U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Conservation History Women in Conservation Volume IV, No. 1 (2020) The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Stay connected with us: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service History National Conservation Training Center @USFWS History CONSERVATION HISTORY 2020 Contents From the Historian Lucille Stickel: Pioneer Woman in ii Mark Madison, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Historian and 37 Conservation Research Founder, Conservation History Matthew C. Perry, Heritage Committee Member, Retired, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Whose Stories Are We Missing? iii Maria E. Parisi, Conservation History Editor, Heritage The Legacy and Lessons of Celia Hunter and Partnerships Branch, National Conservation 41 Roger Kaye, Wilderness Coordinator, Alaska Region, Training Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Women’s History Is Women’s Right “Unremarkable,” Helen Fenske’s Unlikely Legacy 1 Catherine Woodward, Biologist, National Conservation 45 Marilyn Kitchell and Jonathan Rosenberg, Great Swamp Training Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Saving Birds over Tea, Sylvia Earle: A Hero for the Planet 5 Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and Minna B. Hall 49 Pete Leary, National Wildlife Refuge System, Paul Tritaik, Heritage Committee Member, South U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Atlantic-Gulf and Mississippi Basin Regions, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mollie Beattie: The Service’s First Female Director 53 Dan Ashe, Association of Zoos and Aquariums Through the Opera Glass, Florence Merriam Bailey 9 Paul Tritaik, Heritage Committee Member, South Our Beliefs Matter: The Mamie Parker Journey Atlantic-Gulf and Mississippi Basin Regions, 57 Mamie Parker, Former Northeast Service Regional Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Assistant Director of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation Evelene Spencer: “Fish Evangelist” Crystal Leonetti's Story: Healing the Agency 13 April Gregory, National Fish and Aquatic Conservation 61 from the Inside Out Archives, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kathleen McCoy, Independent Journalist The Tie that Binds: How the Suffrage Fight Helped Departments 17 Rosalie Edge Advance Conservation Dyana Z. Furmansky, Author and Journalist Retiree News 64 Jerry Grover, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Retirees Witness to Wilderness: The Legacy of Mardy Murie Association Board Member Emeritus and Heritage 21 Steven Chase, Director, National Conservation Committee At-Large Retiree Training Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service From the Archives The Service Gave the World Rachel Carson 65 Carson National Fish Hatchery Personnel, National Fish and 29 Robert K. Musil, Ph.D., M.P.H., Rachel Carson Council Aquatic Conservation Archives, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fran Hamerstrom: An Unconventional Life Oral History Program 33 and Career in Conservation 66 Elizabeth (Betty) Losey (excerpts) Stanley A. Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation, University of Wisconsin-Madison The Gallery and Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation 69 Women tagging fish at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center, circa 1960 Brina Kessell: Pioneering Alaskan Ornithologist 35 Stanley A. Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus Reflection—A Personal History of Women in in Conservation, University of Wisconsin-Madison 70 Conservation and Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation Gretchen Newberry, Midwest Fisheries Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2020 CONSERVATION HISTORY i From the Historian Welcome to the second annual issue resources. Finally, I hope you enjoy of Conservation History, this time the exciting new artwork provid- “For most of dedicated to those extraordinary ed by our National Conservation history, Anonymous women who built our environmental Training Center graphic designer movement, but are all too often left Kristin Simanek. In spite of being a was a woman.” out of conservation history. This history journal, we hope to continue issue recalls the forgotten, famous to experiment with new graphics, and infamous women who were new columns and new ways of tell- — Virginia Woolf wildlife warriors as fierce and effec- ing old stories. So, with this context tive as their male counterparts, if in mind, I hope you enjoy this issue (1882-1941) not as recognized. Our editor, Maria and the subsequent ones that will Parisi, has devoted many hours of be available annually, until we run womanpower to create and shape out of new histories (and herstories) this collection, which we hope will to tell. bring to light some less remembered conservation heroes. From the Mark Madison, U.S. Fish and famous pioneers like Rachel Carson Wildlife Historian and Founder to the equally pioneering Elizabeth of Conservation History. Losey and