baier has been published in several law reviews and journals, including:
In addition to his work as an advisor to politicians and educators on conservation issues, Baier has had an extensive career of public service and volunteerism, serving on numerous boards and commissions, and has been recognized many times over the years for his service, both locally and nationally. He currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the President's Council of the National Wildlife Federation, the Conservation Leadership Council sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Roosevelt-Rockefeller Brothers Conservation Roundtable, the Explorers Club, the Cosmos Club, and is Vice Chairman of the National Conservation Leadership Institute.
Baier lives in suburban Washington, D.C., with his wife, Bonnie, whom he married in 1968. He is an avid collector of art and 19th century animalier bronze sculpture works. He contemporaneously continues to practice law, specializing in wildlife conservation and natural resources policy, legislation, and regulation, he manages Baier Properties, Inc., and writes extensively.
The organized environmental movement is represented by a wide range of non-governmental organizations or NGOs that seek to address environmental issues in the United States. They operate on local, national, and international scales. Environmental NGOs vary widely in political views and in the ways they seek to influence the environmental policy of the United States and other governments.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th vice president under President William McKinley from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. Assuming the presidency after McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Conservationists are concerned with leaving the environment in a better state than the condition they found it in. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective.
Scouting in Arizona has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world. There are completely independent Audubon Societies in the United States, which were founded several years earlier such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Indiana Audubon Society, and Connecticut Audubon Society.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is an American national park of the badlands in western North Dakota comprising three geographically separated areas. Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named directly after a single person.
The Antiquities Act of 1906, is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the president of the United States the authority to, by presidential proclamation, create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, or scientific features. The Act has been used more than a hundred times since its enactment.
William Temple Hornaday, Sc.D. was an American zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as the Bronx Zoo, and he was a pioneer in the early wildlife conservation movement in the United States.
The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America's oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United States in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinell. The club was named in honor of hunter-heroes of the day, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, whom the club's founders viewed as pioneering men who hunted extensively while opening the American frontier, but realized the consequences of overharvesting game. In addition to authoring a famous "fair chase" statement of hunter ethics, the club worked for the expansion and protection of Yellowstone National Park and the establishment of American conservation in general. The Club and its members were also responsible for the elimination of commercial market hunting, creation of the National Park and National Forest Services, National Wildlife Refuge system, wildlife reserves, and funding for conservation, all under the umbrella of what is known today as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is an important breeding area for mammals, birds, and other animals. The National Wildlife Refuge is located on land surrounding Lake Lowell, just outside Nampa, Idaho. It serves as a resting and wintering area for birds, including mallards and Canada geese, along the Pacific Flyway and was named a "Globally Important Bird Area" by the American Bird Conservancy.
Russell Errol Train was the second administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from September 1973 to January 1977 and the founder chairman emeritus of World Wildlife Fund (WWF). As the second head of the EPA under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Train helped place the issue of the environment on the presidential and national agenda in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a key period in the environmental movement. He was a conservative who reached out to the business community and Republicans. He promulgated the idea that as the economy of the nation was growing quickly, public as well as private projects should consider and evaluate the environmental impacts of their actions.
ConservAmerica, formerly known as Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), is a national nonprofit organization formed in 1995. REP's stated purpose is to strengthen the Republican Party's stance on environmental issues and support efforts to conserve natural resources and protect human and environmental health. Incorporated in Illinois, its headquarters are in Sturgis, Michigan.
Maurice K. Goddard was the driving force behind the creation of 45 Pennsylvania state parks during his 24 years as a cabinet officer for six governors of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Conservation in the United States can be traced back to the 19th century with the formation of the first National Park. Conservation generally refers to the act of consciously and efficiently using land and/or its natural resources. This can be in the form of setting aside tracts of land for protection from hunting or urban development, or it can take the form of using less resources such as metal, water, or coal. Usually, this process of conservation occurs through or after legislation on local or national levels is passed.
The Maltese Cross Cabin is a cabin used by Theodore Roosevelt, before he was President. The cabin is currently located at the visitor center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, just outside the town of Medora, North Dakota.
The Elkhorn Ranch was established by Theodore Roosevelt on the banks of the Little Missouri River 35 miles north of Medora, North Dakota in the summer of 1884. Roosevelt hired Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow, two Maine woodsmen, to run the ranch. Sewall and Dow built the ranch house, "a long, low house of logs," in the winter of 1884–1885.
George Fuller Miller Sr. was a long-time Boy Scouts of America executive, the recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and a founding father of the American Humanics Foundation.
Roosevelt Republican is a term used in discussions about politics of the United States to describe individuals with beliefs reminiscent of American President Theodore Roosevelt, a politician who spent much of his career as a Republican. Roosevelt possessed diverse political positions and social views, but this label has been generally deployed by figures who wish to publicly align themselves with Roosevelt's record of nature conservation. In particular, defending historic wildlife and undertaking related efforts to preserve environments seen as a part of classic Americana receives emphasis. This mindset broadly contrasts with the ideologies of ethnic nationalism and religious nationalism through identity politics coupled with wholesale economic development without protections for nature advocated for by the Republican mainstream of the 2010s and 2020s, though more centrist and center-left thinking significantly influenced the party in prior decades.