Alumni
Landscape Architecture Alumnus Thrives in Second Career as Wilderness Advocate
Show Joe Gutkoski (’51 B.S. L.Arch.) a map of Montana, and he can tell you something about virtually every acre of land. Where do the most buffalo live? Joe knows. What streams boast the most fish? Joe knows. Where can you find the fattest elk? Joe knows that, too.
Gutkoski
is now engaged in the second career of his life, as a wilderness advocate in Montana. After serving nearly
30 years as a landscape architect for the U.S. Forest Service (he retired in 1982), he now devotes his time
to protecting the land and the wildlife in the state he knows as well as the back of his own hand. He has
held leadership positions with a number of advocacy groups, including the Montana Wildlife Foundation, the
Montana Wilderness Association and the American Buffalo Foundation. Currently he serves as director of the
Big Open Project, an organization dedicated to coalescing and protecting vast tracts of Montana and North
Dakota prairie land. He’s also president of Montana River Action, which was formed to protect in-stream
water flows for the benefit of fish and wildlife.
Gutkoski’s current work stems naturally from his first career, where he was a driving force behind an effort to save private land tracts in Montana from logging. Since his retirement, he has continued to spearhead efforts to acquire private timber lands for public hunting and recreation.
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., he attended Penn State on the G.I. Bill and graduated with a degree in landscape architecture in 1951. From a young age, he would head out into the woods—sometimes for days at a time—to hunt deer, foxes, mink and muskrat. Growing up in Wilkes-Barre gave him the opportunity to observe extensive open-pit mining—when rock or minerals are extracted from a large manmade hole—and he grew to despise the practice and its effect on the land. That sparked a passion in Gutkoski, which he took with him to Montana.
While attending Penn State, he spent summers working for the U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers, parachuting out of planes to fight wildfires in Montana and other Western states. Jumping from planes allowed him to “get the wanderlust out of his system,” and also afforded him an aerial view that revealed the widespread cutting of trees, building of roads and mining. “Seeing the forests disappearing lent an immediacy to the issue,” Gutkoski says.
So in 1956, he left the Smokejumpers as a foreman and transferred to the U.S. Forest Service’s landscape architecture department. He got involved in Operation Outdoors, an initiative to improve landscape designs in the national forests. Operation Outdoors was started in response to Mission 66, the National Park Service’s 10-year program to upgrade facilities following World War II. The post-war economic boom had created demand for recreation in the national forests, in addition to increasing distribution of manufactured and finished materials throughout the country. The resulting facilities and landscape designs reflected a more modern, international style that focused on function rather than aesthetics, and that used manufactured rather than handcrafted materials.
Gutkoski’s “beat” with the U.S. Forest Service included eastern Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, even stretching into the grassland of Minnesota. He was the first landscape architect for that region. “Twenty-five people oversee that area now,” he notes with pride.
While Gutkoski speaks fondly of his years with the U.S. Forest Service, it’s clear he’s equally devoted to his current work, where he speaks out frequently and forcefully in a manner that belies his small physique and soft-spoken nature. His forceful communication, however, is not anger-driven or even accusatory. Rather, the force comes from his rational and thoughtful responses to how government and other groups are treating the land that he loves. “It’s all about negotiation,” he says. “My whole career has been about conflict, but I learned right off the bat that going to war won’t solve anything.”
Quite simply, Gutkoski wants to maintain public ownership of public land so anyone can use it. His stubborn determination has helped to save acres and acres of land from private ownership and development, in turn allowing wildlife and wilderness to prosper in their natural habitat. While determined, he’s not blind to the realities of the situation. He recognizes that economics play a major role, so he’s always willing to compromise.
Gutkoski may not be known in households across America, but he has an ardent fan base among his fellow wilderness advocates. An online article found on a Web site for planning vacations in Montana (www.cowboyhvn.com) says Joe “is truly an inspiration to us all.” Gallatin Wildlife Association President Glenn Hockett, in a 2003 article in the Bozeman Chronicle, called Gutkoski his hero. And a 2002 feature in Field & Stream sums up the sentiments of many with its apt title: “The Great Gutkoski.”
While the classes he took at Penn State may seem to have little influence on his current work, Gutkoski says he’s very grateful for his degree. “My Penn State degree opened a lot of doors,” he says. “Without it, I would not be in a position to influence development.”
Save These Dates for Upcoming Alumni Events!
Additional information will be sent to likely attendees of each event, but all events are open. For more information, visit the College of Arts and Architecture Web site at www.artsandarchitecture.psu.edu/alumni/events.html, or call the Office of Alumni Relations at 814.863.0621.
January 29, 2005
New York theatre alumni reunion 9:30 until midnight, location to be announced
February 17, 2005
Alumni reception at annual meeting of the College Art Association in Atlanta—5:30 to 7:00 p.m., Atlanta
Marriot Marquis in the Shangri-La Room
March 4 or 5, 2005
Alumni reception at the annual meeting of the National Art Educators Association in Boston. Day, time and
location to be announced.
March 22, 2005
First Annual Arts and Architecture Golf Outing at Mid Pines championship course in Southern Pines, N.C. Registration
fee will include golf fees, box lunch, prizes, reception and a tax-deductible gift to the College of
Arts and Architecture.
April 15–17, 2005
School of Music reunion commemorating the 25th anniversary of the school
April 23, 2005
Annual Blue and White Concert honoring retiring professor Bruce Trinkley
May 19–21, 2005
Alumni reception at the annual American Institute of Architects convention in Las Vegas. Day, time and location
to be announced.
September 18–24, 2005
Dedication activities for the Stuckeman Family Building for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
