Alaska Conservation Society
The Alaska Conservation Society was the first grassroots environmental conservation group in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was founded in 1960 to coordinate opposition to Project Chariot, a plan to blast a harbor at Point Hope, Alaska, using nuclear explosions. The group subscribed to environmental preservation and the principles of conservation. After the defeat of Project Chariot, the group decided to fight the proposed Rampart Dam project on the Yukon River. After succeeding, the society took a stance on the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, encouraging environmental mitigation during and after its construction. This led to the society becoming a major factor in environmental policy within the state. The group operated between 1960 and 1993 and was superseded by the Alaska Conservation Foundation, which was founded in 1980 and still operates today. Founding and History In 1960, the Alaska Conservation Society was founded by Alaskan environmentalist Ginny Wood and her then husband, Morton "Woody" Wood, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in College, Alaska to bring together like-minded people in order to better organize opposition to two major projects in Alaska: Project Chariot and the Rampart Dam. The group hoped that its status as an organization "by Alaskans and for Alaskans" would allow its arguments to gain traction in places where speakers from the Continental United States had not. According to Ginny Wood, one of their main reasons for establishing their own organization was that they didn't want "outside people" controlling the newly minted state. Celia M. Hunter, one of the group's founding members, became its first president. Early on, the society operated out of living rooms and utilized a small printing press to distribute their bulletin. Many of the early members were scientists, although this was not true for either the Woods or Hunter. The Conservation Society was organized into two groups: Alaskan members, who had voting authority, and "associate," or non-Alaskan members, who did not. It was very important to the Woods that Alaskans maintain control over the organization. By 1961, one year after its founding, the Alaska Conservation Society had about 300 members, 50 percent of whom were associate members. Thanks to widening coverage granted it during its opposition to Chariot and Rampart development projects, the group expanded to more than 600 members by 1965. While early on the group focused on things like the negative effects hunting wolves had on ecosystems or the importance of large carnivore conservation, they eventually scrutinized government projects. The group's influence grew after Project Chariot and the Rampart Dam were successfully canceled, a fact illustrated by the selection of Alaska Conservation Society president Ernst W. Muller as commissioner of the Alaska State Department of Environmental Conservation in 1975. Main Accomplishments Project Chariot During the conflict with Russia called the Cold War, the US proposed Project Chariot: a plan to detonate atomic bombs at Cape Thompson, near Point Hope, Alaska, to make an artificial bay. It was a part of Operation Plowshare. There was significant local resistance to the project