Michael Frome, a journalistic giant in environmental circles who lamented the over-development of national park landscapes and who was among the best at tracking the country's environmental evolution, has died at 96 after months of failing health.
His family said Mr. Frome entered hospice last Tuesday and passed away Sunday.
Mr. Frome, who wrote a regular newsletter titled Portogram, prepared its last issue with his passing in mind.
"This is the last edition of my Portogram, due to my departure from this earth on September 4, 2016. It has been great fun, I've enjoyed it very much, and I send my best wishes to all my friends and followers.
"Be of good cheer."
Mr. Frome wrote more than 20 books and countless columns during his lifetime, the last, Rediscovering National Parks In The Spirit Of John Muir, coming last year. In it he both looked back and celebrated his life dedicated to conservation and parks. It was a book that was both memoir that looks back across the many decades of his work and serves as inspiration for us to carry that work forward.
The late Gaylord Nelson said Dr. Frome had no literary peer when it came to arguing for "a national ethic of environmental stewardship." It was Dr. Frome who stood before a distinguished audience of top National Park Service managers gathered to celebrate the agency's 75th birthday and promptly scolded them for losing sight of their mission, and who long ago warned that commercialization of the national parks will turn them into "popcorn playgrounds."
During an interview with the Traveler five years ago, just before he turned 90, Dr. Frome lamented the Park Service's drive to build visitation as high as possible.
"Twenty years or so ago, they were talking about carrying capacity. 'Let’s determine the carrying capacity of the parks,'" he said in May 2010 during a call from the Wisconsin home in the woods he shares with his wife, June. "Now, they’re talking about, 'Let’s get more people in, so we can get more money.' The carrying capacity is out the window, so, I would say the condition of our parks has definitely gotten worse."
Born and raised in the Bronx, Michael Frome became an airplane navigator during World War II. He returned home from military service to resume life as a journalist, ultimately to navigate America through its public lands. By the early 1960s he had succeeded—and then some, including, among other assignments, a huge following in Woman’s Day and Changing Times.
He later added American Forests and Field & Stream to his client list, writing columns for both, but they would later drop him, saying he had become too ardent for their tastes.
Well into his sixties, Michael launched a second career, that as an instructor of environmental journalism. Over the years, his appointments would include Northland College, the University of Vermont, the University of Idaho, and the Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University.
If any wilderness may be said to be his favorite, it is probably Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Certainly, his book Strangers in High Places: The Story of the Great Smoky Mountains, has touched its readers deeply, and remains a best-seller throughout the park itself. Sometimes, a piece of writing just seems to jell.
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Comments
Michael, In Memoriam:
You really made an indelible impression on young minds through your writing over the decades.
We recall Whose Woods These Are best since at West Virginia University, the management on the Monongahela National Forest was being debated along with Rachael Carson's Silent Spring which I defended during a Forest Policy class when the young professor was totally clueless these works would have in the birthing of the environmental movement. Later, that same "teacher" was clueless about The ROADLESS values and future of The Wilderness Act signed by LBJ in 1964.
We also are grateful to You for defending the wildlife biologist at Glacier NP who was treated badly and unprofessionally by former Superintendent "tyrant Bill Briggle". And,
Thanks for all the Memories when you were at the University of Idaho, Moscow, to whom you archived your writing collections.
Scholars Please visit:
http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Manuscripts/mg174.htm
Dedicated to Michael's Memory and his Green Journalism Contributions:
1962 Book Whose Woods These Are, Story of Our National Forests
Listen to Michael: ... forces of nature video ...
http://theforcesofnature.com/movies/michael-frome/
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
BY ROBERT FROST
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Michael was the dean of American conservation writers, an uncompromising environmental journalist, and a teacher who inspired a generation of environmental writers. His defense of wilderness was intimately bound to an ethic of non-violence and a respect and reverence for all life. Michael wrote that the Wilderness Act was "an expression through law of national ethics and idealism, a symbol of hope, lighting the path to an age of reason and nonviolence, an age of respect for the earth as a source of respect for each other."
I'll miss him.
l'll always remember going to Listening Point with Michael. We talked through the night while my newborn son slept in Sigurd Olson's bed. One of a kind.
Tim, wonderful words. Do you live near Seattle or the PNW somewhere?
I am working on a gathering in Michael's honor in early April to coincide with his widow's visit.
It will either be in Bellingham, or Seattle area...
Just thought I would ask.
I really appreciate your beautiful description of Michael.
Tom "walleye" Waller