Stewart “Brandy” Brandborg, a legendary leader for wilderness designation and protection of wilderness died on April 14, 2018.  “Brandy” was the last link to the 1940s and 1950s wilderness movement that resulted in the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act.

 

Brandborg conducted field studies of mountain goats in Idaho and Montana as a wildlife biologist.  He worked with Howard Zahniser, Executive Director of The Wilderness Society, as an architect of the Wilderness Act.  He joined the Wilderness Society’s Governing Council in 1956 and became a staff person in 1960.

 

Brandy worked with David Brower of the Sierra Club and others to pass the Wilderness Act.  When Howard Zahniser died, Brandy took over, became Executive Director of The Wilderness Society, and pushed the wilderness bill until President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law on September 3, 1964.

 

Brandy organized local wilderness supporters and volunteers and trained them so they could lobby their Congressional delegations on individual wilderness bills that the U.S. Congress had to pass in order to designate new wilderness areas.  Joe Fontaine, former President of the Sierra Club, was one of those volunteers.  “Building the circles” of activists was what Brandy was good at.

 

Brandy also joined the Board of Directors of Wilderness Watch in 1998 and served on the board and as a Senior Advisor for 20 years.   

 

This article is based upon information obtained from “Wilderness Watch”.

 

Brandt Mannchen

May 17, 2018