Ernie Dickerman was a tireless crusader for wilderness and spent much of his life defending wild places in the southeast, right up to his death in 2000.

Ernie was of the southeast, born in Richmond in 1910. He spent some growing-up years in Roanoke and later worked for a short time for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Ernie quit because he didn't want to become a permanent government employee. He first became an activist with the conservation committee of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club in Knoxville and became deeply involved in management issues at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Ernie worked for The Wilderness Society from 1966, shortly after passage of the Wilderness Act, until 1976. He was the major organizer of grassroots opposition to a proposed highway through the western half of the National Park.

At age 65, Ernie left The Wilderness Society but certainly didn't retire. He moved to his farm at Buffalo Gap, Virginia, and the Virginia Wilderness Coalition immediately elected him its president. Right up to his death, Ernie Dickerman was actively promoting wilderness on the Jefferson National Forest of Virginia.