Norman Livermore
Encyclopedia
Norman Banks "Ike" Livermore, Jr. (March 27, 1911 - December 5, 2006) was a California
environmentalist
, lumber industry
executive and state official. He was the only member of California governor Ronald Reagan's
cabinet to serve during the full eight years of his administration. He played baseball at the 1936 Summer Olympics
in Berlin
.
California family with roots in Maine
.
An ancestor, Elijah Livermore, built a grist mill
and a saw mill on the Androscoggin River
in 1791. The town of Livermore Falls
, Maine, is named after him.
His great-grandfather, Horatio Gates Livermore, came to California from Maine during the Gold Rush
in 1850, and later became a State Senator
from Eldorado County. His great-grandfather and his grandfather, Horatio Putnam Livermore, who came to California in 1856, used their Maine mill experience to become involved in the earliest days of hydroelectric power, helping to build the original Folsom Dam
. His father, Norman Banks Livermore was a founding board member of Pacific Gas and Electric. His mother, Caroline Sealy Livermore, was a conservationist in the San Francisco Bay Area
, working on protection of the Marin Headlands
and Richardson Bay
. Mount Livermore on Angel Island is named after her.
Livermore was born in San Francisco in 1911, and grew up on Russian Hill. His summers in childhood were spent at his family's sprawling 9000 acres (36.4 km²) Montesol Ranch on the slopes of Mount Saint Helena
that extended into Napa County, Sonoma County and Lake County
. He attended Thacher School, a private boarding school
in Ojai
, California where the "challenges of academics are combined with those of mountains and horses." At age 15, he rode his horse from Ojai to Big Sur
, a distance of nearly 250 miles (402.3 km). He also climbed the Grand Teton
in tennis shoes as a youth.
Livermore attended Stanford University
, receiving a bachelor's degree in Social Science/Social Thought in 1933. He went on to study briefly at the Harvard Business School
after graduation. Missing the mountains of the west, he returned to California and earned an MBA from the Stanford Business School
in 1936. His thesis was called "The Economic Significance of California's Wilderness Areas."
was an advocate for baseball as an Olympic sport. As a result of Mann's efforts, baseball
was selected as a demonstration sport in the 1936 Summer Olympics
played in Berlin
. Originally, the United States team was scheduled to play a Japanese team, but the Japanese withdrew. The American team was separated into two squads who competed against each other in a single game. Livermore was the catcher for the "World Champions" lineup which beat the "U. S. Olympics" lineup to win the demonstration game 6-5 before a crowd of 90,000 people on August 12, 1936.
in Sequoia National Park
, he was hired at a pack station
in Mineral King
because of his experience with horses and mule
s. That first summer, he shod mules, helped the camp cook, and did various chores. The following summer, he began leading mule trains into the wilderness of the High Sierra. The Great Depression
hit the pack station business hard, and work was negligible the next two summers. He worked a bit in the summer of 1933, and business picked up for the summer of 1934.
In the fall of 1934, he interviewed the operators of dozens of pack stations throughout the Sierra Nevada, questioning them in depth about their business operations. He complied a list of 71 pack stations operating in California's wilderness areas. This formed the basis for his MBA thesis at Stanford.
Beginning in 1934, he advocated for a trade group for pack station operators. By 1936, the High Sierra Packers Association had 35 members, and he served as its executive secretary.
In 1937, he bought an interest in the Mineral King Pack Station, and in 1946, bought two pack stations in the eastern Sierra that he merged to form the Mount Whitney Pack Trains. He was the largest wilderness outfitter in the Sierra Nevada for a number of years in the 1940s.
during World War II
, and participated in the amphibious landings
on Sicily
, Iwo Jima
, Palau
and Okinawa
.
in the 1930s. He was the outfitter for many of its High Trips
and served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club from 1941 to 1949. He came up with the concept for the first of the club's Biennial Wilderness Conferences, which was held on April 8–9, 1949. These conferences continued for more than 20 years.
During a bitter faction fight in 1969, he consulted with opponents of club executive director David Brower, including Ansel Adams
and Richard M. Leonard
, to develop a plan to restructure the club after Brower's departure. Brower resigned under pressure during a board meeting held May 3–4, 1969.
from 1952 to 1967, when it was committed to sustainable yields, in the years long before the company was acquired by Maxxam, Inc. and went bankrupt.
in 1966, was selected to serve as Reagan's Secretary of Resources
. A shared love for horseback riding helped cement a relationship between the men. Livermore served from 1967 to 1975, and was the only Reagan cabinet official who served during the entire eight years of Reagan's administration. He developed a close friendship with Reagan during those years.
