Sponsored by Marine Sciences Research Center
and
Environmental Defense Fund
We invite you to join us for an afternoon of seminars at the Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, followed by an evening dinner at the Three Village Inn to honor Dr Charles F. Wurster Jr. for his work in protecting the environment. We are honored to have Mr. William Ruckelshaus, past Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency as the dinner speaker. We hope that you will join us for this celebration of Dr. Wurster’s career and his contributions to the health of our environment.
In 1962 Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” was published calling attention to the potential danger of DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons. In 1965, a young scientist, Dr. Charles F. Wurster, Jr. arrived at the University at Stony Brook to begin a life-long career of teaching and research into the undesirable side-effects of pesticides. His scientific efforts were essential to the banning of DDT. Because of that decision, numerous species of endangered birds including the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, brown pelican and the osprey are returning to healthy populations levels.
Dr. Wurster was the researcher who contributed to and understood the scientific literature on the effects of DDT and was able to prepare that record for the legal challenges that led to the ban on DDT. The first of those challenges occurred in a court in Riverhead, N.Y. in 1966. This lawsuit prompted the Suffolk County Legislature to ban DDT even before the court handed down a decision. Further challenges in 1967 in Michigan stopped the use of DDT and dieldrin which threatened to pollute Lake Michigan. In Wisconsin an adjudicatory hearing was held in 1968 in which the scientific case against DDT led to a state-wide ban. Finally in 1972, EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus banned DDT nationwide.
The ban on DDT resulted in the recovery of a number of significant species. Nowhere was the effect more dramatic than on Long Island where the osprey’s population continues to climb. In the mid-1960’s ospreys produced about 0.01 young per nest. Today, remarkably they raise more than one young per nest and the fledgling rate continues to climb as the levels of DDT decline. By this symposium we celebrate the recovery ofthe osprey, the return of the peregrine falcon as a breeding bird in the Northeast and the removal of the bald eagle from the endangered species list.
In 1967 the Environmental Defense Fund was organized on Long Island to fight for a cleaner environment and to reduce the threats from DDT. Dr. Wurster was a founding trustee and is still active on its Board of Trustees. EDF has grown to a highly respected national organization and has been in the forefront in fmding innovative ways to achieve a cleaner and healthier environment.
On April 25, 1995 we will honor the many contributions that Dr. Wurster has made on the occasion of his retirement from the University.
The symposium program can be found here. Photos from the event are available on Google Photos.
