Manuscripts
Governmental
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Environmental
Manuscripts
This series (Boxes 1-63) contains materials gathered by Frank Wheat for his book, California Desert Miracle, chronicling the history of the California Desert Protection Act as well as materials from many environmental organizations on a wide assortment of environmental subjects beyond the realm of the book. The Government Series is divided into three sub-series: Environmental Activities, Non- environmental Activities and the Legal Profession. The Environmental and Non- Environmental sub-series break down into segments focused upon federal and state governments. Materials related to various executive departments are followed by correspondence with state and federal legislators and finally by files related to specific legislation. The Legal Profession section is divided into Organizations, Overview and Professional Engagements. The Overview portion consists primarily of forms and examples of legal documents. "Professional Engagements" includes documents concerning seminars, conferences and meetings where a topic of interest is featured, usually in the form of an address or speech by Wheat. All are arranged alphabetically by topic, organization or format. Organizations are arranged alphabetically by title.
mssWheat papers
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Non-Environmental: Federal
Manuscripts
This subseries documents issues outside the scope of environmental matters, highlighted by Wheat's tenure as SEC commissioner as well as the struggle for campaign finance reform. The structure echoes the Environmental portion of the series, opening with files about executive departments and agencies (including SEC) followed by a Legislative section. From FW Box 91, Folder 4 through Box 93, for instance, the collection contains numerous speeches and related materials by Wheat which are arranged chronologically (by the date of the speech or event) within each venue, organization or institution. Thereafter, the collection tracks Wheat's forays into international securities during and after his SEC tenure. FW Boxes 94 and 95 (and the first folder in 96) are arranged alphabetically by country: Great Britain (London), Mexico, and South America (Argentina, Brazil) and also contain speeches and related materials. The remaining folders in FW Box 96 begin the legislative section of this sub-series. The first folder contains miscellaneous materials such as congressional directories, district profiles, followed by correspondence with representatives (arranged alphabetically), an excerpt from the Congressional Index that offers biographies on certain House and Senate members, directory listings for various House committee and sub-committee members, and Wheat's testimony on "Hostile Takeovers and Their Effects" before the Senate Banking Committee. These materials conclude with FW Box 97, folder 7. Various other resolutions and bills follow and then the last four folders discuss Federal campaign finance reform activities.
mssWheat papers
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Legal Profession
Manuscripts
This subseries is composed of Legal Organizations, a general Overview of legal documents, and Professional Engagements. Records documenting legal organizations of interest to Wheat are arranged alphabetically (Boxes 109-115). Highlights include the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Center for Law in the Public Interest (CLIPI). Materials related to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Wheat's law firm for many years, are located in eight folders within Box 114. The Los Angeles County Bar Association is represented in the first seven folders of Box 115. The Overview section (Boxes 116-117, folder 1) consists of many different documents, primarily examples of legal forms and articles about the profession, arranged alphabetically by format: Agreements (assorted) Articles Cases Corporation Guidelines Employee, forms - various Ethics policies Incorporation forms Lease Agreement examples Note agreement examples Personnel/Resumes Securities Regulations Professional Engagements (Boxes 117-123): Wheat's participation in various conferences and seminars often involved a speech by Wheat; thus the arrangement is alphabetical by subject of the speech or the subject parameters outlined by the conference materials. In dense areas such as "accounting," the folders are also arranged chronologically.
