Vance Martin

Vance G. Martin[1] (full name Vance Gregory Martin) was born July 20, 1949 in Washington, D.C., to Alyce Dickerson Martin, (deceased, 2013), and Thomas O. Martin, (deceased, 1994, a 25 year veteran of the FBI). He grew up mostly throughout the Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia area of the United States. He spent as much of his free time as possible in the forests and fields of the Piedmont Region, and later (during university) in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1971, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and minor studies in forestry and wildlife management.

After university, Martin lived and worked abroad in Asia and Europe for 13 years, including 10 years at The Findhorn Foundation in Scotland (a UK-registered, educational charitable trust) as a senior manager and (sic) Director of Environmental Programs. During this time he met and began to work closely with author/explorer Sir Laurens van der Post[2] and South African, international conservationist Dr. Ian Player. His life-long interest in nature conservation and traditional peoples developed into a professional, working commitment to understand, protect and communicate wilderness values and the irreplaceable role of wilderness and traditional cultures in a healthy modern society.

He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado (USA). He has two grown children and one granddaughter. His personal interests are wild nature, trees, fly-fishing, oriental carpets, photography, and antique trade beads.

Courtesy of Nick Chevalier, South Africa, 2012

Prior to working for WILD and while gaining his university degree, Martin was co-owner of Natural Foods Store, the first organic and natural foods store in northern West Virginia, Martin also co-owned an antique and artisanal crafts import business. Beginning in 1974, he spent 10 years with The Findhorn Foundation in Scotland.[3] There he developed his skills for non-profit management alongside furthering his wilderness ethic, land management experience, and his understanding of how the human world interfaces with the natural world. During his years at Findhorn, Martin served at varying times as (sic) Executive Director; Director of gardens, farms, and landscaping; Director of environmental programs; Founder/Director of Trees for Life, a social movement for growing and planting trees; as Warden (custodian) of Traigh Bhan on the island of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides; on the Core (central policy) Group, in the Education Department; and on the Management Committee.

Martin[4] has been President of the WILD Foundation since 1983,[5] leading program and financial development for a conservation NGO that was established by South African conservationist Dr. Ian Player in 1974. He works primarily on fundraising, program strategy and management for WILD, frequently traveling between the headquarters in Colorado with WILD projects and affiliated organizations around the world. Martin works extensively in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, Russia, and the Americas to foster the understanding, policy, and action needed to protect and sustain wild nature while meeting the needs of human communities. His work brings him into all sectors of society from the government and corporate world to academics, the arts, local communities, and native/indigenous cultures.

A key moment in Martin's career was his central role in conceiving, initiating and managing the first international agreement on wilderness signed by the governments of Canada, United States and Mexico in November, 2009, at WILD9 (9th World Wilderness Congress) (Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation). At that same time he also co-conceived and launched the Nature Needs Half vision and practice with friend and colleague Harvey Locke.

Between 1992 and 2002, Martin closely collaborated with Dr Laurie Marker to establish and expand the Cheetah Conservation Fund, based in Namibia. He served as its President for 10 years and remains on the Board of Trustees. CCF is recognized as the premier global initiative to protect the endangered wild cheetah, and has become one of the most successful and far-reaching species-oriented field projects in the world.

Martin has been the International Director of the World Wilderness Congress [2] (WWC) since 1983, as well as the executive editor for all its publications. The WWC has been described as the Olympics of the wilderness conservation world.[6] Approximately every four years in a different country, the WWC convenes a diverse convergence of leaders in international conservation, government, science, the arts and humanities, communications, and business with the public to: achieve practical conservation results; strengthen constructive dialogue and positive action on important environmental issues; promote a greater understanding of wilderness; and enhance the protection of wild lands and seas. Established in South Africa in 1977, this is the world’s longest-running, international, public conservation project and environmental forum. The “WILD10” process, of which Martin was Co-Chair, took place in Europe and convened in Salamanca, Spain, in October 2013.[7]

In addition to his work with WILD (where he also is on the Board of Directors), Martin has served on the board of directors of numerous other organizations[8] including the Cheetah Conservation Fund (of which he was President for 10 years[9]); Wilderness Foundation (Africa); Wilderness Foundation (UK); Conservation & Preservation Charities of America (President, 6 years); Friends of Peace Parks (President); International Conservation Caucus Foundation; SAVM, LLC.; and Fulcrum Publishing, Inc. He is also the founder and current co-chairman of the Wilderness Specialist Group of the World Commission on Protected Areas of the IUCN; Fellow, Findhorn Foundation (Scotland); member, International Advisory Council, EcoForum Global (China); Research Fellow, Yancheng Coastal Wetlands Research Institute (China); and Expert Advisor, Anshun Huangguoshu World Cultural and Natural Heritage Declaration (China).

