Famous Conservationists

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He was known for his energetic personality, varied interests, and achievements before and during his presidency. He was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City. He overcame childhood health problems through determination, developing a lifelong interest in physical fitness and outdoor pursuits. Roosevelt began his political career in the New York State Assembly, serving from 1882 to 1884. He later served as the New York City Police Commissioner and Assistant Secretary.

Steve Irwin is known as the "Crocodile Hunter." He is an iconic Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Steve Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, in Essendon, Victoria, Australia. His parents, Bob and Lyn Irwin, were wildlife experts who ran a reptile and fauna park in Queensland, which sparked his love for wildlife. Irwin began his wildlife career by handling crocodiles under his father's supervision. He took over the family business and renamed it Australia Zoo in 1992.

William Holden was born William Franklin Beedle Jr. on April 17, 1918. He became an influential figure in Hollywood cinema. He moved with his family to Pasadena, California, developing an early interest in acting there. In 1939, he starred in Golden Boy. This film set the stage for his future cinematic successes. Holden attended Pasadena Junior College and the University of Southern California before his acting career began. His career featured a diverse range of roles that showed his ability to adapt and excel.

Rachel Louise Carson lived from May 27, 1907, to April 14, 1964. She was an American marine biologist, author, and conservationist. Her books, including Silent Spring, advanced the global environmental movement. Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. She became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her 1951 bestseller, The Sea Around Us, won her a U.S. National Book Award. She also received recognition as a gifted writer and financial security. Carson later published The Edge of the Sea and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind.

Ansel Easton Adams was a landscape photographer and environmentalist. He is known for his black-and-white images of the American West. Adams helped found Group f/64. This association advocated "pure" photography, favoring sharp focus and full tonal range in photographs. He developed the Zone System with Fred Archer. This system is an exacting method for image-making. It achieves a desired final print by understanding how tonal range is recorded and developed during exposure, negative development, and printing.

William Edgar Oddie was an English writer, comedian, composer, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, and actor. He became famous as one of The Goodies. Oddie has been a birder since childhood in Quinton, Birmingham. He established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books include paintings and drawings. His wildlife programs for the BBC included Springwatch/Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild In Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, and Britain Goes Wild with Bill.

Edward Osborne Wilson, usually cited as E. O. Wilson, was an American biologist, theorist, naturalist, and author. His specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, making him the world's leading expert. Wilson received titles like "the father of sociobiology" and "the father of biodiversity" for his environmental advocacy. He also held secular-humanist and deist ideas regarding religious and ethical matters. Wilson developed the theory of island biogeography with the mathematica.

Peter Hamilton Raven was an American botanist and environmentalist. He served as the longtime director and president of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo, whose Spanish pronunciation is [Cay-reel-yo], lived from August 6, 1880, to September 10, 1961. He was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. He played Pancho in the popular Western television series The Cisco Kid (1950–1956) and several films.

Sir Peter Markham Scott lived from September 14, 1909, to August 29, 1989. He was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster, and sportsman. As the only child of Robert Falcon Scott, he focused on observing and breeding wildfowl from a young age. He established the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge in 1946 and helped found the World Wide Fund for Nature, which he designed the logo for. Scott also enjoyed gliding and yachting and was part of the British sailing team that won a bronze medal in 193.

Terri Raines Irwin (born July 20, 1964) is an American-Australian naturalist, conservationist, author, and the owner of Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland. A native Oregonian from the United States, she began an independent animal rehabilitation center for injured predator mammals at age 22 while working for her family's trucking business. While touring wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Australia in 1991, she had a chance meeting with naturalist Steve Irwin, whose father founded Australia Zoo. The two married in 1992, and went on to co-star in The Crocodile Hunter, their unconventional t

Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935), was an American paleontologist and geologist. He served as president of the American Museum of Natural History for twenty-five years.

Leo A. Drey (January 19, 1917 – May 26, 2015) was a Missouri timber magnate, conservationist, and philanthropist.

