Vance Martin

Awards & Accomplishments

  • The Order of the California Condor in honor of a life dedicated to the preservation of nature, presented by Patricio Robles Gil, Mexico City, Mexico, March 2025

  • Fred Packard Award for Outstanding service to Protected Areas, presented at the 12th World Wilderness Congress (WILD12), He Sapa, Black Hills, South Dakota, USA, August, 2024 

  • Co-Founder; Executive Committee (Board of Trustees) of Wilderness Foundation Global (2015)

  • Member, 2015, Clinton Global Initiative

  • Founding Member, 2015, Rewilding Europe Circle Embajadore de Salamanca (2013)

  • First French-language book on wilderness law and policy, 2013 (Ed. Cyril Kormos)

  • Bob Marshall Award for Group Champion of wilderness Stewardship (on behalf of The WILD Foundation); presented by the Chief, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 2011

  • Initiated Mali Elephant Project to protect desert elephants of central Mali (West Africa), now directed by Dr. Susan Canney and Nomba Ganame, successfully withstanding jihadist war and empowering local communities (2003–Present)

  • Launched Nature Needs Half, a global conservation vision and practice, with Harvey Locke, 2009

  • Co-sponsored and participated in Trans-Africa expedition Tracks of Giants, 2012

  • First international agreement on wilderness, signed by the governments of Canada, the US, and Mexico in November 2009 at WILD9; Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation

  • First Spanish-language book on wilderness law and policy, 2009 (Ed. Cyril Kormos)

  • “Area of Bi-National Environmental Interest” "Big Bend & Rio Bravo" between Texas and Mexico, initiated in Mexico with Patricio Robles Gil in 2008, signed in November 2011 by US (Secretary of Interior) and Mexico (Minister of Environment).

  • First International Handbook on Wilderness Law and Policy (Kormos, 2008)

  • Wilderness Champion, United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2002

  • Native Lands and Wilderness Council (established 2005), with Terry Tanner (Confederated Salish and Kootenai)

  • Global Award, World Wilderness Foundation, India, 1998

  • First Global Wilderness Inventory (McCloskey and Spaulding, 1987)

  • Fellow, Explorer's Club (New York); 2003–Present