Benton MacKaye

Benton MacKaye (pronounced ) (March 6, 1879 – Dec. 11, 1975) was an American forester, planner and conservationist. Born in Stamford, Connecticut, MacKaye's father was Steele MacKaye, an actor and dramatist. Despite his upbringing in the theatre, Benton MacKaye went to Harvard University to study forestry (B.A., 1900; M.A. School of Forestry, 1905) and later taught there for several years. He joined a number of Federal bureaus and agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Department of Labor, and also was a member of the Technical Alliance forerunner of Technocracy Incorporated where he participated in the Energy Survey of North America.

MacKaye helped pioneer the idea of land preservation for recreation and conservation purposes, and was a strong advocate of balancing human needs and those of nature; he coined the term "Geotechnics" to describe this philosophy. MacKaye authored two books, "The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning" and "Expedition nine: A Return to a Region". A collection of 13 of his essays was published as "From Geography to Geotechnics". A co-founder of The Wilderness Society, he is best known as the originator of the Appalachian Trail (AT), an idea he presented in his 1921 article, "An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning." The Benton MacKaye Trail, some portions of which coincide with the Appalachian Trail, is named after him.

Early life

Emile Benton MacKaye was born in Stamford, Connecticut on March 6, 1879 to actor and dramatist (James) Steele MacKaye and his wife Mary. [Anderson, p. 10] He was the sixth child and last son born to the couple, who often had financial troubles due to failed business ventures. The Stamford home where Benton was born and where the family had lived since 1875 was a comfortable one, but in late 1879 the family began a restless series of moves due to lack of funds. They lived in farms and houses in Brattleboro, Vermont; Norton, Massachusetts; Mount Vernon, New York; and Ridgefield, Connecticut, before moving to New York City in 1885. [Anderson, p. 13] They took to visiting Shirley Center, Massachusetts in the late 1880s, a place that Benton would continue to visit until his death. [Sutter (2002), p. 144]

References

Bibliography

*Anderson, Larry. 2002. "Benton MacKaye: Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail". Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801877911.
*Luxenberg, Larry. 1994. "Walking the Appalachian Trail". Mechanicsburg, PA Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780585268330.
*Nash, Roderick. 1987. "Wilderness and the American Mind". New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300029109.
*Rubin, Robert A (ed). July 2000. " [http://www.appalachiantrail.org/atf/cf/%7BD25B4747-42A3-4302-8D48-EF35C0B0D9F1%7D/TrailYears.pdf Trail Years: A History of the Appalachian Trail Conference] ". "Appalachian Trailway News".
*Sutter, Paul. October 1999. " [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3854/is_199910/ai_n8865728/pg_1A Retreat from Profit": Colonization, the Appalachian Trail, and the social roots of Benton MacKaye's wilderness advocacy] ". "Environmental History".
*Sutter, Paul. 2002. "Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement". Seattle: University of Washington press. ISBN 0295982195.

External links

* [http://www.wilderdom.com/vignettes/Appalachian.htm A page of links on MacKaye and the AT]
* [http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.786749/k.D5F9/History.htm History of the AT, including a pdf of his original paper]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GSmpid=45426922&GRid=12780668& Benton MacKaye] at Findagrave.com