mssWheat papers
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Background/Issues
Manuscripts
Wheat researched many topics related to the environment, some of which were detailed in California Desert Miracle and others of which are included in the next 18 boxes. The mining section in this sub-series can be found in Boxes 52-61 and is broadly divided into three sections: General Research, Legal Resources, and the Imperial Project. Information regarding mining regulations, including the 1872 Mining Laws, can be found within the BLM section, Boxes 68-69, and mining legislative materials can be found in FW Boxes 84-85 (plus 2 folders in Box 86). The General Research section (Box 52) contains background information for mining law reform, beginning with publications on mining regulations such as excerpts from the Federal Register and U.S. Code, followed by materials addressing more specific topics such as reclamation, cyanide heap leaching, articles with related correspondence and notes, Mineral Policy Center correspondence, newsletters and reports that discuss primarily mine waste dumps on public lands. The General Research section is followed by Legal Resources which is alphabetically arranged by format: Articles, Correspondence, Court cases, and IBLA (Interior Board of Land Appeals, Department of the Interior) cases. The final section focuses upon the Imperial Project (aka Glamis Mine in Imperial County, California) which was the highlight of Wheat's pursuit to reform the Mining Laws of 1872. It also encompasses research regarding other mines in addition, which are listed alphabetically by mine at the beginning of the Imperial section. The arrangement reflects Wheat's, with the exception of the extensive correspondence previously housed in one folder and now divided into several. Within these folders, general correspondence is at the forefront, followed by separate folders of correspondence with individual recipients (such as Garamendi, Harmon, Flynn). Subsequent folders include Memos and Notes regarding the steps of the CEQA processes, such as the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement), public comments and feedback, Final Environmental Impact Reports and then Wheat's research for possible litigation.
mssWheat papers
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Environmental: Federal
Manuscripts
The highlight of the Governmental Series is those files related to the activities of the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the federal government's Department of the Interior (FW Boxes 64-70). They include documents regarding mining regulations (43 CFR 3809) as well as administrative materials, proposed legislation, BLM programs and issues related to the preservation of the California desert such as designated wilderness areas (WSAs), the FLPMA (Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976) and a California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA).BLM folders are arranged alphabetically by topic and in some areas, chronologically as well. Following the BLM, there are folders featuring the Government Accounting Office (GAO) with a report on hard rock mining damage. The next section of folders, the Legislative branch, contains correspondence with various Federal legislators including Anthony Beilenson, Alan Cranston and Dianne Feinstein to Bruce Vento, Timothy Wirth and Pete Wilson. The highlight of the legislative materials, of course, is the evolution of the California Desert Protection Act (FW Boxes 72-83). This section is divided into Early Efforts, Activism and Chronology of Bills. Early Efforts includes pivotal documents and early legislative efforts to protect the California desert. Activism contains Wheat's categories alphabetized by format or subject: Analysis, Arguments (pro & con), Background – "basic data," Contacts, Congressional districts, Hearings, Interim Management Policy (IMP), Lobbying (trips), Miscellaneous and Polls. The next six boxes (83 to 88) contain files dealing with environmental legislation arranged alphabetically by the following topics: Endangered Species, Forest, Grazing, Mining (for example, SMARA -- the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975), Wilderness Acts and Wilderness Studies Areas (WSAs).
mssWheat papers
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Frank Wheat Papers
Manuscripts
Personal and professional papers of Frank Wheat, with particular emphasis on his political activism and philanthropy. The papers cover his effort for the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA); the work on his California Desert Miracle, The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness (1999), and other environmental issues, particularly including mining's effect on the environment; the Alliance for Children's Rights, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Human Rights Watch and his involvement with Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. The collection also contains information on Wheat's legal career, including his presidency of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, his tenure as an SEC Commissioner, his expertise in securities and corporate law, and his involvement with the California Citizens Budget Commission and California Commission on Campaign Financing. The dream of comprehensive legislation to protect California's desert and its resources was kept alive during the 1980s and 1990s by a congregation of volunteers and their representatives. After twenty years of effort, climaxing with a filibuster in the United States Senate broken by a single vote, a bill that had seen many manifestations was finally enacted in October of 