RALPH HILL PAPERS

The Ralph Hill Papers are comprised of items from the years of 1947-1964. Correspondence, reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes by Hill, and maps are all included in this collection. Hill wrote a monthly column for Outdoor America in the 1950s and 1960s, and both draft and published forms of this column are included in Series 3 of this collection.

The items that make up this collection provide insight into both the professional and volunteer activities undertaken by Ralph Hill during his nearly forty years of service to natural resource conservation. The many committees he participated in for the state of Colorado and his involvement with the Izaak Walton League of America, Front Range Chapter are recorded in the various letters, reports, and meeting minutes. His varied research interests and writing projects can be seen in the drafts, correspondence, research material, and reports complied by Hill. The respect of the conservation community as a whole was demonstrated in the nomination materials for the 1971 American Motors Conservation Award, and the press release summarizing his accomplishments. The Ralph Hill Papers do not deal directly with his employment with the United State Forest Service, but do shed light on Hill’s devotion to natural resource conservation, and especially his interest in the resources of the state of Colorado.

Correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, membership lists, notices, and legislation from the various committees and organizations that Hill was a member of are included in this series. These items originate from Hill’s participation in the Public Land Law Review Commission, the Predatory Animal Control Study Committee, the Colorado Game, Fish, and Parks Commission, the Colorado Legislative Council-Committee on Game, Fish and Parks, and the Izaak Walton League of America’s Front Range Chapter.

Hill pursued research on two main subjects up to and including his retirement. The dispute over grazing fees for use of federal lands and legislation affecting Colorado wildlife and wilderness were his major research interests. Correspondence, proposed legislation, newspaper clippings, statements, reports, and voting projections are all included in this series.

Throughout his career, Hill wrote articles and a column dealing with land and wildlife conservation issues. Drafts and the published versions of his column Some Folks Say, written under the pseudonym Eastan West, are included in this series. Also included is correspondence regarding articles by Hill. Drafts of topical papers cover the Black Hills Ponderosa Pine, beaver management, and federal jurisdiction over wildlife. A draft of Forestry Handbook by Hill completes the series.

Hill gathered information on conservation topics outside of his official capacity with the USFS and his later work with various organizations. Correspondence, notes, press releases, photos, reports, and newsletters are all included in this series. Some of the topics discussed are; Colorado water quality, sagebrush, the concept of multiple use of public lands, the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association, the Forbes-Trinchera Ranch, and Hill’s nomination and receipt of the 1971 American Motors Conservation Award.

In 1964, Hill wrote an article entitled Key to Identification of Rocky Mountain Shrubs by Characteristic of the Wood and Bark. Copies of this article were available for sale, and were advertised in several conservation publications. Correspondence, drafts of the article, and the wood samples gathered as research are all included in this series.