Ask any of the staff at the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) about George Duffy, and the response is always full of enthusiasm. George, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee, walked into the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance office in Albuquerque one day, and asked to be put to work. Bringing with him decades of experience, he was soon advising staff, sharing his broad knowledge of wilderness issues, and providing inspiration.
Growing up on a subsistence farm in upstate New York, George was exposed to public lands from his youth. The farm had many acres of wild land, which “put me close to the natural world,” he says. “My walls were covered with photos of wildlife and landscapes cut out from magazines.” This early interest in America’s wild places would shape the rest of George’s career, and would eventually take him from the rolling farmland of New York State to the colorful deserts, wild grasslands, and rocky mountains of New Mexico.
In many ways, great thinkers inspired George’s devotion to the outdoors. During his years at Pitzer College in California, “my sense of wilderness and its role in human well-being was confirmed and expanded through studies with Paul Shepard, John Rodman and Carl Hertel.” George describes Paul Shepard as “perhaps our most brilliant thinker about human ecology, who will forever provoke inquiry into the role wilderness has in shaping the human experience.” It was during his years at college that George “began examining public policy actions by federal, state and local land management agencies and offering my opinions and ideas regarding land use and wilderness management issues.” These early impressions would go on to influence the way George engages with wild lands. “I believe that there is value in every part of this mysterious universe and that we humans need to understand ourselves as part of it,” he says.
During his tenure with the U.S. Forest Service, George was immersed in wilderness management issues; he served on his regional Wilderness Excellence Team, and on the Chief’s National Wilderness Advisory Group. “I felt that my experience and associations with people in the wilderness community were assets which would allow me to continue working on behalf of wilderness.” After his retirement from the Forest Service, George walked into the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance office, and got straight to work.
At NMWA, George has been involved in a wide array of issues and projects. He is working with Special Events Coordinator Craig Chapman to develop a wilderness awareness curriculum to present in continuing education venues. He is also helping the staff keep abreast of “issues such as mechanized equipment use, vegetation modification, trail construction, grazing guidelines, and visitor management. They all require monitoring,” he explains, “ and I am working my way through them.”
Perhaps his most important role with the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is as unofficial mentor. Stephen Capra, the group’s Executive Director, has high praise for George Duffy. “For me, the most important quality George brings is in working with my young staff and pushing their concepts about wilderness and trying everyday to make sure the protection of the land and the wildlife that calls it home remains our first priority. He does this with warmth, conviction, and it clearly comes from the heart.”
George is a constant inspiration to the staff, as well as a font of wisdom and a skilled advisor, but he’s the last who would say that about himself. “I enjoy being among people who are eager to do their best and do it with great humility. That is the hallmark of NMWA.” George’s years of experience are an incredible asset to those around him. “It begins with his determined spirit, to protect all things wild,” says Capra. “His knowledge on wilderness comes from a career working with the National Forests, so he can speak with authority on all issues related to wilderness management.”
Over a lifetime dedicated to wilderness management and preservation, George has not lost his passion for doing this work. Being in the center of wilderness “fixes me in a position of total immersion in the elemental processes of life which are fully available to me if I have the courage to open myself to them,” he remarks. “It gives me the sense that the totality of the wilderness - the topography, weather, plants, animals, and spirits are the true agents of life on earth and I come to understand my human-ness as a simple bipedal hominid.”
“George represents the best qualities of protecting wilderness,” says Capra. From his years in the Forest Service to his continued dedication to preserving wilderness as a volunteer with the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, George Duffy shows that one person can make a lifelong difference in the campaign to protect our natural treasures for those generations who will come after us.
