L.L. Bean honors SCA Founder

By Mike Gleason | Bennington Banner | August 15, 2008

Elizabeth Putnam founded the Student Conservation Association in 1957. "It was based on my college thesis, which I wrote at Vassar in 1954," Putnam said. "I proposed the creation of a student conservation corps."

Putnam said she received inspiration from a Harper's magazine article the year before which catalogued the woes of the national park system. "The parks were in horrible shape," Putnam said. "People were coming back from World War II and wanted to visit the nation's parks, but the funding for these parks was zilch."

Putnam said the parks themselves were in a sorry state. "There were rangers living in shacks that were intended to be temporary when they were built in the 1930s," Putnam said. "There were very few rangers, and most spent their time telling people where the latrines were."

"The article said we had to protect the parks from people and protect people from the parks," Putnam added.

Putnam said she felt something had to be done. "I thought, as a kid, why couldn't kids do something about this?" she said. "In those days, there were not a lot of opportunities to volunteer."

Putnam said a group eventually formed around the ideals espoused in the paper. "By 1957, there were two national parks — Olympic and Grand Teton — which were ready for trial projects."

The group sends groups of students, from a large age range, into the parks to do essential conservation work.

"They build and rehabilitate trails and shelters for camping," Putnam said. "When there were devastating fires at Yellowstone National Park — SCA went in with 500 people."

She said many of the SCA's 50,000 alumni have found the work beneficial.

"You learn how to do things, but you also learn something about yourself," Putnam said. "It affects you deep down in your soul."

"I'm incredibly amazed about the whole thing," she added, "to see what the kids accomplish and then talk to them about it years later.

Putnam said she felt the SCA's importance has only increased since its inception. "Kids need to have more opportunities to be a part of nature, not apart from nature," Putnam said. "Children are becoming more sedentary these days, which leads to obesity and all the sicknesses that come with that."

She said indoor pursuits had driven children away from nature. "If today's youth don't care about the out-of-doors, it will get covered over and then it will be gone. No matter what age you're at , you not only can do something, you must do something."

Putnam said the L.L. Bean award was welcome, but deflected praise. "I feel so honored as the SCA found, but it's the staff and participants who are the heroes. It isn't just the story of one person, but a story of many."

"I have a deep gratitude to L.L. Bean," she said. "They've been a remarkable partner."

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed