Passion to Preserve

Drawing inspiration from Thoreau’s prose, Don and Sharon Henley fight to protect endangered land

by Elizabeth Bleiberg

 
Don and Sharon Henley sit before a simple window, open to the leaves and gentle breezes. Each speaks about the other, about philanthropy, and about the environmental work prompted by Don’s life-long love of nature. It is a conversation we are invited to overhear, and perhaps to join as contributors to the environmental/educational mission they are undertaking.

Interviewed separately, both Don and Sharon use the same word to sum up the experience of giving, of preserving, and of making the world a better place: “It’s about passion – passion for building community – at both the local and global levels,” Don says. “It is a passion for issues,” Sharon echoes independently.

Don Henley, a founding member of the Eagles rock group and six-time Grammy winner, was the only child born to hardworking parents in Linden, a small town in East Texas. “I grew up outdoors,” Henley recalls. He worked with his father in their garden, spent endless days outside under cloudless blue skies, and learned to appreciate and respect native Texas plants and animals.

Henley drew on the three major influences of his youth to become a philanthropist with a conservationist attitude: first, he learned to love nature. Second, he learned to love language, both the language of the outdoors and the cadences of poetry and literature as an English major at Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of North Texas. Last, and perhaps most important, he learned from his family the habit of giving. Back then, he remembers, philanthropy was just “being neighborly.”

The Walden Woods Project is Henley’s passion. Echoes of the 19th-century naturalist Henry David Thoreau resound in Henley’s 21st-century efforts. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” The quotation is from Thoreau; the life experience could be Henley’s, too.

“Every town has its own Walden,” Henley believes. In each community, he says that thoughtful people should ask themselves, “What can I do to make my home a better place now and for future generations?” Sharon Henley enjoys involving their three children in their preservation-based activity. “I am extremely proud of and excited about what Don has done for the environment and for his hometown,” Sharon says. “I think my husband is a role model. Other people look at him as a philanthropist – he spends more time on philanthropic work than he does on his music! It’s not work, really – it’s beyond passion. It’s so terribly important for him.”

When Henley’s father was stricken with heart and arterial disease in the late 1960’s, Henley dropped out of college and went home to be at his father’s side. He also returned to the literature of nature that he had studied both in high school and at college. “I was disturbed by my father’s illness,” Henley says. “I was asking a lot of the big questions because my father was really suffering, and he was only in his early ‘60s. For comfort, Henley turned to the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Today, according to Henley, “Nature is a part of my spiritual life. When I see nature, I see a divinity that sustains my heart and soul. Nature is a divine force in the universe.”

“I became an activist somewhere in the ‘70s,” he continues. “That was part and parcel of being in a band back then. The activism of some of my peers, including Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bonnie Raitt, was a big influence on me.” Henley’s first benefit concert was for the Chumash Indians, a tribe native to Southern California. Gradually, he became more involved in the environmental issues the tribe represented, all the while attracting increasing numbers of people to the cause.

Henley’s studies in American literature had introduced him to Henry David Thoreau, the author, naturalist, and essayist who withdrew from 19th-century Concord, Massachusetts society, and built a cabin on Walden Pond. Thoreau thought, lived, and wrote in Walden Woods on the shore of Walden Pond for two years, two months, and two days: July 4, 1845 until September 6, 1847. A cable news report in early 1990 made Henley aware that historic areas surrounding Walden Pond were being slated for development. Shortly thereafter, Henley traveled to Concord to assess the situation. This journey resulted in his founding of the Walden Woods Project, which began its mission by purchasing and preserving land around Walden Pond threatened by inappropriate development. The work of the Walden Woods Project has inspired people all over the world to undertake their own acts of conservation.

Like Thoreau, Henley prefers a solo course. “I’m an only child, and it’s been said that only children can be selfish. Actually, I have an abiding sense of awe and curiosity about the world – and I care deeply about the future of it. I don’t put a lot of thought into whether or not I am a role model for other people’s actions. My parents taught me that if something needed doing, you get up and do it.” “I’ve had a great deal of help with the Walden Woods Project, not only from friends and colleagues, but from people I hardly know,” Henley continues. “I do not like to ask for help and I really have an aversion to asking for money. I wish I had the resources to do all that I want to do – to do everything that needs doing.” Yet he is quick to acknowledge that the role he wants to play in preserving the earth is too large for one person alone to accomplish. Henley has befriended, informed, inspired and learned from many other people who have joined him in this critically important work.

Henley’s first proactive efforts on behalf of the environment started in 1982 with the establishment of Mulholland Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting habitat, open space, and scenic view sheds in the Santa Monica Mountains and foothills near Los Angeles. Mulholland Drive, a 40-plus-mile road that snakes along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, was designated as America’s first “Scenic Parkway” by Lady Bird Johnson in 1962.

Nature and the Henleys came into close contact at their home in Southern California in February of 1994. The infamous “Northridge quake” struck in the 4 a.m. darkness, claiming their house and belongings. Shortly thereafter, Don and Sharon made the decision to move back to familiar and more stable territory. A home in Dallas made it possible for Don to better oversee the Caddo Lake Institute and the Caddo Lake Scholars Program, which he had established in 1992.

Henley’s Caddo Lake Institute provides technical support for local wetland conservation in East Texas. It also monitors wetland conditions and plans to open a Wetlands Science and Visitors Center at the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which Henley helped to establish in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. This Wetlands Science Center will provide educational opportunities for people of all ages who wish to learn more about the Caddo Lake ecosystem as well as wetland systems throughout the world. Caddo Lake, a 30,000-acre Bald Cypress Savannah ecosystem, straddles the border between Northeast Texas and Northwestern Louisiana. It is an extraordinary natural area where Henley boated and fished as a child. It remains precious to him, and he wants to impart its value to other Texans who might look first at development, second at environment. “Caddo Lake, like so many other ecosystems around the world, is in trouble. The health of Caddo’s intricate system of wetlands is in jeopardy. We, as humans, need to reformulate our definition of ‘community,’ to include all of the natural world rather than just humankind. We need to focus on the small details in order to gain perspective on the bigger picture. Our natural resources, besides having enormous recreational and spiritual value, form the basis of our entire economy. The exploitation of those resources is key to our standard of living, but we’re not doing it wisely. We are using up our natural capital, especially water, faster than nature can replace it. This is why we emphasize the concept of sustainability at the Caddo Lake Institute.”

“It helps if your parents give you a background in giving,” explains Sharon Henley. “Good parenting is a must. You learn, along the way, that you can light a fire.” Sharon recalls hearing family stories from her father about growing up during the Great Depression in America. “In 1932, the family made $100 for the year. The whole year – just $100! The attitude was, ‘If you have it, share it.’ From great-aunts to cousins, the attitude was that we all help each other. If you have, you give.” The Henleys continue to want to share the message about sustainable development, and the healing force of nature.

Don Henley is aware that his music and acclaim have given him resources and access that help to accomplish his environmental and educational goals. “Music has made it possible for me to do a great many things in the civic realm,” he says. Yet he speaks of the contributions of time and effort that can be made by all citizens. Sharon nods her agreement with his statement. “Everyone can do something,” she stresses. “Sometimes, just having another person to be there for you is the most important thing in the world.” Their message: everybody has something to give.

	Above: “Full Moon Setting, Walden Pond” from the book Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic.
Above: Don Henley at Caddo Lake, Texas. Right: Henley accepting award as a "Restore America Hero" at "A Salute to Preservation", the Second Annual Restore America Gala, presented by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Save America’s Treasures, and Home & Garden Television (HGTV).
Above: A portion of the proceeds from all Don Henley concerts and designated Eagles concerts benefits the Walden Woods Project.

For Walden Pond and Walden Woods, the Henleys’ involvement has meant the difference between existence and oblivion. In 1990, the area was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America’s Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. A small group of local citizens was protesting the plans for construction of an office park less than half a mile from the banks of Walden Pond when news reports reached Don Henley, who eventually founded the Walden Woods Project and still serves as its president.

He helped shine the spotlight on the need for preservation of an area that is one of the most important landscapes in the nation. In 1998, Henley also established the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, an education and research facility owned and managed by the Walden Woods Project and located in the heart of the historic woods where Thoreau lived and wrote. Funds have been raised in a variety of ways, including the 1991 publication of a book containing essays written by notable people from all walks of life. The book was co-edited by Henley and writer Dave Marsh, and can still be purchased through the Walden Woods Project by calling 1-800-554-3569, ext. 703.

The Walden Woods Project and its Thoreau Institute have combined forces to reach wide-ranging groups of influential citizens as well as environmental stewards and community activists. Next spring, the Walden Woods Project will launch “International Walden,” an educational initiative that will use the Internet and videoconferencing to connect high-school students from the United States with students from Argentina and Russia. The participants will share and compare the results of their studies of their respective home communities. They will consider the relevance of Thoreau’s writings as they relate to the environment, environmental justice, and social reform questions their communities are facing today. Together, the students will look for common concerns and examine possible solutions. Hundreds of “observer” classrooms throughout the United States will also participate. An outgrowth of the program will be a series of projects that the students will undertake to improve the environmental and social conditions in their own communities.

“Approaching Walden” and “Finding Walden” are two summer programs offered by the Walden Woods Project that target high-school teachers and interdisciplinary teams of middle-school teachers. Both programs use Thoreau’s writings and experiences at Walden to help teachers develop their own place-based curriculum designed to introduce students to the unique historic and environmental treasures that can be found in their own communities, i.e., to find the “Waldens” in their own communities. Other programs include “The Natural Subject,” a series of lectures that approach the theme of nature as a subject of art. Stewardship lectures, publications, and additional youth-based programs are under development, and will be designed to give today’s young people some insight into humankind’s relationship to nature and how that relationship can be put to beneficial use in their own communities.

 
To learn more about the Walden Woods Project and its Thoreau Institute, visit www.walden.org.

To read the rest of this story about Sharon and Don Henley and the Walden Woods Project, and to see the other related photograph, please get your copy of Volume 9, Issue 5 Philanthropy World Magazine.