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“TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM H. MEADOWS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S4943 on July 12, 2012.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM H. MEADOWS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I recognize and honor William H. Meadows for his long and successful service from 1996 to 2012 as president of The Wilderness Society. Bill came to Washington, D.C. with his wife Sally to lead The Wilderness Society after years of working as a volunteer and then as a professional staff person for the Sierra Club. Since then, he has neither lost the passion that first made him a conservation activist nor the gracious Southern charm that came from his Tennessee upbringing.
Under his leadership, The Wilderness Society has maintained its focus on their core mission of protecting wilderness and inspiring Americans to care for our wild places. During his tenure, The Wilderness Society has had substantial success, helping Congress expand the National Wilderness Preservation System by nearly 6.5 million acres and establish the National Landscape Conservation System to increase protection for Bureau of Land Management lands. In that time, the organization has nearly doubled in size and they provide sound scientific, legal, and policy expertise on major issues relating to our Federal public lands better than ever.
I have had the good fortune of working with Bill and The Wilderness Society on legislation that impacts our Federal wild lands heritage. He and The Wilderness Society have been important partners in successful efforts to protect millions of acres of Nevada's finest wilderness in Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine counties, as well as establish the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. I am tremendously proud of that legacy and Bill played a critical role in that effort. He never failed to understand the need to work closely with local communities and key stakeholders to find areas of common ground and to reach shared solutions. He brought to these conservation efforts a level headed, reasonable, thoughtful approach that helped move all the parties beyond the type of knee-jerk ideology that too often results in gridlock.
Bill has also been an important ally in many national debates about Federal public lands ranging from our energy policy to management of healthy forests to the protection of iconic wild lands like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He and his organization were influential in the Clinton Administration's establishment of the Roadless Rule, which helps protect nearly 60 million acres of our most pristine national forests.
He has always been willing to meet with his opponents. At a time when many conservationists were at odds with the George W. Bush administration, Bill was able to establish and maintain a working relationship with the Undersecretary for Natural Resources in the Department of Agriculture. This big tent approach to conservation is one of the things that make Bill exceptional. He is further distinguished by his ability to clearly understand the dynamics of national and local politics without becoming cynical or losing his integrity. Thank you, Bill, for your tremendous service as an extraordinary conservation leader.
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