Darwin Lambert

Lambert was a native of the Great Basin. He was born in Kamas, Utah, in 1916 into a family of nine children. He developed life-long respect for nature, coining the term earthmanship, a concept where humans must learn to live in harmony with it.

At the age of 20 he moved to Virginia, where he became the first employee of the National Park Service at the newly created Shenandoah National Park. Later served on the board of National Parks and Conservation Assoc. governing 1958-83.

He organized the Shenandoah Nature Society, wrote the park’s first guidebook, and published a magazine on the region’s natural and human history for six years. He published “Beautiful Shenandoah” in 1937 and guidebooks to the park in 1947 and 1954.

In 1956 he became the editor of The (Ely) Daily Times. He also was president of the Great Basin National Park Association, pushing for establishing that park in eastern Nevada. He continued this effort until, in 1986, Congress established Great Basin National Park.

In the late ’60s, his work took him to an old log house he had owned since the 1940s, on the west side of Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. There he published a novel, a book putting forth earthmanship, well-researched histories of President Hoover’s camp on the Rapidan River and histories of Shenandoah National Park and Great Basin National Park, along with articles in national scientific and conservation magazines and the Reader’s Digest.

At the age of 75, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He kept the disease at bay for 16 productive years until his death on February 11, 2007.

The Editor Speaks

Editorials are meant to start cracks in the opaque veil that hides the light, cracks that can be worked at and enlarged by the people until ultimately the veil is gone from the truth.

Earth Sweet Earth

Darwin Lambert’s autobiography: A lifelong odyssey toward Earthmanship, his word for the process of cooperating with Nature in order to achieve his goals of happiness and a healthy and sustainable Earth.