Jequita Potts McDaniel - Mardy Murie Did!: Grandmother of Conservation

Grandmother of Conservation

by Jequita Potts McDaniel, Ph.D.
Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle

Many thanks to Sandy Ferguson Fuller of Alps Arts Company, who first encouraged this book about Mardy and also envisioned Jon Van Zyle as the perfect illustrator for this story.

For Mardy Murie and John Denver, for their inspiration and efforts, and for my grandchildren and their grandchildrenmay they enjoy the wild that Mardy helped preserve.

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An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Text copyright 2010 by Jequita Potts McDaniel
Illustrations copyright 2010 by Jon Van Zyle

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McDaniel, Jequita Potts, 1950

Mardy Murie did! : grandmother of conservation / by Jequita Potts McDaniel ; illustrated by Jon Van Zyle.
p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-58979-565-5 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58979-525-9 (electronic)
1. Murie, Margaret E.--Juvenile literature. 2. Women conservationists--Alaska--Biography--Juvenile literature.
3. Environmentalists--Alaska--Biography--Juvenile literature. I. Van Zyle, Jon. II. Title.
QH31.M926M34 2010
333.9516092--dc22
[B]
2010020055

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in Malaysia
CPSIA tracking information:
Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia
Date of Production: August 2010
Cohort: Batch 1

Few people have been as dedicated to wilderness preservation as Mardy Murie. Known as the mother of the American conservation movement, she was also referred to as a national treasure. Mardy (Margaret Thomas) was born in 1902 and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Alaska, and later received an Honorary Doctorate from there for her environmental advocacy work. She and her husband, Olaus Murie, a noted biologist, spent their early married years in northern Alaska, studying caribou and other wildlife, living in rustic cabins, and traveling about by dogsled.

In 1927, Olaus and Mardy and their children moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to study elk in the region. In 1945, they, along with Olauss brother Adolph and Adolphs wife, Louise Murie, purchased a ranch near Moose, Wyoming, near the base of the Teton Mountains, where they continued to live the rest of their lives.

The Muries work took them throughout Alaska and the United States, but they often conducted important conservation business from their home in the Tetons. For more than fifty years, the Murie Ranch was host to many key conservationists, and people from all over the world made pilgrimages to the ranch to converse with Mardy and Olaus. Because of the role the property played in American history, the Murie Ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, and an exact replica now sits on the campus of the National Conservation Training Center in Shephardstown, West Virginia. Today, the Murie Ranch is the headquarters for the Murie Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation work.

The couple worked tirelessly for wilderness preservation, and was instrumental in the enlargement and creation of present-day Grand Teton National Park in 1950 and passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Following Olauss death in 1963, Mardy continued to be an outspoken and influential force in wilderness preservation. She wrote several books and often spoke with lawmakers, including members of Congress and several American presidents, about the importance of preserving wild lands, especially areas of northern Alaska. Through Mardys continued efforts, the Alaska Lands Act, one of the most significant land conservation acts in American history, became a reality. Also through Mardys efforts, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska was created.

Mardy believed educating children was an important key to an environmentally healthy world. She was one of the founding members of the Teton Science School, which utilizes the valuable collection of animal and plant specimens donated by the Murie family.

In recognition of her efforts and commitment to conservation, Mardy received every major environmental award, including the prestigious Audubon Award, the Sierra Clubs John Muir Award, Izaak Walton Award, the National Wildlife Federations J.N. Ding Darling Conservationist of the Year Award (the organizations top recognition), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nations highest honor bestowed on a civilian. Her lifes achievements were recognized in the book and documentary film Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story