Allen T. Edmunds (1902-1985) received the national level Pugsley Medal in 1961. He was a native of Michigan, and a 1924 graduate of Michigan State University where he was a varsity football player. After receiving his degree, he devoted the greater portion of his career to conservation work in the field of parks and recreation planning. From 1928 to 1936, he served as superintendent of parks and recreation in Amsterdam, New York, during which time the groundwork was laid for a sound municipal park system, and a well-rounded recreation program was initiated.
In June 1936 Congress passed legislation to launch park planning, studies in each state, with the NPS providing field representatives to liaise with the state boards. Edmonds work in Amsterdam had received widespread recognition, so he was offered a six month appointment as one of those new representatives, based in Jackson, Mississippi. He received a six month leave of absence from the city and accepted the position. This proved to be the beginning of a 40 year career in the NPS. The production of state planning reports took much longer then six months, so Edmunds was asked to remain in the NPS on a permanent basis. He cooperated with and assisted other federal agencies and state and county agencies throughout the southern and eastern part of the United States in planning and development of park systems, and assisted in the evaluation and selection of new areas for additions to the various systems.
In 1941, a study of the Cumberland and Tennessee River Basin was authorized and Edmunds was selected to direct it. With the on-set of World War II, Edmonds joined the US Navy attaining the rank of commander while specializing in organizing recreation and welfare programs for the servicemen.
Upon his return to the NPS in 1945, he was persuaded by the NPS regional director in Richmond to join their office. From this base, he led the important study of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast shoreline. The study was undertaken “to identify the major remaining opportunities for conservation of natural resources, seashores or coastal areas for recreational or other purposes.” It involved inventorying over 3,100 miles of shoreline from Canada to Mexico. It was achieved by linking with the US Coast Guard whose helicopter pilots agreed to incorporate it into their regular flight training programs. The report was entitled “Our Vanishing Shoreline” and received wide visibility when it was published in 1955.
This study pointed out the rapidity with which the natural features and attributes of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts were being engulfed by the expansion of urban areas, industry and commercial developments. Action on the report came almost immediately and resulted in the acquisition of Cape Cod National Seashore (NS), Fire Island NS, Assatsague Island NS, Padre Island NS, Outer Banks Island NS, and Cumberland Island NS. In addition, many of the areas proposed for state acquisition were acquired by the states. The results pointed up the urgency for undertaking an urgent review of the other shorelines both coastal and inland, and thus studies were authorized for the Pacific Coast Shoreline and the entire United States portion of the Great Lakes shores from the St. Lawrence River to the Canadian border on Lake Superior in Minnesota.
After completion of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast coastline study, Edmunds moved to Philadelphia in 1955 as regional chief, Division of Recreation Resource Planning in the Region Five Office of the NPS. In this position, he guided the Great Lakes Study, which was carried out from 1957 to 1959. The popular version of this study was entitled Our Fourth Shore, while the comprehensive technical version’s title was Remaining Shoreline Opportunities in the Great Lakes States. There reports were published in 1960. This study identified 66 individual areas, which were recommended worthy of preservation in their unspoiled state for public benefit. Five of these were found to possess outstanding features worthy of national park status. Sleeping Bear, Pictured Rocks and the Huron Mountains in Michigan, the Indian Dunes in Indiana, and the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. In the next decade four of them became part of the NPS system, while Huron Mountains was set aside as a Natural Reserve under Michigan law.
To facilitate enaction of these recommendations into law, Edmunds became associate regional director of the Philadelphia region, but with field responsibility for the areas of the Great Lake States. This entailed establishing a NPS Great Lakes office in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1967. From this position, he nurtured the new parks to fruition. His efforts were recognized in 1966 when he received the Distinguished Service Medal of the Department of the Interior. Edmunds announced his intention to retire in December 1968 when he would reach 65. However, his knowledge was so critical to these projects the NPS director George Hartzog persuaded him to take retired annuitant status for a short period. This extended for another seven years during which his official NPS title was special assistant to the regional director with a brief to “perform wherever and whenever you believe necessary to the betterment of the National Park Service.” Edmunds remained in this position until 1976 when he concluded, “it was exciting, interesting, but also tiring, so when I found myself waiting long hours in the O’Hare airport in Chicago for the umpteenth time, I decided to it was time to draw a close a very pleasant and fascinating career with the NPS.
In his private memoir, Edmunds wrote:
“In 1961 I was nominated for and received the Cornelius Amory Pugsley Gold Medal Award for being the outstanding conversationalist of that year. This was presented to me by Alexander Hamilton III at the historic Federal Hall in New York City. I was very proud and highly honored to have received this magnificent recognition, and fully aware that it was an honor to be shared by the excellent staff which had played such a big part in our accomplishments.”