On International Women’s Day, we want to highlight women’s contribution to wildlife conservation. So, we put the spotlight on 10 incredible women who have made outstanding efforts to conserve wildlife in both the ocean and land.
From history and today, from different age groups and racial backgrounds, we want to show people that women in conservation are present and have always been present in the fight for wildlife.
Throughout history, women have made insurmountable contributions to wildlife conservation.
Let’s dive into what some amazing women have done in the past.
Margaret Murie
We have Margaret Murie, or “Mardy” as a lot of people call her, the grandmother of the Conservation Movement. The first female graduate of the University of Alaska. She helped to pass the Wilderness Act, which created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States and protected 9.1 million acres of federal land. She was also key in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the largest national wildlife refuge in Alaska.
Celia Hunter
Mardy fought alongside Celia Hunter, who became the first female president of a national conservation organization: The Wilderness Society.
Sylvia Earle
We also have Sylvia Earle, an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that conducts deep sea exploration, and manages fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the U.S.
Anne LaBastille
Anne LaBastille was another icon in conservation. In 1989 she published her book “Women and the Wilderness”. Which addressed the historically male-dominated culture of conservation and put a spotlight on female naturalists.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
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And let’s not forget Marjory Stoneman Douglas who worked to protect the Everglades. She published the iconic book The Everglades: River of Grass, in the same year the Everglades National Park was established. She issued a phrase that was daring at the time:
“It is a woman’s business to be interested in the environment. It’s an extended form of housekeeping.”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Today we see that women are still making strides in conservation.
When we think about women’s contribution to wildlife conservation, it’s not only about history but about the present.
Kristine Tompkins
Today, we see examples like Kristine Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia and the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation.
Tompkins Conservation is a strategic collaborator of its offspring nonprofits Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina. It has safeguarded more than 14 million acres of parklands in these countries.
Throughout her career, she has devoted herself to safeguarding and rejuvenating the natural splendor and biodiversity of Chile and Argentina. She achieved this by establishing national parks, rehabilitating wildlife, inspiring activism, and promoting economic sustainability through conservation. She was a key figure behind the establishment of Monte León National Park in Argentina and Patagonia National Park in Chile, and other conservation projects.
Most of the time we see white women in the spotlight when talking about conservation efforts, but there are women of color like Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson doing this important work.
It is hard for women to get into male-populated fields like wildlife conservation. It’s even harder for women who don’t look like the majority. This is because of many reasons, but one of them is the social stigma that exists around race and knowledge.
It is important to highlight women of color in the field so that the younger generations of minorities know that they have a place in wildlife conservation too.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, conservation strategist, and co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab a think tank with a mission to cultivate rigorous, creative, equitable, and practical climate and ocean policy for the future of coastal cities. She is also the co-founder of the All We Can Save project which gives resources to people to navigate the climate crisis with peace and find their place in the journey of trying to reverse it.
We also see young women in conservation.
We see a new generation of female conservationists making strides on social media. They give us hope for the future of wildlife.
Madi McKay
Like Madi McKay, also known as the Nudibranch Nerd. She is a marine biologist with almost 1 million followers on TikTok where she shares her work, as well as information about conservation and marine science.
On her profiles, you can see a lot of marine life videos and information about the species featured. She teaches people how to respect the species and their habitat. Also, she provides learning resources such as her youtube channel and important biology reads. She is bringing people closer to wildlife which inspires compassion and aids conservation.
Lizzie Daly
There’s also Lizzie Daly, a wildlife biologist, wildlife broadcaster, conservation filmmaker, and Ph.D. Tagging Scientist. She helps bridge the gap between the general public and scientific communities, by working with companies like the BBC and National Geographic, and through her social media content about conservation and women in science.
Carissa Cabrera
And lastly, we have Carissa Cabrera, known as Carissa and Climate on TikTok where she has over 250,000 followers. She is the founder and CEO of the Conservationist Collective. Which is a media, storytelling, and community platform working to promote an approach to ocean conservation that is based on collaboration.
She is also a host of the Sustainability and the Sea Podcast which focuses on giving people tools to find their own place in ocean conservation.
Carissa’s entire legacy is based on inspiring the up-and-coming generations to commit to saving wildlife and their habitat.
Finally
Truth is, it’s hard to try to encapsulate women’s contribution to wildlife conservation. There are many other women in conservation worth admiration and recognition but we don’t have enough page space to feature them all.
If you care about the work these women have done, you are probably interested in knowing more about endangered animals and wildlife conservation. Read the posts that we have made under those categories by clicking the links.