Vance Martin


Vance G. Martin is an expert in international nature conservation and wilderness protection, and a writer. Martin specializes in bridging the interests of people and nature through culture, communications, science, and policy. He has worked in more than 65 nations, lived in many countries, and served on the boards of numerous conservation and business organizations. Since 1983, he has served as President of The WILD Foundation, an international conservation organization explicitly dedicated to protecting wilderness, connecting wild nature to people, and to communicating the values of wilderness and its benefits for human communities.

Early life

Vance G. Martin was born July 20, 1949 in Washington, D.C., to Alyce Dickerson Martin,, and Thomas O. Martin,. 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 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 as a senior manager and Director of Environmental Programs. During this time he met and began to work closely with author/explorer Sir Laurens van der Post 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. He has two grown children and one granddaughter. His personal interests are wild nature, trees, fly-fishing, oriental carpets, photography, and antique trade beads.
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. 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 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 of Traigh Bhan on the island of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides; on the Core Group, in the Education Department; and on the Management Committee.

Conservation Career

Martin has been President of the WILD Foundation since 1983, 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 . 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 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. 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.
In addition to his work with WILD, Martin has served on the board of directors of numerous other organizations including the Cheetah Conservation Fund ; Wilderness Foundation ; Wilderness Foundation ; Conservation & Preservation Charities of America ; Friends of Peace Parks ; 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 ; member, International Advisory Council, EcoForum Global ; Research Fellow, Yancheng Coastal Wetlands Research Institute ; and Expert Advisor, Anshun Huangguoshu World Cultural and Natural Heritage Declaration.

Collaborations

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, Earth Vision Institute, and documentary films Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral.
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 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, and co-founded with Sharon Shay Sloan the Indigenous and Community Lands and Seas project. As a lifetime advocate of the arts and humanities as a key tool for effective nature conservation, Martin fostered the founding of the International League of Conservation Photographers with Cristina Mittermeier, and initiated and co-produced the innovative Rap Guide to Wilderness, with Canadian artist, Baba Brinkman.

Awards and accomplishments

Martin serves as an editor for numerous wilderness and conservation-related reference publications, including the contributing editor for the , contributing editor for three editions of Wilderness Management,, 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 is a personal memoir Wilderness,.

Books