This month, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam became the first conservationist to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal, the United States’ second-highest civilian award, given to those “performing exemplary deeds of service for her country and fellow citizens.”
Putnam is broadly credited with launching the American conservation service movement more than 50 years ago with the founding of the Student Conservation Program (later to become the Student Conservation Association), and was one of thirteen 2010 recipients honored by President Obama at a White House ceremony on August 4.
Introduced to conservation as a field of study while a student at Vassar, Putnam was influenced by a 1953 article in Harper’s Magazine titled, “Let’s Close the National Parks,” which described how limited staffing and inadequate park funding were unable to keep pace with a dramatic increase in the number of park visitors.
Putnam envisioned an entirely different solution to the problem, and in her 1955 senior thesis, proposed adapting the Civilian Conservation Corps model to enlist student volunteers to assist with park maintenance and other labor-intensive activities. Aided by colleague Martha Hayne Talbot, Ms. Putnam secured the interest and support of officials in the National Park Service, and in 1957, the first student volunteers arrived at Grand Teton and Olympic National Parks.
Ever since, the non-profit Student Conservation Association (SCA) has provided student volunteers with hands-on experience in conservation and, in the process, helped to develop new generations of conservation leaders. Today, more than half of SCA’s 60,000 alumni remain active conservationists in their careers and communities.
The impact of Putnam’s work with the SCA on America’s national parks, forests, wilderness areas and national monuments — as well as state and local parks — is difficult to overemphasize.
Each year, the SCA continues to place thousands of high school, college and graduate students in all 50 states, from urban communities to national parks and forests, where they protect endangered species, restore habitats, build hiking trails and more.
The National Park Service alone estimates up to 12% of its workforce can trace their professional roots to SCA. Other SCA members serve sites within the US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies, hundreds of state parks, and green spaces in dozens of major cities.
SCA has also served as the blueprint for numerous other eco-service initiatives including the Department of the Interior’s Youth Conservation Corps, dozens of Volunteers in Parks (VIP) programs, and myriad state and local conservation corps.
As impressive as Putnam’s influence over the course of five decades is the prescience of her vision. Her idea to actively involve student citizens in conservation predated publication of Rachel Carson’s influential Silent Spring in 1962, the birth of the environmental movement in the late 60s and 70s, and Earth Day.
Prior to receiving the Citizens Medal, Ms. Putnam received President Reagan’s Volunteer Action Award, the Cornelius Amory Pugsley Medal for contributions to public parks, and the Rachel Carson Leadership Award, among others.
“Serving nature is among the most important and rewarding callings humankind can ever know,” said Ms. Putnam. “I am grateful to President Obama and humbled by this honor. I share it with all the young women and men of the Student Conservation Association, whose hands-on service protects our public lands and lifts our people’s hearts.”
To learn more about Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam, the Student Conservation Association, or how you might participate, visit the SCA web site.
