Mr. Look

Former Los Altos resident Claude A. “Tony” Look, the environmentalist responsible for many of our area’s treasured open spaces, died Aug. 5 in Davis. He was 88.

Mr. Look revived the inactive Sempervirens environmental club as the Sempervirens Fund in 1968 with several other environmentalists.

His mission was to save two parcels of land bordering Big Basin, but it expanded to include the preservation of other local parklands and build trail systems linking state parks.

In 1969 Mr. Look marshaled more than 1,000 volunteers to build the 33-mile Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail in one weekend. Already the volunteer director of the fund, Mr. Look quit his pharmacy job in 1978 to serve as paid executive director of the fund. He retired in 1985.

The Los Altos-based land trust’s first work was creation of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, which it persuaded the state to acquire in 1902 for $25,000. At the time, loggers were seeking to harvest the area’s 300-foot-tall redwoods. Big Basin became California’s first state park.

Sixty-six years later, Mr. Look learned that a developer was planning to subdivide 320 acres on the slopes of Mount McAbee in Big Basin.

The state had a tight deadline in which it could buy the land instead. Mr. Look rallied with other environmentalists to raise the money needed for the state’s purchase.

“We came along at a time when there was tremendous pressure for development in the Santa Cruz Mountains,” Mr. Look told the Town Crier in 1997. “We saw the other side - the need to preserve open space close to metropolitan areas where people could go to enjoy unspoiled nature.”

Mr. Look was born in 1917 in Eureka and grew up spending a lot of time outdoors. He graduated from the Berkeley College of Pharmacy in 1939.

It was there he met Mildred Orton, a classmate majoring in nursing. They married in 1941. Mr. Look served in the Air Corps in South America during WWII. They had two children, Andrea Elliott and Denis Look.

On his first vacation after the war, Mr. Look came home to see the devastating effects of logging in the forests where he had played as a child. Thus was born his lifelong dedication to repair and protect the environment.

“The rewards of working in the woods,” Mr. Look said, “were greater than those of sitting around at a party.”

Mr. Look’s work was recognized by the community. He received medals and awards from national and international organizations such as the Sierra Club and California Wildlife Federation, received the Restore the Earth award from the United Nations and the State Park Honor Award. In 1996, the American Park and Recreation Society gave Mr. Look its Meritorious Service Citizen Award.

Closer to home, Mr. Look’s legacy can be seen in the seniors hiking group of Los Altos, which he led weekly with his wife, Mildred, until they moved to Davis.

Mr. Look is survived by his wife Mildred and their children.

Sempervirens continues his work today, striving to preserve and protect the Santa Cruz Mountains through encouraging public participation, constructing integrated trail systems and working in partnership with the state to acquire more natural land.

The organization derives its name from the coast redwood’s scientific name, sequoia sempervirens, “evergreen” in Latin.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Sempervirens Fund, Drawer BE, Los Altos, CA 94023. For more information, call 968-4509 or visit www.sempervirens.org.