1. Benton MacKaye was an American forester, planner and conservationist.
15 Facts About Benton MacKaye
1. 2.
Benton MacKaye was born in Stamford, Connecticut; his father was actor and dramatist Steele MacKaye.
3.
Benton MacKaye held positions in the US Forest Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the US Department of Labor; he was a member of the Technical Alliance where he participated in the Energy Survey of North America.
4.
Benton MacKaye helped pioneer the idea of land preservation for recreation and conservation purposes and was a strong advocate of balancing human needs and those of nature; he coined the term "geotechnics" to describe this philosophy.
5.
Emile Benton MacKaye was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 6,1879, to actor and dramatist Steele MacKaye and his wife Mary.
6.
Benton MacKaye was the sixth of seven children born to the couple.
7.
Benton MacKaye's siblings were Arthur Loring MacKaye, Harold Steele, William Payson, James Medbery, Percy, and Hazel.
8.
Benton MacKaye's name was derived from his paternal grandmother, Emily Benton MacKaye Steele.
9.
Eight-year-old Benton MacKaye was enamored with the beauty and freedom of the country, proclaiming he enjoyed it far more than urban existence.
10.
Shortly after William died of a sudden respiratory disease in 1889, the family moved to Washington, DC An indifferent student, Benton MacKaye once described school as "a place that boys like to run away from".
11.
Benton MacKaye befriended assistant curator James Benedict and attended lectures given by Civil War hero John Wesley Powell and arctic explorer Robert Peary.
12.
When he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1905, Benton MacKaye was still unsure what career he should embark upon.
13.
Benton MacKaye made some important contributions during the early years of national forestry.
14.
Benton MacKaye married the suffragist Jessie Belle Hardy Stubbs in 1915.
15.
Benton MacKaye hoped to spark a "back to the land" movement to relieve the ills of urban industrial life.