Grand Old Partisan honors Verplanck Colvin, born in Albany, January 4th 1847. Educated professionally as a real estate lawyer, he studied geology on his own. Age twenty-three, he garnered national renown with denunciations of ecological devastation in the Adirondack Mountains. This was followed by a series of exploratory surveys.
In 1873, the GOP-controlled legislature named him Superintendent of the Adirondack Survey. He and his team discovered the source of the Hudson River and measured the height of the state’s highest mountain. Colvin recommended safeguarding the entire region as a forest reserve.
The Republican Governor appointed him delegate to the first American Forestry Congress. The legislature upgraded Colvin’s position to New York State land survey superintendent. In 1885, the legislature declared that both the Adirondacks and the Catskills should "be forever kept as wild forest lands."
In 1891, Colvin was the Republican nominee for state engineer and surveyor.
Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aB4I-EdPMrM
Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.
Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far.
He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.
Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.
See www.youtube.com/q?v=IzxKCiXc5Qc for a brief video of a Texas Republican praising Back to Basics for the Republican Party.
"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"
"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."
and
"one of the best books I ever read"
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