The Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation, incorporated in 1968, was an outgrowth of the Gordon MacQuarrie Foundation. The MacQuarrie Foundation was organized and named in honor of the nationally known outdoor journalist, who for twenty years authored a column for The Milwaukee Journal and contributed regularly to numerous outdoor magazines.
MacQuarrie, son of Canadian Indian fighter William MacQuarrie and Mary Elizabeth Stevenson MacQuarrie, was born on July 3, 1900 in Superior, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism. After his premature death in 1956, his wife, Ellen MacQuarrie, and several close friends set out to establish a foundation as a lasting memorial to his work in conservation journalism.
The Gordon MacQuarrie Foundation was incorporated in 1957. Its primary purpose was to encourage conservation journalism. Each year the Foundation presented a $100 cash award and a bronze commemorative medallion to a Wisconsin resident “for outstanding achievement in telling the conservation story.” In addition, it granted a $200 scholarship to a University of Wisconsin student interested in conservation and journalism.
Ellen MacQuarrie remained active as secretary of the Foundation after moving to Washington, D.C. in 1962. Her direct participation, however, ended when she remarried and moved to England in 1964. The work of the Foundation was continued by the other organizers, especially its first president, Walter Scott, and his successor, Harry Nohr. After the death of William J. P. Aberg, who was one of the original directors, a decision was made to broaden the base of the Foundation. In November 1968 the officers combined the assets of the MacQuarrie Foundation with funds contributed as a memorial to Aberg, incorporated the Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation, and continued the annual MacQuarrie Award and Scholarship.
