George Melendez Wright

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Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20thAnniversary of the GWSJerry EmoryPamela Wright LloydGeorge Melendez Wright1904-1936:A Voice on the WingI arrived at Cracker Lake shortly after ten. Over the west wall great shafts ofsunlight from the breaking clouds shot downward through the purple haze.Some angles of the rocks reflected the light dazzlingly. Some goats posing onrocky prominences were illuminated from behind by these beams so that theylooked twice natural size. Radiant pagan gods framed in silver halos they gazedat lower earth from their high thrones.George Melendez WrightField Notes, September 1, 1931Cracker Lake, Glacier National Parkeorge M. Wright’s professional accomplishments and his views onwildlife and park management have been written about by severaldistinguished authors (see “Writing on Wright,” below). This article hopes to illuminate Wright’s life beyond the professional dimension. We hope to offer an insight into Wright as a keen naturalist, energetic field biologist, loyal friend, and loving husband and father. That is,George M. Wright as a person. We do so by relying heavily on excerpts fromWright’s unpublished field notebooks (both authors read 716 pages of his1924-1933 notes), personal papers, a 1987 interview with Ben Thompson,and family remembrances.This is not simply an exercise in by painting a more complete picturenostalgia for two people for whom of Wright—albeit somewhat inforthe life of George M. Wright still mal—we might more fully underlooms large more than six decades stand his thinking and his accomafter his death. Instead, it is clear to plishments.us that Wright’s intense dedication toUnfortunately, much is still unwildlife biology and the national known about Wright’s childhoodparks, his friends, and his family years. What we do know is thatwere so inextricably intertwined, that George Melendez Wright was bornG14The George Wright FORUM

Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20on June 20, 1904, in San Francisco,California. His mother, MercedesMelendez Wright, was born in ElSalvador and died in 1906; his father, Captain John Tennant Wright,a native New Yorker, died in 1912.His great aunt, Cordelia WardWright, helped raise the young boyfrom an early age and officiallyadopted him in 1913. George M.Wright had two brothers, Charlesand John, who returned to El Salvador to live with relatives. His brothers also died relatively young, buttheir families, and some of the relatives of Mercedes Melendez, still livethroughout that country—living reminders of George M. Wright’s LatinAmerican heritage.Cordelia Wright, fondly referredto simply as “Auntie” by George(and later by many rangers in Yosemite and the wildlife survey team),might be responsible for his earlyinterest in nature. Apparently theyoung Wright was allowed to hike allaround the San Francisco Bay Areawhere he undoubtedly developed thelove of birds and bird songs thatpermeated all his work. After graduating from San Francisco’s LowellHigh School in 1920 (where he wassenior class president and presidentof the Audubon Club), Wright andAuntie moved to Berkeley, where heattended the University of California.While at U.C. Berkeley, Wrightmajored in forestry, but it is welldocumented that he was heavily influenced by the teachings and personage of Professor Joseph Grinnell,Volume 17 Number 4thAnniversary of the GWSone of America’s leading zoologistsand wildlife researchers. Knowledgeof Wright’s non-academic activitiesfrom 1920 to1925 is rather sketchy,not unlike his early years. There isno question, however, that his intense interest in wildlife biology wasdeveloping and maturing quickly. Itis believed that during summers andschool breaks he often took to theroad and backcountry, visiting Yosemite and other parks on the WestCoast. In the summer of 1922, forexample, Wright helped lead students during a Sierra Club “HighCountry Trip” as an instructor ofnatural history.Wright’s first known recorded“field trip” lasted nearly two monthsduring the summer of 1924. Alongwith fraternity brothers Robert Shuman and Carlton H. Rose, he ventured throughout the West visitingnumerous national parks and wildlifeareas (see “Chronology of George M.Wright’s Field Notes” elsewhere inthis issue). Wright recorded this tripin a journal he titled “The Perils ofPonderous Peter.” “Peter” was hiswell-seasoned Model T Ford, andmany of his entries discuss the mostrecent mechanical failure of the agingvehicle (such as the 72 flat tires theyfixed). Other entries are quite revealing.In Yellowstone National Park onJuly 14, Wright—not knowing wherethe future would take him—both expressed an interest that would occupy the rest of his life while showing us his humor.200015

Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20thAnniversary of the GWSGeorge M. Wright, young Forestry student, U.C. Berkeley, early 1920s.16The George Wright FORUM

Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20I like the country very much. It isreported full of wild game. Whilecooking supper in the dark I madethe grave mistake of warming thepeas in a pot containing our dishrag and washing soap. We could notmake a go of the soapy peas—quiteimpossible to keep them on theknife.A few weeks earlier, at Montana’sFlathead Lake, his love of the outdoors comes through clearly. “Isthere anything on this earth that approaches the heavenly state moreclosely than a night spent at the footof a noble pine beside a beautifullake? So endeth the longest day ofthe year.” And, when visiting CraterLake National Park on June 30 withhis occasionally reluctant travelingmates, it becomes clear that Wrighthad covered some of this territorybefore. “It is wonderful to see CraterLake once more. I hope that Carl andBob find it worth the risk.”Wright graduated with a degree inforestry in 1925 and eventually became a field assistant to Joseph Grinnell. In the summer of 1926, Wrightand Joseph S. Dixon (an economicmammalogist on Grinnell’s staff)were sent to Mount McKinley (nowDenali) National Park to collectspecimens and conduct natural history studies. These field notes, heldby the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) at U.C. Berkeley, notonly show that Wright was using thenow-legendary journal system taughtto all Grinnell students, but that hisobservational and writing skills werebeing honed.Volume 17 Number 4thAnniversary of the GWSAs fortune would have it, theMcKinley trip would also helpWright establish himself in the ornithological world as the discoverer ofa nesting surfbird—a bit of knowledge coveted by Grinnell and otherornithologists. On May 28, 1926,Wright recorded the following.Mr. Dixon stayed home with astrained ankle while I went prospecting for specimens in generaland a hoary marmot in particular.While following the contour of thehill at approximately 4,000 feetthrough sheer good luck I happenedto make the find of my young life.A quick movement some five or sixhundred feet away attracted my attention to a grayish bird that wassneaking hurriedly along. Herewas a surf bird in the nesting season.When Mr. Dixon heard thegood news he was inclined to thinkit some sort of a bum joke but wassoon convinced and eager to be onthe firing line.In Dixon’s notes of the same day,also held by the MVZ, he recountswhat happened when Wright returned to fetch him, bad ankle andall. “Wright came on to camp to tellme the good news and by 6 o’clockwe packed up and left camp to investigate the nest. The surf birdwas on the nest when we arrived andMr. Wright was correct when he said‘I’m sure it is a surf bird.’ To Mr.George M. Wright then belongs thecredit of finding the first nest of thisspecies on May 28, 1926 at 4 p.m.He is, so far as we have record, thefirst white man to set eyes on the eggsof this bird which hither to have beenunknown.”200017

Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20Wri

Celebrating George Wright: A Retrospective on the 20 th Anniversary of the GWS 14 The George Wright FORUM Jerry Emory Pamela Wright Lloyd George Melendez Wright 1904-1936: A Voice on the Wing I arrived at Cracker Lake shortly after ten. Over the west wall great shafts of sunlight from t

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