Harold C. Anderson was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 accountant and wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

 activist. A prominent member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, or ', is a volunteer organization that works to maintain hiking trails in the Washington D.C. area...

 (PATC) in the Washington D.C. area from its inception, he was also a co-founder of The Wilderness Society

The Wilderness Society (United States)

The Wilderness Society is an American organization that is dedicated to protecting America's wilderness. It was formed in 1935 and currently has over 300,000 members and supporters.-Founding:The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935...

.

Because of his ties to the PATC, Anderson was well acquainted with Benton MacKaye

Benton MacKaye

Benton MacKaye was an American forester, planner and conservationist. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut; his father was actor and dramatist Steele MacKaye. After studying forestry at Harvard University , Benton later taught there for several years. He joined a number of Federal bureaus and...

, a forester who was the first to propose the Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...

. Anderson was especially concerned with the proposed building of skyline

Skyline

A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...

s along the Appalachian crest, something that he shared with MacKaye, who was at the time butting heads with PATC president Myron Avery

Myron Avery

Myron Haliburton Avery was an American lawyer, hiker and explorer. Born in Lubec, Maine, Avery was a protégé of Judge Arthur Perkins and a collaborator and sometimes rival of Benton MacKaye. He was president of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club from 1927 to 1941 and chairman of the Appalachian...

 on the subject. In August 1934, Anderson wrote to MacKaye of his desire to originate the country's first society dedicated to the protection of wilderness: "You and Bob Marshall

Bob Marshall (wilderness activist)

Robert "Bob" Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist. The son of wealthy constitutional lawyer and conservationist Louis Marshall, Bob Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child...

have been preaching that those who love the primitive should get together and give a united expression of their views. That is what I would like to get started."