Our last woman environmentalist for Women’s History Month 2022 is Rosalie Barrow Edge. Edge, who has all but been forgotten, was recognized as “the most honest, unselfish, indomitable hellcat in the history of conservation.” (The New Yorker, 1948.)Edge is probably best known as the founder of the first preserve for birds of prey in the world, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. But during her time, she took on big money and corrupt conservationists who conspired to preserve lands and species that indulged their own special interests and financial well-being. She was also at the forefront of establishing and protecting National Parks during the Depression, and she was one of the first to warn against the dangers of pesticides.
Read more about her in this review by biographer Dyana Z. Furmansky.
0 Comments