Don L. Johnson

Don L. Johnson (March 18, 1927 – January 20, 2006) was an outdoor writer from Wisconsin. His career included nature writing, investigative reporting on environmental issues, and traditional outdoor writing about hunting, fishing, and related pursuits.

Early life Born March 18, 1927, Johnson grew up in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, but spent much of his boyhood on family farms in Dodge and Buffalo counties, hunting and fishing.

In another series, Johnson challenged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as it tried to ditch and drain the Cache River bottomlands in Arkansas, for which he received an award from the Arkansas Wildlife Federation.

Johnson also took notes on his nature hikes, which he crafted into vignettes, many published in the Milwaukee Sentinel during the years that he worked as outdoor writer for that newspaper. In November 2005, a collection of his nature essays was published, titled Summer's Song and Other Essays.

Johnson left the Sentinel in 1984, but continued to write, freelancing articles and photographs to magazines. He published a 1995 book Grouse & Woodcock: A Gunner's Guide.

Personal life and death Johnson was an adventurer who hiked, hunted, fished, and photographed in such far-flung places as Africa, Cuba, the Andes, the Amazon, Mexico, the Yukon, and Alaska.

Johnson died on January 20, 2006, after a struggle with both Parkinson's disease and cancer.