American conservationists

Billy Frank Jr. (March 9, 1931 – May 5, 2014) was a Native American environmental leader and advocate for treaty rights. As a member of the Nisqually tribe, Frank led a grassroots campaign in the 1960s and 1970s to secure fishing rights on the Nisqually River, located in Washington state. His efforts centered around promoting cooperative management of natural resources. Frank served as the chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for over thirty years.During the Fish Wars, Frank organized a series of "fish-ins." These events culminated in the landmark Boldt Decision, which affirmed that Washington state tribes were entitled to fifty percent of the annual fish harvest.In recognition of his contributions, Frank was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in November 2015. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was renamed in his honor in December 2015. Billy Frank Jr. continues to be considered to be a bridge between Western and Native American societies in regards to environmental sustainability.

Dr. Martha Christensen (born 4 January 1932, Ames, died 19 March 2017, Madison) was an American mycologist, botanist and educator known as an expert in fungal taxonomy and ecology, particularly for soil-dwelling fungi in the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium.

Thomas Joseph Cade (January 10, 1928 – February 6, 2019) was an American ornithologist most notable for his efforts to conserve the peregrine falcon.

William Albert Turnage (December 9, 1942 – October 15, 2017) was the director of The Wilderness Society from 1978 to 1985 and business manager of photographer Ansel Adams. He was known for turning the Wilderness Society into a more professional advocacy group, and was an outspoken critic of James G. Watt, the Interior Secretary in the Reagan Administration. Born in Tucson and raised in Washington, D.C., Turnage earned a degree in history from Yale University in 1965 and entered Yale Law School before switching to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He met Adams while working with Yale Chubb Fellowship and left school shortly after Adams invited him to manage his photography.

Jack Ward Thomas (September 7, 1934 – May 26, 2016) was the thirteenth chief of the U.S. Forest Service, serving during the Clinton administration years of 1993–1996.
He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His undergraduate education and degree (a BS in wildlife management in 1957) was from Texas A&M University. He worked for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for ten years. Then while working as a USFS research biologist at Morgantown, West Virginia, he received an MS in wildlife ecology from West Virginia University. He headed a Forest Service research unit at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He received his PhD in forestry there in 1972. In 1974, he moved to La Grande, Oregon, working as the chief research wildlife biologist and program leader at the USFS Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory.
On December 1, 1993, he was appointed Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. During his time as head of the USFS, the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted. Jack became a member of the Boone and Crockett Club in 1994. After retiring from the Forest Service, he accepted a position as the Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the School of Forestry of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana—a position he held until 2006 when he officially retired.
He died on May 26, 2016, after a battle with cancer, at his home in Florence, Montana.