Learn About Local Conservation Champion Lewis S. Eaton
 | Lewis S. Eaton
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We'd like to kick off our Conservation Champions year-end campaign with a profile of a well-loved local Conservation Champion whose leadership, vision and passion for preserving natural areas made a region-wide impact during his lifetime and left a legacy that will benefit generations to come.
Lewis Swift Eaton, 1919-1992, was a Fresno banker and a community leader who believed private prosperity and public service go hand-in-hand. A lifelong hiker who climbed Mt. Whitney just one year before his death, Mr. Eaton believed strongly that business leaders needed to be mentored and educated in an appreciation of the national parks and the need for conservation.
During his lifetime, Mr. Eaton worked quietly without fanfare to enhance the quality of life in Fresno and much of the state, particularly in the areas of education and the environment. He was a member of the first Regional Advisory Commission of the National Park Service. In the 1970s and 1980s, he served as chairman of the National Park Service Citizen's Advisory Board and he moderated the often controversial public hearings that led up to the 1980 Yosemite General Management Plan. He was also a Trustee for the Yosemite Association and a Director for the Yosemite Institute. Former Congressman Richard Lehman said that when Mr. Eaton traveled to Washington DC on business, they would spend most of their time at dinner discussing their experiences in the high Sierra. "I will remember him most for his love of the Sierra Nevada, his sense of responsibility for preserving our parks and wilderness areas and his generous commitment to causes that will benefit future generations." Of all of his accomplishments, Mr. Eaton said his most worthwhile was establishing the site of Woodward Park. And in his later years, the San Joaquin River Parkway was the cause dearest to his heart. In a letter written to Fresno County Supervisor Deran Koligian in 1991 regarding the proposed development at Ball Ranch, Eaton said, "As you may know, I am a member of the board of the San Joaquin River Parkway Trust, and in that capacity I have been working diligently with others to put together a comprehensive plan for our unique San Joaquin River bottom. A parkway in this relatively unspoiled area holds great potential to preserve its natural beauty and native habitat for generations to come." And in closing the letter, he wrote, "There is only one river in this immediate area, and we have only one chance to deal intelligently with it." Shortly after his death, a group of Eaton's friends gathered together through the initiative of Sam Reeves and Jim Woodward to find a fitting and appropriate way to memorialize the legacy of a man who was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. From among many worthy ideas, the group selected the naming of the planned 22-mile mainstem trail of the San Joaquin River Parkway.
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