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Hazel Wolf

A calling that nearly didn’t happen...
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Brown Creeper
© Mike Hamilton

The writer Paul Bowles said, “Nothing just happens. It depends on who comes along.” For the Audubon Society in Washington State, that “who” was Hazel Wolf. She was a labor activist, environmental campaigner, and life-long champion of causes she believed in. From 1969 until 1997, Hazel Wolf organized Audubon chapters throughout the Pacific Northwest. She made a difference for birds including her favorite, the Brown Creeper, because someone had made a difference for her. It was a calling, though, that nearly didn’t happen...

Support for Birdnote comes from Forterra, saving keystone places for people and nature in the Pacific Northwest.

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BirdNote®

Hazel Wolf – Making a Difference

Written by Todd Peterson

This is BirdNote.

The writer Paul Bowles said, “Nothing just happens. It depends on who comes along.” For the Audubon Society in Washington State, that who was Hazel Wolf. She was a labor activist, environmental campaigner, and life-long champion of causes she believed in. From 1969 until 1997, Hazel Wolf organized Audubon chapters throughout the Pacific Northwest. She made a difference for birds, nature, and people, because someone had made a difference for her. It was a calling, though, that nearly didn’t happen: 

One of my friends belonged to the Audubon Society, and she was always wanting me to join it. Cost a dollar. And I put her off and I put her off. I didn’t want to get committed to some such thing. Finally to shut her up I gave her a dollar. So a foot in the door. You don’t know what people are going to have a tremendous influence on your life. She’s long gone now. I often think of her, what a difference she made in my life and wonder where I would I be now if it wasn’t for Irene insisting that I join the Audubon Society.

The voice of Hazel Wolf – Learn more about her amazing contribution to birds and conservation at BirdNote.org

For BirdNote I’m Mary McCann. 

Support for Birdnote comes from Forterra, saving keystone places for people and nature in the Pacific Northwest.

###

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Ambient recording ‘Malheur’ recorded by G F Budney
Hazel Wolf recorded by Susan Starbuck, used by permission of UW Special Collections. 
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org  Oct 2018  Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#    wolfh-01-2015-08-19wolfh-01   

Todd Peterson
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Mike Hamilton
Photographer
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Tagsenvironmental champion history Pacific Northwest

Related Resources

Learn about Hazel Wolf’s contributions to birds and natureThere’s more about the life and legacy of Hazel Wolf at historylink.orgBrown Creeper – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds

More About These Birds

Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)

Certhia americana

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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