1994, the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA). That is the story of California Desert Miracle, The Fight for Desert Parks and Wilderness, the book Frank Wheat wrote about fostering the act into law. As a result of CDPA's enactment, approximately 7.7 million acres of Federal lands were designated wilderness and roughly three million acres were added to the National Park system, including lands adjacent to the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Monuments (designated as National Parks), plus the establishment of Mojave National Preserve. This amounted to roughly one-quarter of the state of California and made Death Valley National Park the largest such park in the lower 48 states. Beyond the parameters of the California Desert Protection Act, Wheat investigated many environmental issues. Foremost among these would be mining, which can be found in several areas of the collection. Mining's effect on the environment, particularly the desert – the irreversible damage from open pit mines - is reflected in documents on the cyanide heap leaching process for mining gold. Other documents discuss the Bureau of Land Management's position on reclamation measures versus the obligation to foster mining as part of its "multiple use" policy. Of an even greater concern was reform of the U.S. Mining Laws of 1872 (43 CFR 3809). These regulations allow anyone to claim hard- rock minerals on public land, file a plan of operations, and remove valuable minerals without paying a cent to taxpayers; Wheat felt they needed to be substantially revised. In consideration of that reform, he investigated the Glamis Mine in Imperial County, California, for possible litigation purposes. So while Wheat focused his efforts on getting the CDPA enacted, he juggled other important causes. While the collection's main focus is represented in 25 boxes of documentation regarding the Desert Bill crusade, it also includes rich resources about a plethora of environmental organizations, such as the California Desert Protection League – an amalgam of various organizations including several Sierra Club chapters, the Wilderness Society, Desert Survivors, several Audubon chapters and the Izaak Walton League. The spectrum of public interest law not only covers the environment, but the social problems addressed by such organizations as the Alliance for Children's Rights, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and Human Rights Watch, all represented in the Wheat Papers, along with those funding this important work, like the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. Frank Wheat's penchant for organizations extended to those reflecting his professional life. Foremost among them would be the Los Angeles County Bar Association, which he served as president and who honored him with its Shattuck Price Award in 1985. Due to his expertise in securities and corporate law, Wheat was associated with even more organizations that offered forums and professional engagements for Wheat as a speaker, and drafts of those speeches are found in abundance. Topics include accounting standards and practices, disclosure, regulations, hostile take-overs, accountant-client privilege statutes, tender offers and Arthur Young & Co. Wheat's experience as an SEC commissioner was a considerable attraction for many organizations seeking insight into government regulations and procedures. It also afforded Wheat an insider's perspective on the way our government works, undoubtedly useful when he became involved with the California Citizens Budget Commission and California Commission on Campaign Financing. These volunteer, blue-ribbon groups of business, legal, education and labor leaders produced comprehensive studies on the state's most critical problems, offering recommendations and solutions, some of which resulted in initiatives (Propositions 68 and 208). Wheat's papers about these efforts and the many manifestations of the Desert Bill lend considerable weight to the federal and state legislative portions of the collection. In addition to his work on these commissions, Wheat's activism prompted him to write scores of letters to his representatives and to pivotal players in the government. Some were form letters used in specific campaigns and others more personal in their approach. In Wheat's push for the California Desert Protection Act, frequent correspondents were Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Congressman Mel Levine (D-CA), Senator and later Governor Pete Wilson (R-CA), Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Assistant Secretary of the Interior John Garamendi, BLM Director Ed Hastey, Senator Dale L. Bumpers (D-AR), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Environmental activists such as Deborah S. Reames, Elden Hughes, Jim Dodson, Judy Anderson, Norbert Riedy, Jr., political reformers such as Tracy Westen and Robert M. Stern, and other prominent individuals such as former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and writer Neil Morgan appear repeatedly in these files. Correspondence is certainly the predominant format of the collection (letters, memos, e- mails), along with versions of his many speeches (handwritten and typescript), transcripts of testimonies from Wheat and others before various governmental committees, promotional materials and press releases from many organizations, manuscripts and notes, reports, publications (books, pamphlets, periodicals, legislative bills, CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] reports), articles and excerpts from magazines, newspapers and newsletters, a few photographs and many maps, particularly of the California desert and surrounding areas.
mssWheat papers