WOMEN IN CONSERVATION

             Mollie H. Beattie was the first female director of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. She oversaw the successful reintroduction of the gray wolf into the northern Rocky Mountains. The gray wolf is a perfect example of the serious issues in the field of conservation biology. In 1926, the last pack of wolves was seen in Yellowstone and it was not until 1974 that this species was listed as endangered (The Wilderness Society). Beattie had previously served as the Vermont commissioner of forests, parks, and recreation and the deputy secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources. She was the director of USFWS for only 3 years because she died of brain cancer at the young age of 49. Congress named a wilderness area in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in her honor (Rowland).