Livermore convened a meeting between Governor Reagan and Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt
that resulted in an agreement to preserve the Lake Tahoe
basin.
Livermore worked with Reagan to defeat the proposed Trans-Sierra Highway, which would have divided the longest stretch of wilderness area in the contiguous 48 states and would have bisected the John Muir Trail
. Livermore organized a wilderness trip by Ronald Reagan beginning on June 27, 1972. Departing from Red's Meadow near Devils Postpile National Monument
, the Reagan party was carried by 100 packhorse
s. Reagan gave a ringing speech pledging that the Trans-Sierra Highway would never be built. Although Livermore organized the trip, he did not participate in it himself, because he was serving as a U. S. delegate to the 1st United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
in Stockholm
at the time.
Livermore negotiated the compromise land deal that made it possible for the Reagan administration to endorse the campaign for a Redwoods National Park, leading to its success.
Livermore also convinced Reagan to oppose construction of the Dos Rios Dam on the Eel River
in Round Valley
, saving the ancestral home of the local Indian tribe. When advocates of the dam urged him to consider facts not emotions, he responded, "Look, emotion is a fact. The solitude of the wilderness, the beauty of a flower - those are facts."
Reagan biographer Lou Cannon
said that Livermore succeeded because he "worked with the governor instead of against him. He never criticized Reagan to outsiders, and he wrote letters to newspapers extolling his environmental record. Inside the Cabinet, however, he waged a valiant struggle to educate Reagan on the need to get beyond the minimalist positions of the lumber companies."
Cannon summarized Livermore's legacy, "On environmental issues, Livermore stood in the Republican tradition of Theodore Roosevelt
, Hiram Johnson
and Earl Warren
, all more conservationist than conservative."
Carl Pope
of the Sierra Club summarized the organization's opinion of Livermore's performance in the Reagan gubernatorial administration
. "He was a real hero in our view. He was largely responsible for the fact that Reagan's environmental record in Sacramento was pretty good, in spite of the fact that Reagan said fairly outrageous things" about environmental issues.
Trusted Reagan advisor Michael Deaver
said about Livermore that "He was a valuable member of Ronald Reagan's cabinet. Ike brought tremendous credibility through his efforts in the environment. He was not only a cabinet member but a personal friend (of Reagan). He had great, great respect for Ike."
Environmentalist and author Martin Litton summarized Livermore's role in the Reagan administration, "Ike was a Republican. He was a good person to have there because he was so pro-wilderness. If he had an obsession at all, it was to keep the Sierra Nevada wild for the whole stretch from Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park south to Walker Pass. And that meant keeping the trans-Sierra roads out of there."
After Reagan was elected President in 1980, Livermore headed his transition team
for the Environmental Protection Agency.
, the Save-the-Redwoods League
, the Thacher School, the Sierra Club
, The Peregrine Fund
and the Stanford Business School Advisory Council
. He served as treasurer of the Commonwealth Club
. He chaired the Bureau of Land Management
Wild Horse and Burro Commission.
He was a long time member of the California Fish and Game Commission
, and served as its president from 1982 to 1983. While on that body, he worked on recovery of the California Condor
population.
He served as Grand Marshal of the Bishop Mule Days
.
in Yosemite National Park
by removing O'Shaughnessy Dam
. He served on the advisory committee for the grassroots advocacy group "Restore Hetch Hetchy" until his death.
Livermore died in Novato
, California, on December 5, 2006.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, lumber industry
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
executive and state official. He was the only member of California governor Ronald Reagan's
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
cabinet to serve during the full eight years of his administration. He played baseball at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Baseball at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Baseball was again a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics after a 24 year absence. Both of the teams that played in Berlin were from the United States....
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Early life and education
Livermore was descended from a pioneerAmerican pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
California family with roots in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
An ancestor, Elijah Livermore, built a grist mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
and a saw mill on the Androscoggin River
Androscoggin River
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is in area...
in 1791. The town of Livermore Falls
Livermore Falls, Maine
Livermore Falls is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,227 at the 2000 census. It is included in both the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine Metropolitan New England City and Town Area...
, Maine, is named after him.
His great-grandfather, Horatio Gates Livermore, came to California from Maine during the Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
in 1850, and later became a State Senator
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
from Eldorado County. His great-grandfather and his grandfather, Horatio Putnam Livermore, who came to California in 1856, used their Maine mill experience to become involved in the earliest days of hydroelectric power, helping to build the original Folsom Dam
Folsom Dam
Folsom Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the American River in Northern California, about northeast of Sacramento. Folsom Dam is high concrete and long, flanked by earthen wing dams...