Jeffrey Corwin (born July 11, 1967) is an American biologist and wildlife conservationist. He hosted Disney Channel's Going Wild with Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet, and ABC's Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin.

Roger Searle Payne (born January 29, 1935) was an American biologist and environmentalist. In 1967, he discovered whale song among humpback whales with Scott McVay. Payne later became a key figure in the global campaign to end commercial whaling.

Kevin Kelly (born August 14, 1952) founded Wired magazine as its executive editor. He also served as an editor and publisher for the Whole Earth Review. Kelly wrote, photographed, conserved, and studied Asian and digital culture.

James Theodore (Ted) Richmond, known as "Twilight Ted" (May 26, 1890 – December 3, 1975), was an American writer, conservationist, preacher, and librarian.

Mehgan Heaney-Grier (born Mehgan Renee Heaney; August 26, 1977) is an American champion freediver, fashion model, actress, conservationist, and television personality.

Peter Joseph Cundall (born April 1, 1927) is an English-born Australian horticulturalist, conservationist, author, broadcaster, and television personality. He currently lives in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. Until age 81, he presented the ABC TV program Gardening Australia, with his last show airing on July 26, 2008. He remains active in radio from Tasmania, appears at the Gardening Australia Expos, and works on his autobiography. He received the Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for protecting wilderness.

Farley McGill Mowat (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. He sold over 17 million books, with works translated into 52 languages. Mowat gained fame by publishing books on the Canadian north, such as People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). The latter, about his Arctic wolf experiences, was filmed in 1983. He won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970. His environmental advocacy earned him recognition.

Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896 – March 18, 1956) was an American author and conservationist. He won the Pulitzer Prize and pioneered innovative scientific farming concepts.

John Michael Greer, born in 1962, is an American author. He writes about ecology, religion, philosophy, politics, appropriate technology, oil depletion, and the occult. From December 2003 to December 2015, he served as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America [1]. Since then, he has led the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn [2], which he founded in 2013. Greer lives in Rhode Island with his wife Sara. He previously blogged at The Archdruid Report on peak oil and economics.

Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, writer, and zoologist. He focused on eugenics and racism, becoming one of the leading thinkers and activists of the Progressive Era as a conservationist. Grant wrote some of the most notorious works of scientific racism and actively shaped immigration restrictions and anti-miscegenation laws in the United States. As a conservationist, he saved many animal species and founded various environmental and philatelic groups.

Richard Erskine Frere Leakey FRS (born December 19, 1944) is a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician. Leakey held several official positions in Kenya focused on archaeology and wildlife conservation. He served as Director of the National Museum of Kenya, founded the WildlifeDirect NGO, and chaired the Kenya Wildlife Service.

George Bird Grinnell (September 20, 1849 – April 11, 1938) was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. Grinnell earned a B.A. from Yale University in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and studied Native American life. His work influenced public opinion and legislation protecting the American bison. Mount Grinnell is named after him.

Gerald Malcolm Durrell (January 7, 1925 – January 30, 1995) was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island of Jersey in 1959. His memoirs about his family's time in Greece were adapted into the television series The Durrells. He wrote several books about his life as an animal collector, including My Family and Other Animals. He was the youngest brother of novelist Lawrence Durrell.

Aila Inkeri Keto AO (born 14 March 1943) is founder and President of the Rainforest Conservation Society in Queensland, Australia, now known as the Australia Rainforest Conservation Society. In 2005, Keto was a recipient of the Queensland Greats Awards.Born in Tully, Queensland, Australia, Dr Keto originally studied biochemistry and worked at the University of Queensland.Keto was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1994 and was nominated as Queenslander of the Year in 2000. In 2001 she was awarded the Centenary Medal, "for service as an expert on wet tropics and as a leading conser

Marie Beuzeville Byles (8 April 1900 – 21 November 1979) was a committed conservationist, pacifist, the first practising female solicitor in New South Wales (NSW), mountaineer, explorer and avid bushwalker, feminist, journalist, and an original member of the Buddhist Society in New South Wales. She was also a travel and non-fiction writer.

