Margaret Murie

Margaret Thomas "Mardy" Murie (1902-2003), called the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement" by the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, was a naturalist, author, adventurer, and conservationist who helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act and who was instrumental in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She was the recipient of the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States.

Books and articles

Two in the Far North, a memoir published in 1962, chronicles Murie’s early life in Alaska, marriage to Olaus Murie, and research expeditions in Alaska. Murie also wrote Island Between, published in 1977, and Wapiti Wilderness, published in 1966 with her husband Olaus Murie as co-author. A documentary, Arctic Dance, was made about her life.

Work as naturalist

In 1956, Murie began a campaign with her husband to protect what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The couple recruited U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to help persuade President Dwight Eisenhower to set aside as the Arctic National Wildlife Range.

After her husband's death in 1963, Murie began writing and took over much of her husband's conservation work, writing letters and articles, traveling to hearings and making speeches. Murie returned to Alaska to survey potential wilderness areas for the National Park Service and worked on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act that was signed by President Carter in 1980. That legislation set aside of land in Alaska and doubled the size of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Murie Residence in Moose, Wyoming was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and as part of the Murie Ranch Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It now houses a conservation institute named for Murie and her husband.

Awards

Murie received the Audubon Medal in 1980, the John Muir Award in 1983, and the Robert Marshall Conservation Award in 1986. She was made an Honorary Park Ranger by the National Park Service and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Alaska.

In 1998 President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.. Just prior to her 100th birthday in 2002, Murie received the J.N. Ding Darling Conservationist of the Year Award, the National Wildlife Federation's highest honor.

Murie died on October 19, 2003, at the age of 101.

References

Footnotes

Sources

• Two in the Far North ISBN 088240489X
• Waipiti Wilderness ISBN 087081155X
• Island Between ISBN 0912006048

External links

• The Murie Center
• Mardy Murie biography at Wilderness Society
• Mardy Murie obituary
• Mardy Murie at Findagrave.com
• Arctic Dance documentary web site
• Margaret Murie: Sunlight Aura and Spine of Steel, Point West Online, Summer, 2003 article on Murie; a publication of the Buffalo Bill Wild West center