Who We Are

1960 - 1969

September 1961 – From a concern for the plight of wildlife and recognition that funds were urgently needed to support global conservation efforts, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International is formed on September 11, 1961, with headquarters in Morges, Switzerland.  H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands becomes the organization‘s first president.  Russ Train, a judge of the U.S. Tax Court, with a passion for African wildlife, plays an instrumental role in the founding of WWF-US and becomes a founding director.

The new international organization’s goal is to raise funds for conservation through “national appeals” and, using the best scientific advice available, channel financial aid to organizations supporting conservation.

That same year, Russ Train also becomes the founder of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, organized to aid Africans in developing capacity to manage their own wildlife resources.  He helps establish the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka (near Moshi), Tanzania.

December 1961 - World Wildlife Fund, Inc. (WWF), – “the U.S. appeal” – becomes the second national organization to be formed after WWF-UK.   Incorporated in the District of Columbia on December 1, 1961, WWF names then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower its President of Honor. Ira N. Gabrielson and Russ Train are named the first president and vice president of WWF-US, respectively.

1965 – Train becomes President of The Conservation Foundation, a small environmental think tank, among whose goals are to “promote public knowledge about the earth’s resources… – and to encourage human conduct to sustain and enrich life on earth.”   In this role, Train helps to bring the environment to the American public’s consciousness and lobbies for a high-level policy group at the highest levels of government.

1966 - Train becomes a member of the National Water Commission, charged by Congress with reviewing national water policies.

1968 – Train is selected to serve as Chairman, Task Force on Environment for U.S. President elect Richard M. Nixon.  His selection, and the creation of the task force, signals the growing acceptance by the incoming administration of the “environment” as a public policy concept. 

1969 – Train is appointed by Nixon and confirmed by the Senate as Under Secretary, U.S Department of the Interior, overseeing national issues ranging from water pollution, waste treatment, to coal mine health and safety.

1970 - 1979

1970 – Train is tapped to be first chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and serves in this capacity unti 1973. While at CEQ, Train puts environmental issues on the presidential agenda, bringing their importance to the broad attention of American public.  With Train’s encouragement, President Richard M. Nixon signs the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), his first official act of the new decade and one that will set the stage for an extraordinary array of environmental initiatives, both domestic and international.

1972 – Under Train’s leadership while at CEQ, a proposal is added to the 1971 President’s Annual Message to Congress on the Environment recommending a World Heritage Trust.  The following year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopts the World Heritage Convention at its Stockholm Conference in June 1972.  The World Heritage Trust program provides vital protection to 730 cultural and natural sites around the world, and builds on the American national parks concept.  Train is considered the father of UNESCO’s World Heritage program, having developed the concept and promoted its establishment.

1973 – Train is appointed Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and serves in that capacity until 1977.  In 1973, The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is negotiated in Washington, with Russell E. Train leading the U.S. government delegation as Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. This international agreement has been signed by over 170 nations that are committed to working together to ensure wild plant and animal species are not threatened with extinction by uncontrolled trade and exploitation.

In his four years at the EPA, Train oversaw the creation and implementation of much of the legislation that would become the basis for environmental policy in the United States, from clean air and water laws to the Toxic Substance Control Act. 

1978 - Train becomes President and Chairman of WWF and serves in that capacity until 1985. Under his guidance, World Wildlife Fund-US expands its focus not only on species-related conservation projects, but also on protecting habitat by establishing national parks and nature reserves.  It also develops innovative financial mechanisms, including the concept of using Third World debt reduction to protect the global environment. Through these debt-for-nature swaps, WWF will convert portions of national debts into funding for conservation, beginning in  the mid-eighties.

1980 - 1989

1983 – Through Russ Train’s efforts, the WWF-administered J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize is presented to awardees in the White House Rose Garden by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan.  President Reagan calls the Getty Prize “the Nobel Prize for Conservation.”  Begun in 1974, the Getty Prize originally honored outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation and now focuses on the education of future conservationists.

1985 – Train becomes Chairman of the Board of Directors of World Wildlife Fund and The Conservation Foundation and   serves as Chairman until 1994.  In this same year, the Conservation Foundation formally affiliates with WWF. Though the organizations share the same Board of Directors as well as some staff, they remain separate legal entities until their merger in 1990.

1990 - 1999

1991 – Train receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 in recognition of his work in conservation.

1994 (September) - Train is elected WWF Chairman Emeritus.  In 1994, WWF launches the Russell E. Train Education for Nature (EFN) Program to help build capacity for conservation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America by supporting academic and mid-career training. To date, EFN has awarded over 1000 scholarships and grants to individuals and institutions in 45 countries, providing vital support for the next generation of international conservation leaders. 

1994  - Train is named Chairman of WWF’s National Council from 1994 to 2001. 

2000 - 2009

2003 – Politics, Pollution and Panda: An Environmental Memoir by Russell E. Train is published.  A chronicle of his career, the book is also a history of the birth and growth of US national interest in environmental issues. 

2006 – Trains receives the prestigious Heinz Award, honoring individuals who have made extraordinary achievements on issues of importance.  Train is recognized as “a tireless advocate for the cause of the environment since 1961… the architect of an environmental agenda without parallel in history in its scope…and as a  “truly outstanding example of how a single life can make a difference in the world.”