i Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Edwin Philip Pister PRESERVING NATIVE FISHES AND THEIR ECOSYSTEMS: A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, 1950S-PRESENT Includes interviews with Roger Samuelsen and Steve Parmenter Interviews conducted by Ann Lage in 2007-2008 Copyright © 2009 by The Regents of the University of California ii Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed and corrected by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and E. Philip Pister dated May 21, 2008. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Edwin Philip Pister, “Preserving Native Fishes and Their Ecosystems: A Pilgrim’s Progress, 1950s—Present,” an oral history conducted by Ann Lage in 2007-2008, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2009. iii Phil Pister at Fish Slough in Owens Valley, November 2003 Photo by Kim Milliron iv v PHIL PISTER ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Donors Alpers, Tim Placzek, Celie* American Fisheries Society (CA/NV) Powell, Frank Anonymous Randolph, Marjorie Arabian, Gary Roeske, Sarah Baldwin, Frank Rowley, Anne Becker, Dawne Samuelsen, Garin Bickler, Phil Samuelsen, Jamie Bowler, Peter Samuelsen, Jeane* California Trout Samuelsen, Roger Chappell, Mark Samuelsen, Scott & Sharon Cheatham, Dan Sayles, Bob & Judy College of Natural Resources (UC Berkeley) Severinghaus, John Dahl, Bill Shaker, Jana Deinstadt, John & Virginia Smiley, John Desert Fishes Council Starkweather, David Desert Tortoise Council Stewart, Glenn Doyle-Jones, Vicki Stranko, Brian Epstein, William Taylor, Wendy* Ernst, Gary Travis, David Ingram, Stephen U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service Kelley, Barbara Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve Kondolf, Matt Wehausen, John Lipp, Tom and Ulla White Mountain Research Station Magowan, Cathleen Wilson, James May, Richard Wingo, Maral* Milliron, Curtis & Kim Wong, Darrell Muir, Pauli* Yesavage, Jerome Papini, Barbara* Zeidwerg, Harvey Peirano, Lawrence E Pister, Karl P. Pister, Karl S. & Rita * Mountain Mamas vi vii Discursive Table of Contents—Phil Pister Interview History xv Interview 1, September 24, 2007 Audio file 1 1 Family background: Father’s German immigrant family, to Central Valley from Illinois via Orange, California; Mother’s family in Central Valley since 1850—Growing up on small farm near Stockton during the Depression, giving migrant worker family housing on their farm, picking tomatoes during the war—Great grandmother’s strength and independence—Mother’s education at UC Berkeley and Santa Barbara, a classmate of Horace Albright at Cal—Parents both schoolteachers—Important influence of summer-long trips to Yosemite, camping, hiking out of Tuolumne Meadows, fishing—Discussion of environmental effects of planting trout in Sierra creeks—Park Service presence at Tuolumne, fellow campers from Stockton High— Summer backpack trips with brother Karl after World War II—Reflecting on Depression-era values, wartime rationing, the value of history and family—Grandmother’s and mother’s ties to Daughters of the Confederacy—Religious affiliations—World War II in Stockton, Japanese relocation. Audio file 2 30 More on impact of World War II—Family political affiliations—High school teachers—Coming to Berkeley, discovering Starker Leopold and the major in wildlife conservation—Recalling Starker Leopold—Pister’s first reading of Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. Interview 2, January 22, 2008 Audio file 3 40 Childhood and youth in Stockton, continued—High school during World War II, wartime sacrifices, arranging travel for basketball team, social life (a wallflower)—At Cal with returning veterans, noting resentment of veterans’ preferences—Wife Martha, a childhood friend—Karl’s and Phil’s interest in athletics—Bowles Hall resident, frugality—Academics at Cal, Professors Usinger, Needham, Hartman—Starker Leopold, his move to Mulford Hall—Meeting Roger Samuelsen, connections with Sierra Nevada Aquatics Research Lab and White Mountain Research Station—ROTC at Cal, medical discharge after jeep outing in storm—Wartime experiences of colleagues and others. Audio file 4 61 Education at Berkeley, cont.: wildlife conservation major structured by Starker Leopold— Discussing the curriculum with Dean Alva Davis—Studying ecology, botany with Frank Pitelka, George Papenfuss, Lincoln Constance and others—Role of molecular biology vs. field work in wildlife conservation—Growth of awareness of issues of biodiversity and ecosystems— Presenting a paper on the Owens pupfish at 1972 meeting of AAAS, Nat Reed’s talk—Getting viii chewed out by California Department of Fish and Game brass and going underground on biodiversity concerns to avoid scrutiny—Recalling fellow students at Berkeley, Ray Dasmann, Joel Hedgpeth—Working as grad student on the Convict Creek study, studying biology of high mountain lakes, interaction with fish population, impact of planting trout—Starting career with California Department of Fish and Game, 1953, Bishop—DFG job on North Coast, birth of Anne during flood of 1955, conducting salmon study pre-California Water Plan—Move back to Bishop, permanently—Elden Vestal and Mono Lake, DFG unwilling to get involved in Mono Lake, but Phil’s underground support for researchers at Mono Lake—1959: first contact with golden trout, and Governor Pat Brown’s horseback trip into Big Whitney Meadows. Audio file 5 83 Studying the efficacy of aerial planting of fingerling rainbow trout in high mountain lakes— Fighting predilection of DFG, demand from recreationists, concerns of local business community in Bishop—Relationships with Bishop community—Education of wildlife resource managers from Humboldt State and Oregon State, contrast with Berkeley—Beginnings of Phil’s enlightening re rare and endangered species: first encounter, 1954, native cutthroat trout in White Mountains—Second encounter, early sixties, visit of Miller and Hubbs, and impact of finding the Owens pupfish—Other influences on Phil: Leopold, Rachel Carson, other reading—Building and preserving refuges for the pupfish at Fish Slough, the Owens Valley Native Fish Sanctuary: role of city of Los Angeles MWD, Roger Samuelsen and UC Natural Reserve system, land exchange to prevent development, 1980s—Transporting the last Owens pupfish in buckets, 1969. Interview 3, January 23, 2008 Audio file 6 108 Early years at DFG, learning about the bureaucracy—Founding Sigma Xi at Humboldt State in 1956, Linus Pauling dedicated the chapter—More on salmon studies on North Coast rivers, studies of effect of logging on streams, arrested by game wardens for putting nets in the river— Explaining his territory on east side of Sierra, back to Pliocene, multidisciplinary nature of scientific research on these ecosystems—Learning of threat to Devils Hole in Death Valley National Monument, 1967: plan to pump water for development—Marking changes in interests of fisheries biologists, publication of papers about non-commercial fish—Rereading of Sand County Almanac, 1964, another step in Phil’s reawakening—US Fish and Wildlife less subject to local economic pressures than DFG—Back to Devils Hole, and misgivings of DFG supervisors about Phil’s involvement. Audio file 7 129 Economic forces behind the destruction of Devils Hole—Contact with Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Chuck Meacham, who formed Pupfish Task Force from multiple federal agencies, some at cross-purposes with others, Sierra Club legal committee interest—Developing the legal case with Dept of Justice, on a shoestring, testifying in court, 1972, to seek federal injunction against the State of Nevada, introducing the ethical perspective along with scientific testimony—Emotional impact of winning the appeal to US Supreme Court,