Evelene Spencer, this issue captures the women environ- mental advocates, scientists, writers and leaders who bequeathed us our present wildlife legacy. Rachel Carson This issue of Conservation History also marks an advance from quan- tity to quality in this living journal. When our current editor took over, we had published a Conservation History issue every 5 years, a woe- Mark with conservation woman? fully slow publication schedule that did little to diminish the backlog of history worth sharing. The initial goal of publishing an issue a year was met with this issue, thanks to unusual adherence to deadlines by contributors and impressive diligence of the editor. This issue also marks the first peer-reviewed issue of Conservation History. Peer-review is the gold standard for scientific and historical journals, and we are proud to add this layer of veracity to this issue—and every issue to follow. In addition, this issue has reached out to a wide-range of historians, conservationists, writers, heads of conservation non-govern- mental organizations, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees (both active and retired) to present a depth of experiences and breadth of perspectives as befits a topic as important as our nation’s natural ii CONSERVATION HISTORY 2020 Whose Stories Are We Missing? That’s where I left off in my editor’s As you read this journal, you’ll see note from the 2019 journal. After the recognition these pioneering noting the accomplishments of six women achieved. You may also no- white men we credit for shaping tice the many nicknames and labels the conservation work we do today, describing them—iconoclast, Fish we decided to feature women in the Evangelist, hellcat, seer, mentor, 2020 journal. We identified women force of nature, Her Deepness, who worked for the U.S. Fish and pioneer, peacemaker. And how about Wildlife Service (Service) or who these? Grandmother of the Conser- influenced the work we do. We begin vation Movement, First Lady of the in the late 1800s and continue to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or, as today’s conservation heroes. In the one man greeted the Service’s first first essay, Catherine Woodward female director, little lady. If John weaves together themes that con- Muir had grandchildren, would we nect these pioneers over this time in have called him the Grandfather of conservation history. the Conservation Movement? I do not doubt these names stem from Thanks to great interest in this well-meaning intent, and yet, how year’s theme, we’ve found ways to often do we remember successful expand the work. Kristin Simanek men as fathers or brothers or sons? (Design and Publishing Branch) First Lady, Dr. Lucille Stickel? By created the artwork that graces the definition, First Lady is the spouse cover and introduces the feature of a head of state, and not the one essays. From the beginning, we in charge. Little Lady? To Director designed her work to fit on banners Mollie Beattie’s credit, she won over Louella Cable. Courtesy Archives and Special Collections, we’re hanging on lampposts around some of her male colleagues. University of South Dakota the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) campus. We also Barriers for women, people of color, Our First Female Scientist want to tell the stories of many and others outside the dominant more women in conservation history, culture remain. I hope you’ll enjoy beyond the Service, and beyond learning about these outstanding While preparing this journal, we learned U.S. borders, and so we are creat- women, and while we have work to about Dr. Louella E. Cable, our first ing a poster with an accompanying do, the Service has changed. Indeed, known female scientist. In 1927, the handout to distribute to anyone as this goes to print, Aurelia Skip- U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, one of our interested, even schools. The poster with is the Service’s first Afri- predecessors, hired Cable as an aquatic features the images of 15 women can-American female director. biologist. Cable was an accomplished and lists another 40 women along researcher, author and illustrator. She a timeline, from 1647 to 2016. The So, now, whose stories are we was among the first to rear fish in a lab, handout showcases the contributions missing? The theme for the 2021 and she identified unknown larval stages of all the women noted. In the long journal is our agency’s sesquicen- of fish species. Her doctoral research run, we’d like to create an interac- tennial anniversary. The Service’s tive online resource, where you can origins began February 9, 1871, focused on aging lake trout via their dig deeper to learn more about these when Congress established the U.S. scales, which aided in lake trout resto- women. In the meantime, NCTC Commission of Fish and Fisheries. ration. Cable’s goby is even named after is planning its first virtual lecture Going forward, we will continue to this pioneer among female scientists. and interview with Dyana Fur- share our history and heritage, and She retired from the Service in 1970.