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California State Archives State Government Oral History Program Oral History Interview with DOUGLAS WHEELER California Secretary for Resources 1991-1999 December 3, 2003, April 23, and November 8, 2004 The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, California By Ann Lage Regional Oral History Office University of California, Berkeley TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW HISTORY ...........................................................................................................................i BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................iii SESSION 1, December 3, 2003 [Minidisc 1] ..............................................................................................................................................1 Growing up in postwar suburbs on Long Island, New York—education in public schools and at Hamilton College (1959-1963)—Republican background, interest in public service, meeting Richard Nixon—Duke Law School, attorney and candidate for state legislature in Charlotte, North Carolina, 1968—job in legislative counsel’s office, Department of Interior, in the Nixon administration, work on groundbreaking environmental legislation. [Minidisc 2] ............................................................................................................................................38 Working under Nathaniel Reed, undersecretary for Parks and Wildlife at Interior—influence of Reed and Frank Bracken—helping draft the Endangered Species Act, laying groundwork for Alaska National Interest Lands Act, visit to SF Bay salt ponds with Secretary Rogers Morton—impact of citizen activism and lobbying—Watergate—influences on Wheeler’s developing ideas on land use planning and biodiversity—executive vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1977-1980: nature of the organization, Main Street program—helping form American Farmlands Trust, first president, 1980-1985: Rockefeller family interest, Marin Agricultural Land Trust as a model, AFT’s interest in shaping public policy. SESSION 2, April 23, 2004 [Minidisc 3] ............................................................................................................................................77 The 1985 Farm Bill—hired as executive director of the Sierra Club, 1985-1987—attempt to develop bipartisan appeal—club priorities driven by direct mail exigencies: hyperbole and partisanship—club culture, national volunteer leadership—Wheeler’s relations with senior staff—club’s failure to endorse Republicans for elective office—brouhaha over changing the club logo—establishing relationships in Washington, Senator Pete Wilson—tensions with and between Sierra Club departments and sister organizations: books, magazine, Foundation, Legal Defense Fund—staff “revolt,” changes on board of directors, leaving the Sierra Club—lessons learned, reflections on 2004 Sierra Club election—work with World Wildlife Fund/Conservation Foundation, 1987-1991: successful communities program, interest in growth management, exposure to E. O. Wilson’s thinking about conservation biology—invitation to join Governor Pete Wilson’s administration, 1991. [Minidisc 4] ..........................................................................................................................................114 Accepting the Secretary for Resources appointment, with Michael Mantell as deputy—Wilson staff, Otto Bos, Bob White—developing an agenda, Resourceful California—the drought and development of informal water bank, David Kennedy as director of Department of Water Resources—the Resources Secretary’s relation with his department heads and with independent boards and commissions—Donald Murphy in Parks and Recreation, Boyd Gibbons in Fish and Game, Chuck Imbrecht at Energy Commission—Wilson’s creating of cabinet-level Cal EPA—how the governor’s cabinet functioned—effect of the governor’s political interests on policy: tensions with the agricultural community over water policy, conflict over I-710 in Pasadena, challenge to authority of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency—instructive early disasters: Canterra oil spill and Oakland fire. SESSION 3, November 8, 2004 [Minidisc 5] ..........................................................................................................................................149 More on development and importance of Resourceful California program, importance of ecosystem protection—water issues: Central Valley Project Improvement Act, water banking, Cal Fed and water quality in the Delta, more on conflicts with Wilson’s agriculture constituency—Endangered Species Act and its inadvertent role in land use planning—evolution of Natural Communities Conservation Program [NCCP], Irvine Company interest—Habitat Conservation Planning and Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt’s “no surprises” regulations—opposition by property rights advocates and some environmental groups to de facto regional land use planning under NCCP. [Minidisc 6] ..........................................................................................................................................178 Development of NCCP, continued: Irvine Company’s set aside of coastal sage scrub in Orange County, NCCP in Riverside and San Bernardino counties—importance of the Endangered Species Act as impetus to enrolling developers in plans to save habitats, providing incentives to developers— mitigation banking for land conservation—Byron Sher, legislative ally of environmentalists—legal challenges to habitat conservation planning—Sierra Summit, August 1991, and follow-up attempts at collaborative solutions to environmental problems—Memorandum on Biological Diversity, the bioregional council idea, the Quincy Library group. [Minidisc 7] ..........................................................................................................................................207 More on the Quincy Library group and on conflicts between local and national interests—Headwaters Forest: background, central role of Senator Dianne Feinstein in state/federal agreement with PALCO’s Charles Hurwitz; evaluation of the agreement and its cost—forest practices reform and state responsibility for forest fire management—the Board of Forestry and value of boards and commissions in state government—the Coastal Commission and conflict with executive director Peter Douglas, too focused on acting as a local zoning board at expense of larger policy issues, differences over Bolsa Chica wetlands. [Minidisc 8] ..........................................................................................................................................234 Engendering cooperation of constituent departments in Resources Agency—Wheeler’s interest in growth management initiative, lack of a political constituency—conservation easements to preserve agricultural land, discussion of strengths and weaknesses—some drawbacks to the land trust idea— recent conservation easement on Hearst Ranch lands on California coast—limitations of work of the Energy Commission, failed to address adequate capacity—shifts in thinking about natural resource planning and management: development of ecosystem approach, application to oceans—Republican environmentalism: reliance on market mechanisms, but still need for regulations as impetus— evaluating the George W. Bush administration’s environmental policy—Wheeler’s recent work in the private sector, adding lands to the SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge and adding Baca Ranch to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in San Luis Valley, Colorado. i INTERVIEW HISTORY Interviewer Ann Lage Principal Editor, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley B.A. University of California, Berkeley (History) M.A. University of California, Berkeley (History) Interview Time and Place December 3, 2003 Hyatt Hotel, Sacramento, California Session of two and one-half hours April 23, 2004 Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Session of two and one-half hours November 8, 2004 Law offices of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P., Washington, D.C. Session of four hours Editing The production staff and interviewer at the Regional Oral History Office checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation and spelling, verified proper names, and compiled a table of contents. Mr. Wheeler reviewed the transcript, making only minor changes. Tapes and Interview Records The first two interview sessions were recorded with digital audio equipment; the final session was videotaped. The audio and video recordings of the interview are in The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Records relating to the interview are at the Regional Oral History Office. Master tapes are deposited in the California State Archives. Papers Mr. Wheeler’s papers relating to his tenure as executive director of the Sierra Club are in the Sierra Club Records at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Discussion is now in progress regarding the disposition of papers relating to his service as Secretary of Resources and his other environmental activities. iii BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY Douglas Wheeler was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 10, 1942, and raised on Long Island, New York. He received a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College in 1963 and a law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1966. After three years as an attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was