Remembering John D. Dingell, Jr. on his 99th Birthday - IWRA

As we celebrate the late Congressman John D. Dingell Jr.’s 99^th birthday on July 8, it is fitting to reflect on his many accomplishments, including the establishment of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge and the Refuge’s Visitor Center, which bears his name.

“The Lovely Deborah” (as he always referred to his wife, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell) can testify that after she succeeded him when he retired, he asked her every day, “What have you done for the Refuge?”  Because every day, from the late 1990s, the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge was on his mind – even before it had that name!

Most of us know the story:  Sometime around 1998 rumors started circulating that a private company was planning on buying the last mile of undeveloped shoreline along the US side of the Detroit River.  Their plans were to develop it, and a nearby island, into condominiums, a golf course, and all the accoutrements of suburbia, to the detriment, destruction, and obliteration of the natural environment and the wildlife that had existed there since time immemorial – including one of the last stands of Old Growth Forest in the state.  

The rumors were true!  A small band of committed citizens* (the Friends of the Detroit River and others) started organizing to “Save Humbug Marsh!”  Word spread, meetings were held and overflowed, and a champion arose – Congressman John D. Dingell Jr.

In 2000, Congressman Dingell and leaders from the US and Canada met to create a vision for the Detroit River’s future.  On March 27, 2001, he introduced H.R. 1230 to establish the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, the first (and still only) international wildlife refuge in North America.  It was intended to consist of specified lands and waters in Michigan, including the Wyandotte National Wildlife Refuge, and to work in tandem with Canadian conservation efforts. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on Dec. 21, 2001, and it became Public Law No. 107-91.

As the idea of the Refuge grew, a new group of committed citizens arose, some from the Friends of the Detroit River and some from local communities and businesses.  On Dec 26, 2005, the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance (IWRA) was formed.  IWRA is the non-profit “friends” group that exists to advocate for and support the Refuge and to raise needed funds.  You may have heard about IWRA, and attended one of its Annual Benefit Dinners.  (Mark your calendar for Sept 25, at Silver Shores in Wyandotte!)

The Refuge itself has grown from 304 acres to more than 6,200 acres within 30+ units.  The Refuge Gateway on W. Jefferson includes the John D. Dingell Jr. Visitor Center, which is open Thursday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm.  Also within the Gateway are hiking trails and a 200-ft fishing pier and 740-ft boat dock, which are open to the public from dawn to dusk every day except federal holidays.  School field trips are welcome, and educational and entertaining programing abounds at the Refuge Gateway.  Several units are open for seasonal hunting.

 

John Dingell’s conservation ethic stemmed from his childhood, hunting and fishing with his father.  That legacy also lives on in the many laws he sponsored during his time as the nation’s longest serving member of Congress:   the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Water Quality Act of 1965, the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969, the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and the Clean Air Act of 1990 and its many amendments.  To mark the 40^th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, he wrote, “Our country was the first to say that only natural extinction is part of natural order; extinction caused by human neglect and interference is not.”  

An additional conservation bill, the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, was proposed by Senators Lisa Murkowski and Maria Cantwell and named in honor of Congressman Dingell shortly after his death.  It is an omnibus lands act that protected public lands and modified management provisions. The bill designated more than 1,300,000 acres of wilderness area, expanded several national parks and other areas of the National Park System, and established four new national monuments while redesignating others. Other provisions included making the Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent, protecting a number of rivers and historic sites, and withdrawing land near Yellowstone National Park and North Cascades National Park from mining.  The bill was signed into law by President Trump on March 12, 2019.  

This listing of environmental laws doesn’t even touch on Congressman Dingell’s other legislative accomplishments, in social programs and civil rights.  Like his father, John Jr. introduced a bill to create a national health insurance system at the beginning of every Congress until he retired.  He viewed the Medicare Act and the Affordable Care Act as among the highlights of his career.  He voted in support of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Some background:  John Dingell Jr. was born in Colorado Springs in 1926, lived in Michigan, and then went to Washington DC in 1932 after his father, John Dingell Sr., was elected to the US House of Representatives from Michigan’s new 15^th District.  He attended primary school in DC, and also the House Page School, where he served as a page from 1938 to 1943.  He was on the floor of the House on Dec. 7, 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his famous speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  At age 18 he joined the US Army and as a second lieutenant he received orders to be part of a planned invasion of Japan in November 1945.  Those orders became moot when the US dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ended the war.

Mr. Dingell then attended college, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1949 and a law degree in 1952.  In a few short years, he worked as a lawyer in private practice, a research assistant to a US District Court Judge, a congressional employee, a forest ranger, and an assistant prosecuting attorney in Wayne County.  In 1955, John Sr. died and John Jr. ran in a special election to succeed him and won.  He won a full term in 1956 and was re-elected 29 times until his retirement in 2015, including twice with no Republican opponent.  On the eve of his retirement, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.  After his retirement, John Dingell Jr. was succeeded by his wife, Debbie Dingell, who is the current congressional representative of Michigan’s 6^th District.