These records include documentation of domestic and international conservation campaigns from the origins of the Friends of the Earth organization in 1969 through the late 1980s. The collection contains significant documentation on legislation and elections related to numerous conservation issues including national parks and forests, land use and planning, energy resources, water and air pollution, toxic pollutants and hazardous waste, water quality, California State Water Plan and California State Water Project, coastal issues, TransAlaska Pipeline, Arctic oil drilling, oil spills, off-shore oil drilling and oil leases in California and along the California coast, bowhead whales and sustenance whale hunting in Alaska, the Endangered Species Act, condors, Supersonic Transport.

Friends of the Earth was founded by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie in San Francisco and incorporated on July 11, 1969 in New York City. F.O.E.’s U.S. headquarters are now in Washington, D.C. with an office in Berkeley. In the spring of 1969, Brower had resigned his leadership role as executive director of the Sierra Club and sought to form several new conservation groups in the wake of his departure. Brower was also involved in establishing the League of Conservation Voters and the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies at this time.

67.5 linear feet (53 cartons, 1 oversize folder)

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Collection is open for research.