Judith Daria Zuk (September 11, 1951 – September 1, 2007) was an American horticulturist, author and conservationist who served as president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from 1990 to 2005.

Hugh Iltis (April 7, 1925 – December 19, 2016) was a professor of botany and director of the herbarium at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While he is most noted as a scientist for his role in the discovery of perennial teosinte (Zea diploperennis), a wild diploid relative of modern maize (Zea mays), he is also remembered as an outspoken environmental conservationist.

Nicholas Roosevelt (June 12, 1893 – February 1982) was an American diplomat and journalist. A member of the Roosevelt family and first-cousin once removed of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, he was born in New York City to James West Roosevelt, a brother of Hilborne Roosevelt, and Laura Henrietta d'Oremieulx. Brought up in Oyster Bay, New York, he graduated from Harvard University in 1914. He was an attaché at the American Embassy in Paris, secretary to the American mission to Spain in 1916 and 17, vice-governor of the Philippine Islands in 1930, and U.S. minister to Hungary from 1930 to 193

Caroline Coroneos Dormon, also known as Carrie Dormon (July 19, 1888 – November 21, 1971), was an American botanist, horticulturist, ornithologist, historian, archeologist, preservationist, naturalist, conservationist, and author from Louisiana. She was the first female employee of the United States Forestry Service and is considered by some as Louisiana's first conservationist.She was born in modest circumstances at Briarwood, the family home in northern Natchitoches Parish, to James L. Dormon and the former Caroline Trotti. She was reared a Southern Baptist in Arcadia, the parish seat of gov

Anthony Edward Rupert (October 4, 1916 – January 18, 2006) was a South African Afrikaner billionaire, philanthropist, and conservationist. He grew up in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape. He studied in Pretoria before moving to Stellenbosch. There, he established the Rembrandt Group, which still holds its headquarters. Rupert died at his home in Thibault Street, Stellenbosch, at age 89. He is survived by his wife Huberte Goote, his son Johann, daughter Hanneli, and five grandchildren, along with his youngest son, Anthonij.

Harvey Locke is a conservationist, writer, and photographer. He leads global efforts in parks, wilderness, wildlife, and large land conservation. Locke founded the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. This initiative seeks to create a continuous corridor for wildlife from Yellowstone National Park, United States, to the Yukon in Northern Canada. Time Magazine Canada named Locke one of Canada's leaders for the 21st century in 1999. In 2013, he received the J.B. Harkin Medal for Conservation and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; he also received another award in 2014.

Dan James Pantone is an American ecologist and conservationist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. A former professor at Texas A&M University, Dr. Pantone is a researcher who has published numerous refereed articles on agroecology and sustainable agriculture. In addition, he is a specialist in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) which he has used to help conserve endangered species. Dr. Pantone has established his broad experience in numerous scientific disciplines by publishing diverse articles ranging from the biological control of pests to the conservation biology of e

John Moore (10 November 1907–1967) was a best-selling British author and pioneer conservationist. He was described by Sir Compton Mackenzie as the most talented writer about the countryside of his generation. His best-selling trilogy, published in the years immediately after the Second World War – Portrait of Elmbury, Brensham Village and The Blue Field – was followed by a series of novels and self-styled 'country-contentments'.

Harriet Williams Russell Strong (July 23, 1844 – September 6, 1926) was an American social activist, inventor, conservationist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement. She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Her pioneering innovations in water storage and flood control enabled the construction of the Hoover dam and the All-American Canal.

Terence "Terry" Paul Nutkins (August 12, 1946 – September 6, 2012) was an English naturalist, author, and television presenter. He gained fame through his television appearances in UK children's programs. These included Animal Magic, The Really Wild Show, Brilliant Creatures, and Growing Up Wild.