. His father, Norman Banks Livermore was a founding board member of Pacific Gas and Electric. His mother, Caroline Sealy Livermore, was a conservationist in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, working on protection of the Marin Headlands
Marin Headlands
The Marin Headlands is a hilly area at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Headlands are located just north of San Francisco, immediately across the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
and Richardson Bay
Richardson Bay
Richardson Bay is a shallow, ecologically rich arm of San Francisco Bay, managed under a Joint Powers Agency of four Northern California cities. The Richardson Bay Sanctuary was acquired in the early 1960s by the National Audubon Society. The bay was named for William A...
. Mount Livermore on Angel Island is named after her.
Livermore was born in San Francisco in 1911, and grew up on Russian Hill. His summers in childhood were spent at his family's sprawling 9000 acres (36.4 km²) Montesol Ranch on the slopes of Mount Saint Helena
Mount Saint Helena
Mount Saint Helena is a peak in the Mayacamas Mountains with flanks in Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties of California. Composed of uplifted 2.4-million-year-old volcanic rocks from the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, it is one of the few mountains in the San Francisco Bay Area to receive any snowfall...
that extended into Napa County, Sonoma County and Lake County
Lake County, California
Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California...
. He attended Thacher School, a private boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Ojai
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...
, California where the "challenges of academics are combined with those of mountains and horses." At age 15, he rode his horse from Ojai to Big Sur
Big Sur
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big...
, a distance of nearly 250 miles (402.3 km). He also climbed the Grand Teton
Grand Teton
Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, and a classic destination in American mountaineering.- Geography :...
in tennis shoes as a youth.
Livermore attended Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, receiving a bachelor's degree in Social Science/Social Thought in 1933. He went on to study briefly at the Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
after graduation. Missing the mountains of the west, he returned to California and earned an MBA from the Stanford Business School
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
in 1936. His thesis was called "The Economic Significance of California's Wilderness Areas."
Olympic athlete
Livermore had been the captain of the Stanford University baseball team. Former professional baseball player Les MannLes Mann
Leslie Mann , was a professional baseball player who played outfield in the Major Leagues from 1913-1928. He played for the Boston Braves, St...
was an advocate for baseball as an Olympic sport. As a result of Mann's efforts, baseball
Baseball at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Baseball was again a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics after a 24 year absence. Both of the teams that played in Berlin were from the United States....
was selected as a demonstration sport in the 1936 Summer Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
played in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Originally, the United States team was scheduled to play a Japanese team, but the Japanese withdrew. The American team was separated into two squads who competed against each other in a single game. Livermore was the catcher for the "World Champions" lineup which beat the "U. S. Olympics" lineup to win the demonstration game 6-5 before a crowd of 90,000 people on August 12, 1936.
Pack station operator
In 1929, Livermore rode a motorcycle up and down the Sierra Nevada, searching for a summer job. On the advice of a park rangerPark ranger
A park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...
in Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...
, he was hired at a pack station
Pack station
A pack station is the base of operations for transporting freight via pack animals in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The station facilitates the transition from mechanized transportation to pack animals, and necessarily includes a corral for the animals and sometimes a stock loading ramp...
in Mineral King
Mineral King
Mineral King is a subalpine glacial valley located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park, in the U.S. state of California. The valley lies at the headwaters of the East Fork of the Kaweah River, which rises at the eastern part of the valley and flows northwest...
because of his experience with horses and mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s. That first summer, he shod mules, helped the camp cook, and did various chores. The following summer, he began leading mule trains into the wilderness of the High Sierra. The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit the pack station business hard, and work was negligible the next two summers. He worked a bit in the summer of 1933, and business picked up for the summer of 1934.
In the fall of 1934, he interviewed the operators of dozens of pack stations throughout the Sierra Nevada, questioning them in depth about their business operations. He complied a list of 71 pack stations operating in California's wilderness areas. This formed the basis for his MBA thesis at Stanford.
Beginning in 1934, he advocated for a trade group for pack station operators. By 1936, the High Sierra Packers Association had 35 members, and he served as its executive secretary.
In 1937, he bought an interest in the Mineral King Pack Station, and in 1946, bought two pack stations in the eastern Sierra that he merged to form the Mount Whitney Pack Trains. He was the largest wilderness outfitter in the Sierra Nevada for a number of years in the 1940s.
