GREAT EVENTS AND GREAT PEOPLE, UNFORTUNATELY, GET LOST IN

THE MINDS OF MOST AMERICANS OVER TIME, AND IT SEEMS ONLY

THOSE THAT HAVE ACCOMPLISHED, (GOOD OR BAD), THE MOST

PROFOUND OF THE PROFOUND, STAY WITH US THROUGH THE

GENERATIONS. DING DARLING WAS A GREAT AMERICAN, AND

CERTAINLY A GREAT CONSERVATIONIST. YET, I SUSPECT AN

EMBARRASSINGLY FEW, IF ANY, IOWA SCHOOL CHILDREN, OR

STUDENTS OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN OUR UNIVERSITIES, FOR THAT

MATTER, HAVE ANY IDEA WHO DING DARLING WAS, AND HIS LEGACY

THAT SURVIVES AND GUIDES MANY CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS

TODAY
 

IT SEEMS TO ME, THAT WE REMEMBER THOSE THAT WERE CONNECTED

WITH THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT MOSTLY FOR THEIR

PHILOSOPHY OF THE SUBJECT, AND THE WRITINGS THAT WERE DONE

TO EXPLAIN THAT PHILOSOPHY. AND THAT IS OKAY; WE NEED

SCHOOLING, CONTINUALLY, ON WHY CONSERVATION IS IMPORTANT

OVER THE YEARS, THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF GOOD

CONSERVATIONIST, SEVERAL OF THEM FROM IOWA, AND MOST ARE

REMEMBERED FOR WHAT THEY SAID, RATHER THAN WHAT THEY DID.

DING DARLING WAS ONE EXCEPTION TO THAT. DARLING MADE THINGS

HAPPEN IN AND FOR CONSERVATION, AND WE NEED TO

OCCASIONALLY PA USE AND REMEMBER THAT. AND I SUBMIT TODAY IT

WOULD NOT HURT TO PLACE A REMINDER OF HIS CONTRIBUTION IN

THE MINDS OF OUR SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.
 

PERSONALLY, I AM REAL GLAD TO SEE DING DARLING'S NAME

ATTACHED TO THIS GREEN WAY ALONG THE DES MOINES RIVER. I

THINK HE WOULD BE PLEASED.
 

I AM AN ADMIRER OF DING DARLING, ALTHOUGH I NEVER KNEW HIM,

LIKE MANY OF YOU DID. IN FACT, MY FIRST RECOLLECTION OF

DARLING'S NAME WAS WHEN HE DIED IN 1982. I WAS A STUDENT AT

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY IN LOGAN, UTAH, AND WAS IN A PRINCIPLES

OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT CLASS WHEN OUR PROFESSOR

ANNOUNCED THAT DARLING HAD DIED. THAT DIDN'T MEAN MUCH TO

ME THEN, BUT AFTER BEING ON THE IOWA SCENE FOR A SHORT

PERIOD OF TIME, I QUICKLY LEARNED HOW IMPORTANT DING DARLING

WAS TO CONSERVATION.
 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DING DARLING, I SUGGEST YOU READ DAVID

LENDR'S BIOGRAPHY OF DARLING, ENTITLED SIMPLY, 'DING". IT IS

ENJOYABLE READING, VERY INFORMATIVE, AND GIVES YOU

CONVINCING INSIGHT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF DARLING'S "CAN

DO" ATTITUDE, AND "MAKE IT HAPPEN" PERSONALITY. THESE ARE

SOME OF THE REASONS I ADMIRE DING DARLING. HE WAS A DOER. HE

MADE IT HAPPEN, AND DID NT LET ANYTHING OR ANYBODY STAND IN

HIS WAY IN PURSUING HIS CONSERVATION GOALS.
 

IN ADDITION TO BEING A EMINENT POLITICAL CARTOONIST AND A TWO

TIME PULITZER PRIZE WINNER, DING WAS A WELL RECOGNIZED AND

INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIONIST YEARS BEFORE THE WORDS

"ENVIRONMENTALIST" AND "ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT BECAME

POPULAR. IN FACT, DARLING WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST AND MOST

EFFECTIVE CONSERVATIONIST WE HAVE HAD, IN MY OPINION. THERE

WERE MANY OTHER CONSERVATIONIST OF NOTE, INCLUDING

SEVERAL FROM IOWA. THEY WERE INFLUENTIAL IN THEIR OWN WAY,

SOME USING THE ACADEMIC APPROACH WITH THEIR WRITINGS AND

THOUGHTS BEING PICKED UP AND OFTEN REPEATED BY OTHERS. BUT

IT WAS DARLING THAT LITERALLY MUSCLED NO LESS THAT THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND PROBABLY OFFENDED

COUNTLESS OTHERS, TO GET WHAT HE THOUGHT BEST FOR THE

NATURAL RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY
 

THIS LAND WE ARE ON TODAY WAS DONATED BY DARLING AND HIS

WIFE PENNY TO THE CITY MANY YEARS AGO. THANKS TO THE

ENCOURAGEMENT OF DICK LECROY AND THE HIGHLAND PARK

BUSINESSMEN'S CLUB, THE DNR, POLK COUNTY CONSERVATION

BOARD, CITY OF DES MOINES, AND THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS, HAVE

MUTUALLY AGREED TO NAME THE SAYLORVILLE DOWNSTREAM

CORRIDOR THE "DING DARLING GREEN WAY.
 

THIS IS A SMALL TRIBUTE, BUT IT IS FITTING THAT WE DO AT LEAST

THIS MUCH TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR ONE OF AMERICA'S

FOREMOST CONSERVATIONIST. I WANT TO END BY TELLING YOU A

FEW OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DING DARLING,

ACCOMPLISHMENTS FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THIS CENTURY THAT

ARE STILL IN PLACE AND WORKING TODAY HE WAS CHIEF OF THE U.S.

BIOLOGICAL SURVEY NOW KNOWN AS THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE

SERVICE, AND WHILE THERE MADE GREAT STRIDES IN

PROFESSIONALIZJNG THE AGENCY; HE STARTED THE FEDERAL DUCK

STAMP PROGRAM IN 1934 AND DREW THE DESIGN FOR THE FIRST

DUCK STAMP AS WELL AS THE FLYING CANADA GOOSE THAT MARKS

THE NATIONS WILDLIFE REFUGES, FOUNDED THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE

FEDERATION, AND PERSONALLY CREATED AND BANKROLLED THE

FIRST COOPERATIVE WILDLIFE RESEARCH UNITS RIGHT HERE AT IOWA

STATE.
 

I DO NT KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I AM IMPRESSED WITH THAT RECORD.

AS A WORKING CONSERVATIONIST FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS MYSELF,

EVERY DAY I SEE THE MANY TOOLS AND PROGRAMS THAT ARE IN

PLACE FOR PROFESSIONAL NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS

BECAUSE OF DING DARLING. WE SHOULD THANK HIM FOR THAT, AND

WHILE DOING SO, IT IS APPROPRIATE THAT WE SETASIDEA FEW MILES

OF THE OUTDOORS ALONG THIS RIVER, AND ATTACH HIS NAME TO

THIS AREA IN APPRECIATION OF WHAT HE HAS GIVEN ALL OF US.

PROBABLY NOT MANY THAT RIDE OR WALK THIS TRAIL WILL KNOW OF

DING DARLING, BUT HOPEFULLY A FEW WILL READ THIS MARKER AND

HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTRIBUTION DING

DARLING MADE TO CONSERVATION.