The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837-1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural history.

List of recipients of the John Burroughs Medal

• 1926 - William Beebe, Pheasants of the World
• 1927 - Ernest Thompson Seton, Lives of Game Animals
• 1928 - John Russell McCarthy, Nature Poems
• 1929 - Frank M. Chapman, Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America (published 1906)
• 1930 - Archibald Rutledge, Peace in the Heart
• 1931 - no award
• 1932 - Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, A Canyon Voyage: A Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition ISBN 0-8165-0880-1
• 1933 - Oliver P. Medsker, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter (set)
• 1934 - W.W. Christman, Wild Pasture Pine
• 1935 - no award
• 1936 - Charles Crawford Gorst, Recordings of Bird Calls
• 1937 - no award
• 1938 - Robert Cushman Murphy, Oceanic Birds of South America
• 1939 - Gilbert T. Pearson, Adventures in Bird Protection
• 1940 - Arthur Cleveland Bent, Life Histories of North American Birds (18 title series, United States Government Printing Office)
• 1941 - Louis J. Halle, Jr., Birds Against Men
• 1942 - Edward A. Armstrong, Birds of the Grey Wind
• 1943 - Edwin Way Teale, Near Horizons: The Story of an Insect Garden
• 1944 - no award
• 1945 - Rutherford Platt, This Green World ISBN 0-396-09188-1
• 1946 - Florence Page Jaques and Francis Lee Jaques (illustrator), Snowshoe Country ISBN 0-87351-236-7
• 1947 - no award
• 1948 - Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher, Driftwood Valley ISBN 0-87071-524-0
• 1949 - Helen G. Cruickshank, Flight Into Sunshine: Bird Experiences in Florida
• 1950 - Roger Tory Peterson, Birds Over America ISBN 0-396-08269-6
• 1951 - no award
• 1952 - Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us ISBN 0-451-61873-4
• 1953 - Gilbert Klingel, The Bay ISBN 0-8018-2536-9
• 1954 - Joseph Wood Krutch, The Desert Year ISBN 0-8165-0923-9
• 1955 - Wallace Byron Grange and Olaus J. Murie (illustrator), Those of the Forest ISBN 1-55971-083-7
• 1956 - Guy Murchie, Song of the Sky
• 1957 - Archie Fairly Carr, The Windward Road: Adventures of a Naturalist on Remote Caribbean Shores ISBN 0-8130-0639-2
• 1958 - Robert Porter Allen, On the Trail of the Vanishing Birds
• 1959 - no award
• 1960 - John Kieran, A Natural History of New York City ISBN 0-8232-1086-3
• 1961 - Loren Eiseley, The Firmament of Time ISBN 0-8032-6739-8
• 1962 - George Miksch Sutton, Iceland Summer: Adventures of a Bird Painter ISBN 0-8061-0491-0
• 1963 - Adolph Murie, A Naturalist in Alaska ISBN 0-8165-1168-3
• 1964 - John Hay, The Great Beach: A Naturalist Explores the Frontier Between Land and Sea on the Outer Reaches of Cape Cod ISBN 0-345-02255-6
• 1965 - Paul Brooks, Roadless Area ISBN 0-345-25276-4
• 1966 - Louis Darling, The Gull's Way ISBN 0-688-21366-9
• 1967 - Charlton Ogburn, Jr., The Winter Beach ISBN 0-688-09418-X
• 1968 - Hal Borland, Hill Country Harvest
• 1969 - Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, The Lovely and the Wild ISBN 0-920474-43-8
• 1970 - Victor B. Scheffer, The Year of the Whale
• 1971 - John K. Terres, From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog ISBN 0-8078-4426-8
• 1972 - Robert S. Arbib, The Lord's Woods: The Passing of an American Woodland ISBN 0-393-08639-9
• 1973 - Elizabeth Barlow, The Forests and Wetlands of New York City
• 1974 - Sigurd F. Olson, Wilderness Days ISBN 0-394-47155-5
• 1975 - no award
• 1976 - Ann Haymond Zwinger, Run, River, Run ISBN 0-06-014824-1
• 1977 - Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac ISBN 0-915024-15-2
• 1978 - Ruth Kirk, The American Southwest Desert ISBN 0-395-17209-8
• 1979 - Barry Lopez, Of Wolves and Men ISBN 0-7432-4936-4
• 1980 - no award
• 1981 - Mary Durant and Michael Harwood, On the Road with John James Audubon ISBN 0-396-07740-4
• 1982 - Peter Matthiessen, Sand Rivers ISBN 0-906053-22-6
• 1983 - Alexander F. Skutch, A Naturalist on a Tropical Farm ISBN 0-520-03802-9
• 1984 - David Rains Wallace, The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution ISBN 0-520-23659-9
• 1985 - Mark Owens and Delia Owens, Cry of the Kalahari ISBN 0-395-64780-0
• 1986 - Gary Paul Nabhan, Gathering the Desert ISBN 0-8165-0935-2
• 1987 - Robert Michael Pyle, Wintergreen: Rambles in a Ravaged Land ISBN 0-684-18321-8
• 1988 - Tom Horton and Charles R. Hazard (illustrator), Bay Country ISBN 0-8018-3525-9
• 1989 - Lawrence Kilham, On Watching Birds ISBN 0-930031-14-8
• 1990 - John McPhee, The Control of Nature ISBN 0-374-12890-1
• 1991 - Richard Nelson, The Island Within ISBN 0-86547-404-4
• 1992 - Kenneth S. Norris, Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin ISBN 0-393-02945-X
• 1993 - Vincent Dethier, Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos ISBN 0-674-17577-8
• 1994 - David G. Campbell, The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica ISBN 0-436-20049-X
• 1995 - Craig Packer, Into Africa ISBN 0-226-64429-4
• 1996 - Bill Green, Water, Ice and Stone:Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes ISBN 0-517-58759-9
• 1997 - David Quammen, The Song Of The Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction ISBN 0-684-80083-7
• 1998 - John Alcock, In a Desert Garden:Love and Death Among the Insects ISBN 0-8165-1970-6
• 1999 - Jan DeBlieu, Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land ISBN 0-395-78033-0
• 2000 - Bernd Heinrich, Mind Of the Raven ISBN 0-06-017447-1
• 2001 - David M. Carroll, Swampwalker's Journal ISBN 0-395-64725-8
• 2002 - Ken Lamberton, Wilderness and Razor Wire ISBN 1-56279-116-8
• 2003 - Carl Safina, Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival ISBN 0-8050-6228-9
• 2004 - Ted Levin, Liquid Land: A Journey Through The Florida Everglades ISBN 0-8203-2512-0
• 2005 - Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses ISBN 0-87071-499-6
• 2006 - Donald Kroodsma, The Singing Life of Birds ISBN 0-618-40568-2
• 2007 - Ellen Meloy, Eating Stone: Imagination And The Loss Of The Wild ISBN 0-375-42216-1