WOMEN IN CONSERVATION

                Margaret “Murdy” Murie was a naturalist, author, adventurer, and conservationist. She was dubbed the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement” while, oddly enough, her husband, Olaus, was dubbed the "father of modern elk management” (America's Wilderness). She and her husband were both very passionate about conservation in Alaska and spent most of their years doing field research together. The couple even spent their honeymoon travelling along the Yukon River conducting caribou research.  She was the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. In 1980, she helped enact the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which doubled size of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Rowland). The couple was actually the inspiration for John Denver’s “A Song For All Lovers” and Murdy and John remained friends up until her death in 2003 at the age of 101 (Ostlind).