What happened on every day in the history of conservation
We often talk about the elephant in the room—or not talk about it, as the saying goes. But what about the elephant in the country, the first one in the country? It had to happen sometime, and that time was April 13, 1796. America’s first elephant arrived from Asia, aboard the merchant ship America! She […]
Read More →Arches National Monument was created by President Herbert Hoover on April 12, 1929. It remained a national monument until 1971, when the U.S. Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed a law to change the status to a national park. Arches National Park lies in the east-central Utah, near the city of Moab. Arches is […]
Read More →Dian Fossey is the name we associate with mountain gorillas, but working alongside her and continuing her work to this day was the most active and honored conservationists of modern times. Ian Redmond was born in Malaysia on April 11, 1954. As a boy, he returned with his mother to the Yorkshire region of England, […]
Read More →Arbor Day is a tree-planting rite of spring in all fifty states and in many countries around the world. The date of celebration varies according to the ideal time to plant new trees, but the first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 10, 1872 J. Sterling Morton (born in 1832), a journalist and nature lover, […]
Read More →For those of us of a certain age (that is, old), the name Jim Fowler is synonymous with animal adventures. Fowler was the co-host, with Marlin Perkins, of the television program, Wild Kingdom. Perkins was the star; Fowler did the dirty work. We all wanted to be Jim Fowler. Fowler was born on April 9, […]
Read More →The 2006 movie, “A Night at the Museum” introduced people around the world to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. But the real museum is even more spectacular than the special effects of the movie—and has been for nearly 150 years. The governor of New York signed the museum into existence […]
Read More →April 7 is celebrated each year as World Health Day. As Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland famously noted in her leadership of the world’s first comprehensive look at sustainability, the issues of public health, environmental quality and economic development are not three issues—but one. World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 to recognize the founding […]
Read More →If you go to a state or national park, you will probably be walking on a trail, sitting in a shelter or standing on a scenic overlook that was built in the 1930s by the young workers of the CCC—the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC is one of the great American success stories of conservation, […]
Read More →All this sustainability stuff is deadly serious, but can we take a minute now and then to laugh at ourselves about it? That’s just what the British comedy series, The Good Life, did. In 39 episodes, starting on April 4, 1975, and running through 1978, the television show spoofed the desire to become self-sufficient and […]
Read More →Ask just about anyone to name a famous living biologist, and the answer is likely to be, “Jane Goodall.” Goodall, who studied chimpanzees in Tanzania for half a century, is a hero to people throughout the world, and especially a role model for young women interested in science, research and adventure. Goodall was born on […]
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