World War II service
Livermore was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and participated in the amphibious landings
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
on Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
, Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
, Palau
Battle of Peleliu
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Theater of World War II, from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S...
and Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
.
Sierra Club
Livermore joined the Sierra ClubSierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
in the 1930s. He was the outfitter for many of its High Trips
High Trips
The High Trips were large wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club beginning in 1901. Club secretary William Colby initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from John Muir, President of the Club,...
and served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club from 1941 to 1949. He came up with the concept for the first of the club's Biennial Wilderness Conferences, which was held on April 8–9, 1949. These conferences continued for more than 20 years.
During a bitter faction fight in 1969, he consulted with opponents of club executive director David Brower, including Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
and Richard M. Leonard
Richard M. Leonard
Richard Manning Leonard was an American rock climber, environmentalist and attorney. He served as president of the Sierra Club and the Save the Redwoods League, and was active in the Wilderness Society and the American Alpine Club...
, to develop a plan to restructure the club after Brower's departure. Brower resigned under pressure during a board meeting held May 3–4, 1969.
Lumberman
He served as treasurer for the Pacific Lumber CompanyPacific Lumber Company
The Pacific Lumber Company, officially abbreviated PALCO, was one of California's major logging and sawmill operations, located south of Eureka and north of San Francisco. The once storied company and its historically positive relationship with conservationists begun in the 1920s was altered...
from 1952 to 1967, when it was committed to sustainable yields, in the years long before the company was acquired by Maxxam, Inc. and went bankrupt.
Governor Reagan's cabinet
Livermore, who did not know Ronald Reagan before he was elected Governor of CaliforniaGovernor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
in 1966, was selected to serve as Reagan's Secretary of Resources
California Resources Agency
The California Natural Resources Agency is a state cabinet-level agency in the government of California. The institution and jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Agency is provided for in California Government Code sections 12800 and 12805, et seq...
. A shared love for horseback riding helped cement a relationship between the men. Livermore served from 1967 to 1975, and was the only Reagan cabinet official who served during the entire eight years of Reagan's administration. He developed a close friendship with Reagan during those years.
Livermore convened a meeting between Governor Reagan and Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt
Paul Laxalt
Paul Dominique Laxalt of Nevada was a former Republican District Attorney, Lieutenant Governor, Governor and U.S. Senator. In the media, the words "son of a Basque sheepherder" often accompanied his name. He was one of Ronald Reagan's closest friends in politics...
that resulted in an agreement to preserve the Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
basin.
Livermore worked with Reagan to defeat the proposed Trans-Sierra Highway, which would have divided the longest stretch of wilderness area in the contiguous 48 states and would have bisected the John Muir Trail
John Muir Trail
The John Muir Trail is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, running between the northern terminus at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley and the southern terminus located on the summit of Mount Whitney . For almost all of its length, the trail is in the High Sierra...
. Livermore organized a wilderness trip by Ronald Reagan beginning on June 27, 1972. Departing from Red's Meadow near Devils Postpile National Monument
Devils Postpile National Monument
Devils Postpile National Monument is located near Mammoth Mountain in extreme northeastern Madera County in eastern California. It was established in 1911, and protects Devils Postpile, an unusual formation of columnar basalt.-Geography:...
, the Reagan party was carried by 100 packhorse
Packhorse
.A packhorse or pack horse refers generally to an equid such as a horse, mule, donkey or pony used for carrying goods on their backs, usually carried in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. ...
s. Reagan gave a ringing speech pledging that the Trans-Sierra Highway would never be built. Although Livermore organized the trip, he did not participate in it himself, because he was serving as a U. S. delegate to the 1st United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was an international conference convened under United Nations auspices held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16, 1972...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
at the time.
Livermore negotiated the compromise land deal that made it possible for the Reagan administration to endorse the campaign for a Redwoods National Park, leading to its success.
Livermore also convinced Reagan to oppose construction of the Dos Rios Dam on the Eel River
Eel River (California)
The Eel River is a major river system of the northern Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Approximately 200 miles long, it drains a rugged area in the California Coast Ranges between the Sacramento Valley and the ocean. For most of its course, the river flows northwest, parallel to the...
in Round Valley
Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation
The Round Valley Indian Reservation is a federally recognized Indian reservation lying primarily in northern Mendocino County, California, USA. A small part of it extends northward into southern Trinity County. The total land area, including off-reservation trust land, is 93.939 km²...
