Harley MacKenzie | Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame

1888 – 1979
Inducted 1988

What started as seasonal employment for Harley MacKenzie led to an innovative conservation career that included hiring the state’s first wildlife research biologists and adopting sporting licenses. MacKenzie began working as a seasonal warden in 1910 in northern Wisconsin. He became a full-time conservation warden in 1917, based in Antigo, and was named the first chief warden of the Conservation Department in 1925. He served as director of the department, the forerunner of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, from 1934 to 1942.

MacKenzie is credited with professionalizing the warden force. He established physical and professional qualifications, wrote the first wardens’ manual, secured official uniforms and created warden efficiency awards. He was committed to conservation, wildlife and natural resources protection. He met the woman he married, Lydia Stumpf, while both worked for the Conservation Department.

MacKenzie initiated the sportsmen’s license in Wisconsin. Hunting and fishing license fees continue to support wildlife management and habitat protection. He also was instrumental in creating a forestry mill tax, which has helped the state purchase and preserve forestland. He was involved in state acquisition of the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest and the Horicon Marsh.

MacKenzie hired the first wildlife biologists and initiated federally supported projects for wildlife research and management. His efforts to create ranger stations and raise awareness about fire dangers led to an efficient state fire control system. Fish hatcheries were developed under his direction. He took advantage of opportunities to promote conservation education.

He helped develop Wisconsin’s basic water protection laws and led an early state battle against industrial pollution. MacKenzie’s threat to sue a paper mill for discharging waste that caused massive fish kills resulted in the mill cleaning its wastewater.

In 1934, he helped found the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, which is an advisory council to the state DNR Board. He also was an organizer of the Association of Midwest Fish and Game Commissioners and served as its president. It was in 1934, too, that MacKenzie merged several game operations into a single conservation center and game farm in Poynette. The facility has expanded to include nature study and environmental education and, in 1971, was renamed the MacKenzie Environmental Center.