Tuesday, April 25, 2023
The 2023 Induction Ceremonies were held live on a virtual platform and lasted approximately one hour. The ceremonies highlighted Inductee contributions to Wisconsin’s conservation legacy though presentations, and included a live interview with the Inductee or their Representative.

Inductees

BYRON HERBERT SHAW (1943 – 2016) Byron Herbert Shaw is widely known for becoming the first scientist in Wisconsin and among the first in the nation to recognize that pesticides used on farm fields could leach through the soil to contaminate groundwater. As a persistent, perceptive, and courageous water and soils scientist interested in conducting applied research on questions vital to the management of Wisconsin’s natural resources and motivated by strong environmental and civic ethics, Shaw made and communicated new scientific discoveries that influenced policy and law in Wisconsin including Wisconsin’s groundwater protection law, a model for the nation. Few scientists have contributed more to the fundamental body of knowledge about water quality than Byron Shaw.

MICHAEL DOMBECK (1948 – ) Michael Dombeck is one of the most respected and renowned contemporary conservationists. From rural Wisconsin to the national scene and back home again to teach and mentor others, Dombeck’s influence as a leader and conservationist is far-reaching. He dedicated a quarter of a century to managing federal lands and natural resources with an impact on nearly 500 million acres of public lands. Dombeck is the only person to date to lead America’s two largest land management agencies—the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. He is most recognized for forging partnerships and crafting policies that integrated economics, science, and watershed protection to manage federal lands in the long-term public interest. Following his federal service, Dombeck brought his experience back to the classroom to share with students, early-career scientists, and a variety of national and local conservation organizations.

MARK MARTIN (1949 – ) & SUSAN FOOTE-MARTIN (1948 – ) Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin have dedicated their whole lives to conservation—not just through their respective careers in natural resources, but through five decades of individual volunteer efforts that have had significant impacts on conservation in Wisconsin. Together, centered on their stewardship of Goose Pond, a nature sanctuary operated by the Madison Audubon Society in Columbia County, Mark and Susan have dedicated 90 combined years of service protecting, restoring, and managing mesic prairie habitat—the rarest prairie type of the rarest ecosystem in North America. Probably not since Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom, inducted in 1996, has a couple done so much for wild places and wild things in Wisconsin.