, saving the ancestral home of the local Indian tribe. When advocates of the dam urged him to consider facts not emotions, he responded, "Look, emotion is a fact. The solitude of the wilderness, the beauty of a flower - those are facts."
Reagan biographer Lou Cannon
Lou Cannon
Louis Cannon is an American journalist, non-fiction author, and biographer. He was state bureau chief for the San Jose Mercury News in the late 1960s, and later senior White House correspondent of the Washington Post during the Reagan administration...
said that Livermore succeeded because he "worked with the governor instead of against him. He never criticized Reagan to outsiders, and he wrote letters to newspapers extolling his environmental record. Inside the Cabinet, however, he waged a valiant struggle to educate Reagan on the need to get beyond the minimalist positions of the lumber companies."
Cannon summarized Livermore's legacy, "On environmental issues, Livermore stood in the Republican tradition of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
and Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
, all more conservationist than conservative."
Carl Pope
Carl Pope
Carl Pope is the former Executive Director of the Sierra Club, an American environmental organization founded by conservationist John Muir in 1892. Pope was appointed to his position as Executive Director in 1992, and served until January 20, 2010, when he was succeeded by Michael Brune...
of the Sierra Club summarized the organization's opinion of Livermore's performance in the Reagan gubernatorial administration
Governorship of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the governor of California for two terms, once in 1967 and again in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term. Robert Finch, Edwin Reinecke, and John L...
. "He was a real hero in our view. He was largely responsible for the fact that Reagan's environmental record in Sacramento was pretty good, in spite of the fact that Reagan said fairly outrageous things" about environmental issues.
Trusted Reagan advisor Michael Deaver
Michael Deaver
Michael Keith Deaver was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 until May 1985.-Early life:...
said about Livermore that "He was a valuable member of Ronald Reagan's cabinet. Ike brought tremendous credibility through his efforts in the environment. He was not only a cabinet member but a personal friend (of Reagan). He had great, great respect for Ike."
Environmentalist and author Martin Litton summarized Livermore's role in the Reagan administration, "Ike was a Republican. He was a good person to have there because he was so pro-wilderness. If he had an obsession at all, it was to keep the Sierra Nevada wild for the whole stretch from Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park south to Walker Pass. And that meant keeping the trans-Sierra roads out of there."
After Reagan was elected President in 1980, Livermore headed his transition team
United States presidential transition
A presidential transition or presidential interregnum refers to the period of time between the end of a presidential election and the inauguration of a new President of a country...
for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Board service
Livermore served on the boards of many organizations, including the National Audubon SocietyNational Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
, the Save-the-Redwoods League
Save-the-Redwoods League
The Save the Redwoods League is an organization dedicated to the protection of the remaining Coast Redwood trees in the state of California. It was founded in 1918 by Frederick Russell Burnham, Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn....
, the Thacher School, the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, The Peregrine Fund
The Peregrine Fund
The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey. The successful recovery in the United States of the Peregrine Falcon, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999 , enabled the organization to expand its...
and the Stanford Business School Advisory Council
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
. He served as treasurer of the Commonwealth Club
Commonwealth Club of California
The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States...
. He chaired the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
Wild Horse and Burro Commission.
He was a long time member of the California Fish and Game Commission
California Department of Fish and Game
The California Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of California, falling under its parent California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Game manages and protects the state's diverse fish, wildlife, plant resources, and native habitats...
, and served as its president from 1982 to 1983. While on that body, he worked on recovery of the California Condor
California Condor
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and coastal mountains of central and southern California and northern Baja California...
population.
He served as Grand Marshal of the Bishop Mule Days
Bishop Mule Days
Bishop Mule Days is an annual festival celebrating the mule, held in Bishop, California over a six day period just before Memorial Day. It includes competitive events and the largest non-motorized parade in the United States. It started as a small show in 1969 with a few hundred attendees and has...
.
Hetch Hetchy activism
Livermore was a long time advocate of restoring the Hetch Hetchy ValleyHetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
by removing O'Shaughnessy Dam
O'Shaughnessy Dam
The O'Shaughnessy Dam is a curved gravity dam on the Tuolumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California's Sierra Nevada. The dam is located in Yosemite National Park, and creates the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It is named for former San Francisco chief engineer and the original chief engineer of...
. He served on the advisory committee for the grassroots advocacy group "Restore Hetch Hetchy" until his death.
Livermore died in Novato
Novato, California
Novato is a city located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in northern Marin County. Novato is located about north-northwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of 30 feet above sea level . The 2010 U.S. Census estimated the city population to be about 51,904. Novato is about ...
, California, on December 5, 2006.