Background

Robert Marion Clawson was born on August 10, 1905, in Elko, Nevada, United States, to William Ennes and Agnes Clawson. Marion's father was a miner and rancher, and during Clawson's childhood, the family of four (Marion's younger brother, William, was born in 1907) lived in various towns in northern Nevada.

Education

Clawson attended high school in Elko and graduated in 1922 as valedictorian of his class. He received both a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1926 and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics in 1929, from the University of Nevada at Reno. He later earned his doctorate in Economics from Harvard University in 1943.

Career

Early in his career, during 1926 - 1929 Clawson spent at the University of Nevada’s agricultural experiment station.

He then began a lengthy association with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, first in Washington, D.C., as an agricultural economist for nine years, then in Berkeley, California, for nine more.

In 1940, he became head of research and planning studies on the Columbia Basin for two years and held the same position in Central Valley, California, for the next three years. In 1947 Clawson joined the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management as a regional administrator. By 1948, he was named director in Washington, D.C.

From 1953 to 1955, Clawson served as a member of the Bureau’s economic advisory staff in Jerusalem, Israel. Later posts included eighteen years as director of the land use and management program with Resources for the Future, Inc., followed by short terms as acting president, vice president, and consultant. In 1979 he became senior fellow emeritus with the organization.

During his career, Clawson taught at schools such as Duke University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Washington. In addition, he served on the President’s Advisory Board on Timber and the Environment.

Achievements

• Marion Clawson is remembered for his work as an agricultural economist, particularly in the areas of forestry, national parks, and outdoor recreation. He also wrote numerous books. Among them are Farm Management (with John Black, C. R. Sayre, and Walter W. Wilcox), The Western Range Livestock Industry, Uncle Sam's Acres, Private and Public Provision of Outdoor Recreation Opportunity, Land and Water for Recreation: Opportunities, Problems, and Policies, The Agricultural Potential of the Middle East (with Hans H. Landsberg and Lyle T. Alexander), America’s Land and Its Uses, Forests for Whom and for What?, New Deal Planning: The National Resources Planning Board, and The Economics of National Forest Management.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Economics of National Forest Management

    (Using the best data available, Marion Clawson considers a...)

    1976
  • The Federal Lands Revisited

    (Discusses the history and management of federally owned l...)

    1983
  • Forests for Whom and for What

    (Marion Clawson is concerned here not so much with what fo...)

    1975
  • The Land System of the United States

    (An overview of the history of land use and ownership in t...)

    1968
  • Man and land in the United States 1964
  • The Western Range Livestock Industry 1950
  • Economics of Outdoor Recreation 1971
  • New Deal Planning 1981

Connections

In 1973 Clawson married Nora McGirr Roots, daughter of Ernest McGirr.

Father:

William Ennes Clawson

Mother:

Agnes Clawson

Wife:

Nora McGirr Roots

Brother:

William Clawson

References

• Biography - Clawson, Marion