Dedicated to collaboration and cooperation as an effective means of empowering a wider social movement for nature conservation, Martin has helped initiate or worked closely with others to foster many new projects and organizations. The significant collaborations include: International Conservation Caucus Foundation (with David H. Baron), Earth Vision Institute (with James Balog), and documentary films Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral (with Jeff Orlowski and James Balog).

Martin is committed to the critical role of human culture as a necessary and effective force in nature conservation, and in creating solutions across boundaries and ideologies. Central to this is his dedication to working with Indigenous Peoples (IP) and local communities to assure respect and rightful regard for their knowledge, rights, and cultural practices. As well as working with traditional communities in Africa, Asia, and North and South America, he co-founded the Native Lands and Wilderness Council with Terry Tanner of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (2005), and co-founded with Sharon Shay Sloan the Indigenous and Community Lands and Seas project (2013). As a lifetime advocate of the arts and humanities as a key tool for effective nature conservation, Martin fostered (among many things) the founding of the International League of Conservation Photographers with Cristina Mittermeier (2005), and initiated and co-produced the innovative Rap Guide to Wilderness (2014), with Canadian artist, Baba Brinkman.

• Co-Founder; Executive Committee (Board of Trustees) of Wilderness Foundation Global (2015)
• Member, 2015, Clinton Global Initiative
• Founding Member, 2015, Rewilding Europe Circle[10]
• Embajadore de Salamanca (2013)
• First French-language book on wilderness law and policy, 2013 (Ed. Cyril Kormos)
• Bob Marshall Award for Group Champion of wilderness Stewardship (on behalf of The WILD Foundation); presented by the Chief, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 2011
• Initiated Mali Elephant Project to protect desert elephants of central Mali (West Africa), now directed by Dr. Susan Canney and Nomba Ganame, successfully withstanding jihadist war and empowering local communities (2003–Present)
• Launched Nature Needs Half, a global conservation vision and practice, with Harvey Locke, 2009
• Co-sponsored and participated in Trans-Africa expedition Tracks of Giants, 2012
• First international agreement on wilderness, signed by the governments of Canada, the US, and Mexico in November 2009 at WILD9; Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation
• First Spanish-language book on wilderness law and policy, 2009 (Ed. Cyril Kormos)
• “Area of Bi-National Environmental Interest” "Big Bend & Rio Bravo" between Texas and Mexico, initiated in Mexico with Patricio Robles Gil in 2008, signed in November 2011 by US ( Secretary of Interior) and Mexico (Minister of Environment).
• First International Handbook on Wilderness Law and Policy (Kormos, 2008)
• Wilderness Champion, United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2002
• Native Lands and Wilderness Council (established 2005), with Terry Tanner (Confederated Salish and Kootenai)
• Global Award, World Wilderness Foundation, India, 1998
• First Global Wilderness Inventory (McCloskey and Spaulding, 1987)
• Fellow, Explorer's Club (New York); 2003–Present

Martin serves as an editor for numerous wilderness and conservation-related reference publications,[11] including the contributing editor for the International Journal of Wilderness (1994–present), contributing editor (international) for three editions of Wilderness Management, (the standard international reference), as well as a handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy , Una Introducción al Derecho y las Políticas Internacionales Sobre Áreas Silvestres, and Une introduction au driot et aux politiques internationales de la nature sauvage. Martin is listed in the Who's Who in Service to the Earth, Who's Who in the West, and numerous other references. His most recent book (2009) is a personal memoir Wilderness (with photographs by Patricio Robles Gil and introduction by Ian Player), ISBN 978-607-00-1522-9.

• The WILD Foundation