Remembering Frank Graham | Audubon

Sitting on my desk is a well-thumbed copy of The Audubon Ark. I’ve flipped via it numerous occasions, immersing myself in Audubon’s historical past. The e-book, which traces the evolution of the group from the late 1800s, is a feat of reporting, a definitive account of the individuals, locations, and occasions that formed Audubon’s mission and work. It’s a e-book solely Frank Graham, Jr., might have produced. 

Frank wrote the Ark throughout his tenure as Audubon journal’s area editor—a place he held for 45 years. In that span Frank crisscrossed the nation some 200 occasions on reporting journeys that he reworked into outstanding tales. Although Frank retired as area editor in 2013, his contributions to Audubon remained so indelible that—out of respect and admiration—we continued to incorporate his identify on the masthead till this previous April, when he handed away on the age of 100. 

Frank shall be remembered for a lot of issues, however longtime readers of this journal will recollect he was each an exquisite nature author and an impressive environmental journalist. In his fingers, topics as ethereal as fog and as unusual as a fly grew to become vivid protagonists. He additionally deployed his sharp powers of statement to shed much-needed gentle on conservation challenges. As his first project for Audubon, Frank investigated the sluggish progress in regulating pesticides within the wake of Silent Spring—reporting he then expanded into the seminal e-book’s sequel, which obtained popularity of defending and constructing on Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking work.

Frank was intimately acquainted with this journal. Whereas researching The Audubon Ark, he learn each subject, beginning with the primary (then referred to as Chook-Lore) in 1899. He documented our evolution, too, right into a trusted and revered supply of journalism on the trendy conservation motion. It’s a standing that Frank helped cement, and that we try to uphold. In these pages you’ll discover tales that each discover right now’s environmental challenges and invite shut statement and celebration of nature. For as Frank wrote shortly earlier than he retired, “I’ve seen the strongest bonds cast once we convey to the struggle, as Rachel Carson did, a dedication to protect what we love.”

Hope sprang everlasting in a lot of Frank’s conservation protection, noticed David Seideman, who labored with Frank for practically 20 years, together with many as Audubon’s editor-in-chief. You’ll be able to learn David’s tribute to Frank here, in addition to a favourite piece of Frank’s republished from our archives.