Margaret "Mardy" Murie
(1902-2003)

"Grandmother of the Conservation Movement"
1980 Audubon Medal
1983 Sierra Club John Muir Award
1998 Presidential Medal of Freedom
2002 National Conservation Achievement Award

birthdate: August 18
birthplace: Seattle, Washington

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Margaret "Mardy" Murie, "The Grandmother of the Conservation Movement", was an author, conservationist and enviornomentalist who helped to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and helped convince Congress and President Lyndon Johnson to enact the Wilderness Act, which created the National Wilderness Preservation System. Working with her husband, noted conservationist Olaus Murie, the couple successfully fought to establish several protected wilderness areas, including the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, Jackson Hole National Monument and enlarging Olympic National Park. Their love for nature and each other inspired John Denver to write his song, "A Song For All Lovers." After her husband died in 1963, Mardy Murie passionately continued advocating for wilderness conservation, writing articles and letters, making speeches, and traveling to hearings to defend wilderness preservation. Mardy Murie received many awards and honors, including the Audubon Medal in 1980, John Muir Award in 1983, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. After she died, the couples home in Moose, Wyoming was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark. It is now the home of the Murie Center, a conservation institute which works with the Grand Tetons National Park to engage "people to understand and commit to the enduring value of conserving wildlife and wild places."