Defender of North Georgia's National Forests
Edgar Lanier Jenkins
was born in Young Harris, Ga.,on Jan. 4, 1933,
one of six children of Charlie and Evia Jenkins.
After graduating from Young Harris College,
he served in the Coast Guard then received a law degree,
from the University of Georgia. He became an aide to
Representative Phil M. Landrum and succeeded him in Congress.
by By Peter Kirby, Jan. 2012
I first met Ed Jenkins around 1990 at a dedication ceremony at Anna Ruby Falls Scenic Area on the Chattahoochee National Forest. I was new to my position as field staff for The Wilderness Society and had been told that the Congressman had an exceptionally personal interest in the forest, which was virtually all in his district. Near the end of his speech Ed lifted his eyes from the podium and recited FROM MEMORY stanza after stanza of Sidney Lanier's Song of the Chattahoochee.
To give you a flavor of the moment, here are the opening lines that Ed spoke from his heart:
Out of the hills of Habersham,
Down the valleys of Hall,
I hurry amain to reach the plain,
Run the rapid and leap the fall,
Split at the rock and together again...
Afterwards I introduced myself and complimented Ed on the recitation. He said he wanted to talk to me about the forest and asked me to visit. Little did I realize that within a year or so that Mr. Jenkins would protect as wilderness the very headwaters of that mighty river.
Before long I was sitting in Ed's office -- along with my associate Shirl Parsons. He pulled out letter after letter from his desk from local folks complaining about damaging Forest Service road building and clear cutting. He read them out loud, his voice rising. After a while he paused and asked if we would prepare a proposal for him of additional areas on the forest that needed protection, including for certain Blood Mountain and Chattahoochee Headwaters. That was the genesis of what became the Chattahoochee National Forest Protection Act of 1991.
Shirl and I got to work convening a task force of knowledgeable conservationists, drawing especially on Forest Watch activists. The task force, which I chaired, met almost weekly and made proposals for additional wildernesses and scenic areas and for a large National Recreation Area along the high spine of the forest, following the Appalachian Trail.
Mr. Jenkins' request sparked an extraordinary effort, involving literally dozens of folks drawing up proposals, with detailed area descriptions and map boundaries. Folks who made key contributions included: James Sullivan, Bob Kerr, Chuck McGrady, George Owen, Bob Kibler, Charles Wharton, Jerry McCollum, Hillary Quinn, Dennis Stansell and Linda Jones. And the list could go on and on; it was a great team effort.
We assembled a comprehensive proposal and took it back to Mr. Jenkins. Our package also included draft legislative findings to justify the bill and draft report language to direct how the bill should be carried out by the Forest Service. Ed selected the final areas for the bill, based on the natural values of the areas and local public support. He picked Blood Mountain and Chattahoochee Headwaters for new wildernesses and renamed the latter the Mark Trail Wilderness to honor the famed. local nature educator, Ed Dodd, who started the Mark Trail comic strip. Ed also added wilderness to the existing Brasstown area.
Ed also liked the idea of a wide National Recreation Area along the Appalachian Trail and set one up along the start at Springer Mountain. The one that was a surprise to me was Coosa Bald, which the bill made a National Scenic Area. Coosa Bald had great biodiversity but was not as well known as Blood Mountain, for example. Ed explained he had hiked, fished and camped there as a youth growing up nearby in Blairsville and wanted its big trees to get even bigger.
(Another benefit of Ed's request to us was that the areas he did not select for his bill became the foundation for a later, published set of proposals -- Georgia's Mountain Treasures (1996), issued by The Wilderness Society, GA Forest Watch and many other groups. This publication laid out an agenda for forest conservation into the 21st century.)
Not only did Ed show a deep love for the mountains with his bill he proved to be a keen legislator to see it to enactment. He was concerned about possible strong opposition from the George H. W. Bush Administration -- maybe even a veto -- because his bill was contrary to the Forest Service recommendations in their Reagan-era forest plan of 1986. So, Ed got the ENTIRE Georgia House delegation to sponsor the bill, including rising Republican Newt Gingrich. Ed also won the support of Gov. Zell Miller, himself from the mountains. Ed also met with officials from the state fish and game agency and made concessions to remove acreage with maintained wildlife openings.
Ed held off on introducing the bill until he sent out a questionnaire to all the voters in his district seeking their views on the proposal. He sure knew his district because the replies were strongly supportive. (In fact, the majority of the replies favored even MORE wilderness than was in his bill!) This move by Ed was also very helpful because when opponents of his bill in the House Committee complained about the lack of public comment he was able to point to the questionnaire.
Ed enlisted Georgia Representative Buddy Darden (D-Marietta) to help move the bill through the relevant Committee, upon which Buddy served. It passed the House without change. Ed also had the support of both Sam Nunn and Wyche Fowler so that when the House-passed bill was sent to the Senate it had active allies. And effective allies too! Senator Fowler was persuasive with potential opponents and moved the House-passed bill through the Senate near the end of the session. It was signed by President Bush and became law.
This bill completed the extraordinary legacy of forest conservation left to us by Ed Jenkins. Every wilderness bill for the Chattahoochee National Forest was passed during his tenure in Congress: 1975, 1984, 1986 and 1991 -- totaling 118,000 acres of treasured wildlands to be managed as pristine, forever off-bounds to logging, off-road vehicles, mining, road building, dams and other development. Ed also reached across partisan divides; all four of these bills were signed by Republican Presidents.
To acknowledge his enduring leadership, Congress in 1992 renamed the Springer Mountain NRA the Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area. What a fitting tribute! This special area (where the Appalachian Trail begins its journey to Maine) that bears his name will preserve outstanding scenic beauty -- waterfalls, primeval forest and rugged trails --and offer adventure and serenity alike to countless visitors now and for ages to come.