Abbot Kinney (1850 in New Brunswick, New Jersey – 1920 in Santa Monica, California) was a developer and conservationist. Kinney is best known for his "Venice of America" development in Los Angeles.

Frederick Walter Champion was a British forester. He was born on 24 August 1893 in Surrey, UK, and died in Scotland in 1970. Champion worked in British India and East Africa. In the UK and India, he became famous in the 1920s as one of the first wildlife photographers and conservationists.

Arthur Augustus Allen was an American ornithologist. Allen was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Daniel Williams Allen and Anna née Moore. He studied at Cornell University, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in 1907, his Master of Arts in 1908 and his Ph.D. in 1911. His thesis is entitled "The Red-Winged Blackbird: A Study in the Ecology of a Cattail Marsh". From 1911 to 1912 he went on an expedition to Colombia, and from 1912 to 1916, he was appointed an instructor in zoology at Cornell. Allen married Elsa Guerdrum in 1913. They had five children. His wife also received a doctorate at

Charles Jesse Jones, known as Buffalo Jones, was an American frontiersman, farmer, rancher, hunter, and conservationist who cofounded Garden City in the U.S. state of Kansas. He has been cited by the National Archives as one of the "preservers of the American bison".

Claudine André, (born 6 November 1946 in La Hestre, Hainaut Province, Belgium), is a Belgian conservationist. She founded Lola ya bonobo in 1994, which is a bonobo sanctuary, just south of Kinshasa, at Mont Ngafula, in the Lukaya Valley, Democratic Republic of Congo.The aim of the sanctuary is to collect young bonobos, most having been orphaned due to the actions of poachers, and eventually reintroduce them into a forest reserve. During the same year, Claudine André started the Friends of Animals in the Congo, of which she is still president.

Sir Bent Skovmand (January 25, 1945— February 6, 2007) was a Danish plant scientist and conservationist. Time Magazine wrote in 1991 that Skovmand, "'while not exactly a household name,' had had 'more to do with the welfare of the world's five billion people than many heads of state.'"Skovmand was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark. After serving in the Danish Army, Skovmand attended the University of Minnesota in the US as part of the Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainee international exchange program. He graduated in 1971 with a major in biological and physical sciences in agriculture, and the

Paul Gruchow (May 23, 1947 – February 22, 2004) was an American author, editor, and conservationist from Montevideo, Minnesota. A student of poet John Berryman, he is well known for his strong support of rural communities, as expressed in his first book, "Journal of a Prairie Year" published by University of Minnesota Press. His essays in Grass Roots: The Universe of Home, document his ideas with stories of growing up in rural Chippewa County Minnesota.

Douglas Rainsford Tompkins (March 20, 1943 – December 8, 2015) was an American conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, agriculturalist, and businessman who assembled and preserved the land which became the largest gift of private land to any South American government.Beginning in the mid-1960s, he and Susie Tompkins Buell, his first wife, co-founded and ran two companies: the outdoor equipment and clothing company The North Face and the Esprit clothing company. Following their divorce and Tompkins' departure from the business world in 1989, he became active in environmental an

Captain Peter James Bethune (born 4 April 1965) is a New Zealand ship's captain with 500 ton master licence, published author, producer of The Operatives TV Show, and public speaker. He is the founder of Earthrace Conservation . He works assisting countries in Asia, Central America and Africa with fisheries enforcement and anti-poaching. He is the holder of the world record for circumnavigating the globe in his powerboat Earthrace, a wavepiercing trimaran powered with biofuels. Earthrace was renamed the Ady Gil in 2009 and Captain Bethune sailed it in Antarctica for Sea Shepherd Conservation S

Jim Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was a British hunter, tracker, naturalist, and author who hunted a number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India. He held the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army and was frequently called upon by the Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, now the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to kill man-eating tigers and leopards that were preying on people in the nearby villages of the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions. He authored Man-Eaters of Kumaon, Jungle Lore, and other books recounting his hunts and experiences, which enj