|
SIERRA CLUB REMEMBERS MARDY MURIE, GRANDMOTHER OF CONSERVATION Legendary Wilderness Advocate, Writer Dies at Age of 101 Margaret Murie, known to many as the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement," passed away yesterday at her home in Moose, Wyoming, at the age of 101. A passionate advocate for wild places and a prolific writer, "Mardy" played a critical role in protecting America’s most cherished wilderness lands and inspired generations of conservationists. "No one embodied the spirit of wild America more than Mardy Murie," said Bruce Hamilton, Sierra Club Conservation Director. "Her life was dedicated to giving voice to the wild places and creatures that had no vote in our political process. She carried on the grand tradition established by Sierra Club founder John Muir for her entire life, and now new generations of wilderness advocates must pick up the torch that she has passed to us." Mardy was born in Seattle, but moved to Alaska at a young age. In 1924 she became the first woman to graduate from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. In that year, she married naturalist Olaus Murie - then with the U.S. Biological Survey - and the duo promptly departed on a caribou research expedition, mushing their way across the Brooks Range and Arctic Wildlife Range. The story of that wilderness honeymoon is told in Murie’s book, "Two in the Far North," a classic account based on her journals. Mardy recalled that one of the only times she saw her husband cry was years later when word arrived that the Arctic Wildlife Range of their honeymoon would be made the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Two years after their Arctic adventure, Olaus and Mardy moved to Wyoming to study elk. They built a cabin in Jackson Hole. There the two fell in with like-minded conservationists and were inspirational to such figures as David Brower and Howard Zahniser. Sadly, Olaus died in 1963, just months before the Wilderness Act was signed. Mardy carried on, however, eventually testifying on behalf of the Alaska Lands Act of 1980, pleading with lawmakers to "allow Alaska to be different, to be herself, to nourish our souls." Her activism has been widely recognized. At the signing of the Alaska Lands Act, Murie was personally commended by then-President Jimmy Carter. Three years later, she was awarded the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award. And in 1998, former President Bill Clinton bestowed upon her the Medal of Freedom for her tireless dedication to the cause of preserving Nature - what she once called "omnipotence at work." Mardy's life is the subject of a highly acclaimed documentary, "Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story," a Sierra Club presentation by Wyoming filmmaker Bonnie Kreps, co-produced with Charlie Craighead. The writer Barry Lopez once wrote of Mardy Murie: "She has a grandmother's poise, a lover's fire, a spouse's allegiance, a curandera's wariness about Congressional platitudes. When she is gone, the land will break down in tears." ### |
