Martha Hayne Talbot

Martha (Marty) Hayne Talbot (born August 3, 1932) is an American conservation activist, biologist, author, ecologist and co-founder of the Student Conservation Association. She is also an active participant on Boards of scientific, environmental and community organisations.

Early life Martha Hayne was born in San Francisco, California, United States, the daughter of Francis Bourn Hayne and his wife Anna Walcott. She attended the Katharine Branson School and graduated Vassar College, in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts. While she was at Vassar, she helped her friend Elizabeth Cushman respond to minatory remarks by Bernard DeVoto on the state of the US National Parks. Cushman first wrote a senior thesis on the maintenance issue for the parks system and youth service. Then the two set up the Student Conservation Association, with funding from the National Parks Association.

Career After college, went to work for the National Parks Association. For the first six years of her marriage, from 1959, she worked with her husband Lee Talbot on the ecology of the East African plains. They then traveled very widely for several years, backpacking in a number of tropical areas. Marty Talbot went on to conduct environmental research in more than 60 countries.

Talbot has served as President of the Society of Women Geographers, Vice President of Rachel Carson Council, part of Rachel's Network Council and Director of the Student Conservation Association, which she co-founded.

Honors and awards Recipient, CINE Golden Eagle Award, Documentary Film, 1968 Inductee, Worldwide Lifetime Achievement, 2016

Family Martha Hayne married the ecologist Lee Merriam Talbot on May 16, 1959; and they had two children: Lawrence and Russell Merriam.