Director's Message
Remembering Don Johnson & Glenn Chambers Glenn Chambers was born June 14, 1936 at home on the family farm in Bates County, near Passaic between Butler and Adrian. He became enamored by the outdoors early on. When Glenn was just a boy, Charlie Schwartz, the famous Missouri conservation artist who designed the MDC logo and really helped establish the public image of the Department, recorded a survey on the Chambers farm in 1942. According to Glenn, Charlie found 50 prairie chicken cocks per acre. This was long before he became Glenn’s mentor and dear friend.
He was the 60th Missourian to receive the Department of Conservation’s top living honor, the Master Conservationist Award. Yet the most prestigious award Glenn received is the William T. Hornaday Gold Medal from the Boy Scouts of America. A lifetime achievement award given for environmental conservation, Chambers is only the 40th person in history to receive the honor, joining the ranks of Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold. He remains the only Missourian to receive the Medal. Both of these incredible men, Glenn Chambers and Don Johnson, were giants in the Missouri conservation story, and were giants among their friends. They will be missed deeply by many and CFM is lessened by their loss. But both are forever cemented in the legacy of conservation in Missouri. Our world is a better place because of Glenn and Don. God bless them and their families.
Glenn saw and worked in many of the world’s wildest places, including the Arctic and Guatemala. He had a special connection to the wild and wildlife. He trained baby geese to be movie stars and worked with all sorts of other critters, but he’s maybe best known for his work with otters. The breadth of Glenn’s work has been duly recognized. Over the course of his life, he received many awards and honors. He was the recipient of the Ducks Unlimited Distinguished Service Award. He was also a past president of the Conservation Federation of Missouri and received the Federation’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Glenn Chambers. (Photo: Courtesy of CFM)
Yours in Conservation, Brandon Butler Executive Director, CFM
SEPTEMBER - 2017
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