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Walter E. Scott, 1969

Walter Scott of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources weighs the 4,499-page transcript of Wisconsin's DDT hearings. View the original source document: WHI 102667

b. 1911
d. June, 1983

Walter E. Scott was a conservationist, preservationist and writer. Scott was trained as a biologist and graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan in 1933. He later obtained graduate degrees in philosophy and political science from the University of Wisconsin in 1955 and 1965. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. Scott created Wisconsin's "Champion Trees" program and supervised it from 1941 to 1974. He also helped form the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Career

He assisted with organizing Historic Madison, Inc. and served with his wife Gertrude as editor of "The Wisconsin Academy Review." In a nearly 40 year career with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and its predecessor, the Wisconsin Conservation Department, Scott served as game warden, a game management supervisor and administrative assistant to the Department's secretary.

A prolific writer, Scott published hundreds of articles on subjects ranging from water resources and conservation administration, to the history of lumbering, hunting and fishing in Wisconsin. He grew many species of trees at home and had over 5,000 books that were given to libraries around the state before his death.

Legacy

Scott was awarded the 1981 Gordon McQuarrie award, the 1967 American Motors Conservation Award, the 1975 Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year, the 1975 University of Wisconsin Outstanding Environmentalist Award and the 1975 Distinguished Service Award of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Council, as well as awards from the Izaak Walton League, the Dane County Conservation League and the Nature Conservancy.

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Tribute to Walter Scott, Wisconsin Academy Review, vol. 27, no. 3, June 1981; Obituary, Wisconsin State Journal, June 26, 1983.