2006 Lifetime Achievement Award

Russell E. Train

Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Chairman Emeritus, World Wildlife Fund




Russell Train is an environmental statesman whose half-century of accomplishments and leadership have shaped the field of worldwide conservation.  As one of the pioneering architects of many of the laws and regulations that have protected our environment for more than 30 years, and as a founder, president, and chairman of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Mr. Train has been a tireless advocate for the environment, unmatched in his efforts to protect our precious natural heritage. 

After graduating law school, Mr. Train specialized in tax law, and was eventually appointed by President Eisenhower to be a judge on the U. S. Tax Court.    His interests turned towards the environment while on safari in Africa in the 1950s.  There, he developed an appreciation of the need for conservation.  In 1959, he founded the Wildlife Leadership Foundation, through which he attempted to help the emerging nations of Africa establish an infrastructure of professional resource management to create effective wildlife parks and reserves.  Soon after, he resigned from his position on the tax court to accept an offer to be president of the Conservation Foundation.  A research, education, and information-oriented institution, during Mr. Train's tenure it stressed citizen participation, supported demonstration projects, and sponsored a major conference on environmentalism in international economic growth.  Train also focused the foundation on finding methods to insert greater environmental awareness into federal policy-making processes.

Mr.. Train re-entered government service in 1968, when President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the National Water Commission.  He remained active in policymaking under Nixon, and in 1970 he was appointed to be the first head of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).  During his tenure, Mr. Train was instrumental in developing many important environmental policies, including policies on clean air and water, toxic substances, safe drinking water, surface mining and endangered species.  In 1973, he became the second administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a position he held until 1978.  Mr. Train helped shape an era of bipartisan concern for the environment that resulted in enactment of many significant laws.

Mr. Train also served in many international roles.  From 1970 - 1977, Mr. Train was the U.S. representative to the NATO Committee on the Challenges of a Modern Society.  In 1972, he headed the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Conference on the Human Environment, the Ocean Dumping Convention Conference, and two conferences in London which negotiated conventions on the control of oil spills at sea and tanker design.  Also in 1972, he served as the President's personal representative to the meeting of the International Whaling Convention at which the U.S. proposed the moratorium (now in effect) on commercial whaling.  In 1973, he headed the U.S. delegation, which negotiated the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  From 1972 - 1977, Mr. Train chaired the U.S. side of the U.S. - U.S.S.R. Environmental Cooperation Agreement and negotiated several other bilateral environmental agreements. 

After his distinguished career in public service, in 1978 Mr. Train assumed the presidency of WWF, which he had helped co-found in 1968.  In his more than 25 years of leadership at WWF - first as president, then in 1985, as chairman, and now as chairman emeritus - he has advanced its many conservation goals while making a profound difference in the lives of people around the world. 

Mr. Train has received numerous awards and honors for his exemplary service, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Aldo Leopold Medal of the Wildlife Society; Conservationist of the Year Award of the National Wildlife Federation; Public Service Medal of the National Academy of Science; the Heinz Family Foundation Chairman's Medal; the Keystone Center Leadership Award; and the Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands).  He is also the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. 

His legacy continues through the Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program, which is helping produce the next generation of conservation leaders.  He is married to the former Aileen Bowdoin, and they reside in Washington, DC, where Mr. Train remains active in the WWF as well as numerous other organizations.