Elizabeth Losey

Elizabeth Brown Losey (née Beard) (December 25, 1912 – 2005) was an American conservationist who is recognized as being the first female refuge biologist.

Education Losey was born in East Orange, New Jersey on December 25, 1912. She went to high school in Lynn, Massachusetts. Initially, Losey could not find work because she was a woman.

Career In 1947 she was employed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist at Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Her assignment was to understand the importance of beavers in waterfowl management. Losey was the first woman research biologist in the country. She was only employed by the agency for three years, but built up a successful career as an ornithologist. Rachel Carson recognized Losey's preparations for a manuscript on trumpeter swans as "an excellent job of organizing the material for an effective story".

Losey travelled America and Canada taking photographs of fur trading posts and collecting Native American art, which was later donated to the DeVos Art Museum in Michigan. Her second, Seney National Wildlife Refuge: its story, was published in 2003. She remained a volunteer at Seney National Wildlife Refuge until her death in 2005. She was a lifetime sponsor of Delta Waterfowl Foundation. She is regarded as a pioneer in gender equality within fieldwork.