by Roger Gray
Per Moberg turned 90 on July 14, Bastille Day, which is an appropriate birth date for a revolutionary environmental activist like Per.
During decades of service to the Chapter, he has been a member of the Executive Committee, including a stint as chair, and was the Council delegate to the national Sierra Club, not long after the Atlantic Chapter was formed to include everything east of the Mississippi. During this period in the '60s and '70s, renowned photographer Ansel Adams was a member of the board, and David Brower was executive director.
Per's first interest has always been protection of the Adirondacks. While David Brower was fighting to protect the Grand Canyon, Per fought a proposal to build the Gooley Dam on the Upper Hudson in 1969.
At that time, Per established ad hoc committees which eventually morphed into the Chapter's Adirondack Committee. Per's committees were instrumental in creating the Adirondack Park Agency.
Per was a leader in the fight to prevent the Constitutional Convention of 1967 from stripping out the famed Article 14, the Forever Wild clause, which protects the Adirondack Forest Preserve.
Per appeared on the speaking platform on the first Earth Day, 1970, with Henry Diamond, the first commissioner of the newly formed NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). As a result of the acquaintance struck up that day, Per was invited to join the DEC.
Per remained active with the Sierra Club during his tenure with the DEC. His abiding passion was to create a Grand Canoe Route in the Adirondacks (in the area the Adirondack Committee now proposes as the Great Oswegatchie Canoe Wilderness). Per and his wife bought their first kayaks in 1999, when he was 79.
In 1990 the Chapter awarded Per the Bob Marshall Award for his years of in support of the Adirondacks.
Congratulations on his 90th birthday may be sent to Per c/o the Sierra Club, 353 Hamilton Street, Albany, NY 12210.
Roger Gray chairs the Chapter's Adirondack Committee.