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Mardy Murie
Margaret Elizabeth Thomas (Mardy Murie) is the kind of trailblazer who set the stage in such a way that as long as there are pristine green spaces, her leadership will continue to be a lamplight to those who see simply and clearly what needs to be accomplished.
Murie is among the generation of American women who made “firsts,” who marked trailheads so that others could see the ecosystemic network of streams and trails. Her work reminds us that the basic definition of leadership is often found at the source. In essence, she (and her husband Olaus) set a template based on values they’d come to epitomize through action. She was the first woman to graduate from Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, and the first woman to be celebrated as the keeper of naturalism, of the environment.
Mardy teamed up with Olaus Murie, marrying into what would be a partnership that went far in catalyzing conservation and preservation for a nation. They spent honeymoon years doing caribou research in northern Alaska and then proceeded by securing the support and funding to set up protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They appealed to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and even President Eisenhower, solidifying a model for grassroots conservation. By being the type of philanthropist who embodies her cause, Murie is known rather as a naturalist, a protagonist, and a symbol of the landscapes people cherish today.
Through surveys, letters, articles, scientific research and persuasion, Murie helped to spearhead the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which set aside an additional one hundred million plus acres of wild lands. In 1990, the Murie Residence in Moose, Wyoming, was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2006 the area called Murie Ranch Historic District became a National Historic Landmark.
According to the Murie Center website, the list of honors include: serving on the Council of the Wilderness Society, receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Alaska, the Audubon Medal, being an Honorary Park Ranger, founding member of the Teton Science School, and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which President Bill Clinton bestowed on her for her lifetime service to conservation.
Though Murie is referred to as the “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement” she had the chance to speak for herself through her first memoir Two in the Far North which traces Mardy and Olaus’ early commitment to each other and the Alaska Wilderness. Island Between was published 15 years later, and Wapiti Wilderness, co-authored with Olaus, each document the course of a relationship with the land, a course that brings meaning to the spaces we share.
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