 OWAA Legends
The Eloquence of Clarity
By Richard E. McCabe
Among its membership past and present, OWAA has legitimate claim to a great many
communicators who have used their considerable talent to advance the cause of
natural resource conservation. A lesser list is the pantheon of OWAA greats who
were outstanding professional conservationists and were or became exemplary
communicators. Roger Latham, Arthur Carhart, Joe Linduska, Durward Allen, John
Madson and Daniel Poole are among this handful.
Poole was born in upstate New York in April 1922. As a youngster, he was drawn
more to forests and meadows than to ball fields. He developed a special
fascination for the north country of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, which was
then as it is now, the largest expanse of state-owned land designated as
wilderness in a state constitution. Poole’s interest in forestry and wildlife
was kindled by a childhood spent hunting and fishing with his father and
indulging his natural curiosity for all things wild.
Poole became a tool designer for General Electric in the early part of World War
II, before enlisting in the Army Aviation Cadet Training Program. He was 25
years old and several light-years from OWAA’s Jade of Chiefs Award.
In 1946, Poole journeyed to Missoula’s Montana State University (now University
of Montana) to begin studies in forestry. "However, he found himself
uncomfortable with
classmates and faculty who were interested only in 'getting the wood out and to
market' "? He switched to his second passion – wildlife. Poole graduated with a
bachelor’s of science degree in 1950 and obtained his master’s in 1952. During
his years of study, he worked seasonally with the Montana Fish and Game
Department (now the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks) and also with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in both California and Utah.
Poole was a junior biologist in the state agency’s waterfowl division when, at a
West Glacier meeting in 1952, he met C.R. “Pink” Gutermuth, vice president of
the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI). Gutermuth sought a young person with
western experience and perspective to work in WMI’s Washington, D.C.,
headquarters. After traveling to Washington, D.C., and interviewing with WMI
President Ira N. Gabrielson, Poole became editor of the Institute’s Outdoor News
Bulletin, which was at that time a major source of information to media on
national-level conservation issues.
Besides joining ranks with Gutermuth and the brilliant and charismatic Dr.
Gabrielson, Poole found a friend in James B. Trefethen, the Institute’s director
of publications. It was Trefethen, a long-standing OWAA member and eventual
author of the seminal volume on conservation history, Crusade for Wildlife
(1961), who, by example and insight, mentored Poole on certain basics of
communication craftsmanship. Gabrielson and, to a lesser extent Gutermuth,
provided direction and encouragement for Poole when he was thrust into the
unfamiliar roles of ferreting out, analyzing and reporting. However, the
position quickly became one of personal initiative, and Poole thrived in his new
environment and career. He became a card-carrying member of OWAA in 1953.
Poole’s initial role with WMI triggered what he described as a “career-long
learning process.” Preparing effective news releases, writing speeches, helping
to devise conservation policy strategies, preparing and delivering congressional
testimony, and developing alliances and a vital network of trusted contacts
within both the ever-changing political arena and the ever-territorial
conservation community were Poole’s occupation and preoccupation. He broached
this new wilderness with verve and tenacity.
In 1962, Poole was promoted to director of conservation, and a year later was
elected WMI secretary. He was also a monthly columnist for The American Rifleman
magazine from 1960-1970 and edited the Executive News Service of the Natural
Resources Council of America from 1960-1965. In 1969, he earned OWAA’s Jade of
Chiefs Award, testimony to the success of his learning process.
The next year, 1970, at the outset of the so-called “environmental decade,” the
former junior biologist from Montana succeeded Gabrielson as president of WMI.
He continued to produce the bimonthly Outdoor News Bulletin until he hired
another eventual OWAA luminary, Lonnie Williamson.
I joined WMI 25 years ago, and first occupied an office that also served as the
file room. I reviewed hundreds of files: speeches, reports, news releases,
testimonies, briefing documents and more – the majority of which were penned by
Poole. Quite a few carried the names of others, but marginal notes assured that
Poole was the author. Another clue of authorship was the succinctness of message
and precision of language. All of those files in all of those cabinets contained
an eloquence that was vintage Poole – the eloquence of clarity.
Poole served 17 years as WMI president, retiring in 1987, followed by four more
years as the Institute’s board chairman. During his tenure, he played a
significant role either behind the scenes or through testimony and other areas
of outreach – in virtually every major piece of national conservation
legislation. Poole was not just a player, but also a leader, and one of intense
convictions with unimpeachable integrity and tireless dedication to wildlife
conservation. Few can legitimately claim as much effective input on policies and
programs of federal resource agencies and many state and provincial agencies
during the period from 1952-1987. Poole himself, to my knowledge, never sought
any credit for the innumerable, successful conservation legislation battles to
which he contributed and in which he was often the point man. He disdained the
Potomac Shuffle of jockeying for credit and congratulations; for him results
were what mattered.
Despite not beating his own drum for deserved recognition, many awards and
accolades have come to Poole from those who saw him in action. He also achieved
an honorary doctorate of science degree from the university to which he had
journeyed years before to become a forester. He earned a second doctorate from
Drew University.
Poole married Dorothy C. Sepure in 1946. They live in Gaithersburg, MD, near
their son, daughter, grandchildren and a golf course. He is a member of the
Boone and Crockett Club, The Wildlife Society, the Izaak Walton League, and Phi
Sigma Biological Honorary Society. Daniel A. Poole is a living legend not only
for OWAA, but also for the wildlife conservation profession in all of North
America.
An active member since 1978, Richard E. McCabe is vice president of the
Wildlife Management Institute.
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