Bruce Babbitt biography

[Bruce Babbitt is the author of Cities in the Wilderness, published by Island Press. For further information about the book, to request additional review copies, or to arrange an interview with Mr. Babbitt, please contact Roger Stephenson at 603 772-7784 or r-stephenson@comcast.net.]

Bruce Babbitt served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001, as Governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987, and as Attorney General of Arizona from 1975 to 1978.

Mr. Babbitt is the son of a northern Arizona ranching family and was exposed to Arizona ’s cultural and natural heritage from an early age.  His father had helped to found the Arizona Wildlife Federation and the Arizona Game Protective Association.

With degrees in geology, geophysics, and law, Bruce Babbitt was elected to statewide office on his first foray into elective politics in Arizona at the age of 36. In 1978 he became governor, was twice reelected to that office and served nine years in all.  In 1988, Babbitt was a candidate for the presidency of the United States and from 1988-1993 he practiced law and served as head of the League of Conservation Voters.

As Secretary of the Interior from 1993-2001, Babbitt combined experience and enthusiasm with a deep commitment to environmental protection and restoration. He tackled some of the most complex and controversial issues in public land management, resulting in long overdue reforms to mining, grazing, and endangered species law and the protection of millions of acres of federal land from development through the designation of several national monuments.

Among the highlights of his tenure are:

• Bringing peace to California ’s water wars with the historic Bay Delta accord; Shaping the old growth forest plan in the Pacific Northwest ; Drafting interagency plans to restore the ecosystem of South Florida , the Everglades and Florida Bay , creating the largest environmental restoration project in history; Helping to enact the massive California Desert Protection Act, the largest land protection bill ever enacted in the lower 48 states;
• Forging new legislation for protection of The National Wildlife Refuges;
• Returning entrance fees and concessions back into the National Parks that generated them; Helping to preserve the incomparable old growth Headwaters Forest ; and
• Negotiating the largest state-federal land swap in the history of the lower 48 states in order to create the two-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and other parks in Utah .

Babbitt is recognized as the first Interior Secretary to restore fire to its natural role in the wild and the first to remove dams and restore rivers flowing into the Atlantic and the Pacific. He was personally involved in demonstrating catch and release programs for endangered trout and salmon to highlight how restoring native fish habitat restores economies.