Walter C. Lowdermilk
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Walter Clay Lowdermilk (July 1, 1888 – May 6, 1974) was an American
soil conservation Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topmost layer of the soil from erosion or prevention of reduced fertility caused by over usage, Soil acidification, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination Slash-and-b ...
ist who worked in countries throughout the world to help protect and reclaim lands in order to better feed their population. Lowdermilk worked with the Belgian Relief Effort (B.R.E., active 1914–1916 in Belgium and France) after World War I, in China in the 1920s to help avert famine, with the Soil Conservation Service, in fascist Italy in the 1930s, in the United States, and in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
planning land and water use. In the latter he was impressed by the advanced techniques that the
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
settlers, and later the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, took to develop water efficient
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
and
land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...
. A 1944 outline of local water development became known as the "Lowdermilk plan" and was of importance for the later National Water Carrier of Israel.


Education and career

Walter Clay Lowdermilk was named a
Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...
in 1911, attending
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
after his undergraduate education at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
. He married Inez Marks in August 1922. They had two children: Winifred Esther Lowdermilk (married Wilmot N. Hess) and William Francis Lowdermilk (deceased) . Lowdermilk received his PhD from the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
in 1929. He served in World War I as an engineer and in the Belgian Relief Commission (1917–1918). He was active as a
Flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...
engineer and scientist in China and was Assistant Chief of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture. He served as a President of the
American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...
(1941–1944).


Positions and style

Lowdermilk's assumptions about soil conservation had a strong focus on cultural background. He was a conservationist influenced by
George Perkins Marsh George Perkins Marsh (March 15, 1801July 23, 1882), an American diplomat and philologist, is considered by some to be America's first environmentalist and by recognizing the irreversible impact of man's actions on the earth, a precursor to the s ...
.Earth Repair: A Transatlantic History of Environmental Restoration, Marcus Hall University of Virginia Press, 2005 His public speeches and popular books contained various allegation to religious and historical evidence and legends. Compare: "Thou shalt inherit the holy earth as a faithful steward conserving its resources and productivity from generation to generation. Thou shalt safeguard thy fields from soil erosion, thy living waters from drying up, thy forests from desolation, and protect thy hills from overgrazing by the herds, that thy descendants may have abundance forever. If any shall fail in this stewardship of the land, thy fruitful fields shall become sterile stony ground or wasting gullies, and thy descendants shall decrease and live in poverty or perish from off the face of the earth. ''The Eleventh Commandment'' written and broadcast over the radio by Dr. Lowdermilk in Jerusalem during June 1939 was dedicated to the Palestinian Jewish villages whose good stewardship of the earth inspired this idea." '' Palestine, Land of Promise'' (1944) is one of his books. One of his pamphlets, ''Conquest of the Land Through Seven Thousand Years'', was copied in the millions. He was quite positive about the Italian (fascist) land reclamation projects in the
Pontine Marshes 250px, Lake Fogliano, a coastal lagoon in the Pontine Plain The Pontine Marshes ( , ; , formerly also ; [] by Titus Livius, [] and [] by Pliny the Elder''Natural History'' 3.59.) is an approximately quadrangular area of former marshland ...
in Italy, which was, in the early stages of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
and before Italy–United States relations degraded, rather common for especially democratic leaning Americans. In 1940 he provided a rather critical review of the White Paper of 1939. He cited the dire fate of mostly Christian Assyrians in Iraq (compare Iraq Levies) after the British left the former mandate. Lowdermilk assumed, that the Jews in the then Palestine Mandate region 'would be massacred' similarly by Muslims, if left as a minority. Lowdermilk and his wife Inez, themselves gentiles, supported the Zionist cause and Jewish settlements in Palestine. He was quite optimistic about the absorptive capacity of the region for enhanced settlements. A water development project outlined by him became later known as the "Lowdermilk plan" The Plan was recommended by the United States in 1944 and is still of importance for the later National Water Carrier of Israel. Parts of it, as the use of the
Litani River The Litani River (), the classical Leontes (), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding in length, the ...
to irrigate the
Negev desert The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...
have been controversial. As early as 1946 the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
presbytery in Jerusalem submitted a memorandum against the plan, as they feared it would spoil the sanctity of the
Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...
. The suggestion of refilling the Dead Sea through a Mediterranean–Dead Sea Canal was based on earlier approaches and is still of importance.


Honors

Lowdermilk Department of Agricultural Engineering at Technion University in Israel is named in his honor, "the world-renowned American expert on soil conservation, who supported the development of the State of Israel, and guided and inspired this Department from its first days." He was
Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the American Geophysical Union, 1962.


References


Further reading

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External links


Walter Lowdermilk's Journey: Forester to Land Conservationist



A centennial profile: Walter Clay Lowdermilk
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowdermilk, Walter C. 1888 births 1974 deaths American conservationists American Rhodes Scholars Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Palestinologists