Margaret Thomas “Mardy” Murie was one of the first women to take a leading role in America’s conservation movement.
Known as the “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement,” Murie was also the first woman to graduate from the University of Alaska in 1924. That same year, she married husband Olaus and began a lifetime of travel, research, and conservation. Murie helped secure the passage of the Wilderness Act and the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her devotion earned her the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States.
She was the author of several books including Two in the Far North and Wapiti Wilderness, and was on the founding board of the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming.