Robert Sterling Yard (1861 – 1945) was an American writer, journalist and wilderness activist. Yard graduated from Princeton University and spent the first twenty years of his career as a journalist, editor and publisher. In 1915 he was recruited by his friend Stephen Mather to help publicize the need for an independent national park agency. Their numerous publications were part of a movement that resulted in legislative support for a National Park Service in 1916. Yard served as head of the National Parks Educational Committee for several years after its conception, but tension within the NPS led him to concentrate on non-government initiatives. He became executive secretary of the National Parks Association in 1919. Yard worked to promote the national parks as well as educate Americans about their use. Creating high standards based on aesthetic ideals for park selection, he also opposed commercialism and industrialization of what he called "America's masterpieces". These standards caused discord with his peers. After helping to establish a relationship between the NPA and the United States Forest Service, Yard later became involved in the protection of wilderness areas. In 1935 he became one of the eight founding members of The Wilderness Society and acted as its first president from 1937 until his death eight years later. Yard is now considered an important figure in the modern wilderness movement.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sterling_Yard
_________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
800:
Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, a title that had been out of use in the West since the abdication of Romulus Augustus in 476. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiritimati)
1066:
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman Conquest, the last successful foreign conquest of England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_England)
1776:
American Revolutionary War: George Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%27s_crossing_of_the_Delaware)
1947:
The Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect, amid the ongoing Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communists. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Republic_of_China)
1991:
Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev)
_______________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
nativity (n) Birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nativity)
______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love. --Isaac Watts (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts)
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