Previous Hartzog Lectures and Lectures and Lecturers Since 1980

2022 - Cassius Cash, 16th Superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, "Understanding Your Why as a Leader"

2021 - Drew Lanham, Ph.D., award winning author, poet and Distinguished Alumni Professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University, "Our Ecology - Mercy, Mercy Me and Thinking Like a Mountain. A New and Louder Call for Considering Conservation More Broadly."

2019 - David Vela, Deputy Director exercising the authority of the Director of the National Park Service, “NPS Next: The Second Century of the National Park Service.”

2018 - Amy Roberts, Executive Director, Outdoor Industry Association, President, Outdoor Foundation, “Making the Case for Outdoor Recreation: Creating Prosperity for Communities and Families.”

2017 - Florence Williams, Author, “Can Nature Make Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative?”

2016 - Terry Tempest Williams, Author and Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service.

2015 - Dr. Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Tufts University.

2014 - Kashev Varma, Former Director of Global Tiger Initiative, “Changing the Conversation in Conservation.”

2013 - Dr. Lee M. Talbot, Professor, Environmental Science and Policy Department, George Mason University, “International Conservation: Some Historical Perspective and Vignettes of a Career.”

2012 - Dr. Reed F. Noss, Provost’s Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Central Florida and President of the Florida Institute for Conservation Science, “Trying to Think Big in Conservation.”

2011 - Jonathan "Jon" B. Jarvis, 18th Director of National Park Service, “A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement.”

2010 - Gary E. Machlis, Science Advisor to the Director, National Park Service, “American Covenant: Why National Parks Matter in the 21st Century.”

2009 - Dayton Duncan, Writer, documentary filmmaker, and author, “National Parks, America's Best Idea.”

2008 - Mary A. Bomar, 17th Director of National Park Service, “America's 'Best Idea' Turns 100.”

2007 - Richard Louv, Author, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.”

2006 - Ronald Walker, 8th Director of National Park Service, “Our National Parks: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

2005 - Ed Brannon, retired US Forest Service, “The First Century of the US Forest Service: The evolution (or was it creation) of forest conservation in America.”

2004 - William Brown, Gary Everhardt, Robert Stanton, and Robert Utley, Panel Discussion - “Re-Creating the National Parks: The Hartzog Years.” 

2003 - Dale N. Bosworth, 15th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, “Delivering Values from Public Land: Today's Challenge to Conservation.”

2002 - Fran P. Mainella, 16th Director of National Park Service, “A Seamless Network of Parks.”

2001 (Fall) - Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times Best Selling Author, Appalachian Novelist, “The Serpentine Chain: A Novelist looks at the Appalachians.”

2001 (Spring) - Rudolph E. (Rudy) Mancke, Director of Science and Nature Programming, South Carolina Educational Television,“The Naturalist Tradition.” 

2000 - Beverly L. Driver, retired, USDA Forest Service, “The Leisure Profession: Where We Have Been and Where We Need to Go.” 

1999 - Moved to Spring 2000

1998 - William C. Everhart, Assistant to the Director for Policy, National Park Service, “George Hartzog, A Swashbuckler Among Bureaucrats.” 

1997 - Robert G. Stanton, 15th Director of National Park Service, “The Future of Our National Parks.” 

1996 - Henry L. Diamond, Co-chair of the Sustainable Use of Land Project, and Pat Noonan, Chairman of the Conservation Fund, “Land Use in America.” 

1995 - Max Oelschlaeger, Professor in Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas, “Environmental Ethics and America's National Parks.” 

1994 - Mario Boza, Director, Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Project, Caribbean Conservation Corporation, “Biodiversity Conservation in Mesoamerica.”

1993 - Roger Kennedy, 14th Director of National Park Service (watch the lecture). 

1992 - Lee Stetson, actor, Wild Productions, “An Evening with John Muir: Conversation with a Tramp.”

1991 - Frank Bracken, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, “Emerging Federal Issues in Managing Natural Resources for Recreation.”

1990 - Senator Gaylord Nelson, Wilderness Society.

1989 - James Ridenour, 13th Director of National Park Service, “The Expanding of Science in the Management of NPS and Science-based Decision Making.”

1988 - Bill Burch, Jr., Hixson Professor of Natural Resources in Forestry and Environmental Studies, Director of Tropical Resources Institute at Yale University, “Relationships Between Natural Resources and Tourism.”

1987 - Paul Pritchard, President, The National Parks and Conservation Association, “Tourism and Natural Resources:  New Approaches to Old Problems.”

1986 - No presentation

1985 - Stewart Udall, 37th Secretary of the Interior, discussed events of the Udall/Hartzog era.

1984 - Ray Arnett, Assistant Secretary, Parks and Wildlife, “An Overview of America's Land Conservation Systems.”

1983 - Senator Malcolm Wallop.

1982 - Roundtable Discussion with George Hartzog, Marion Clawson, conservationist with Resources for the Future, and Bob Baker.

1981 - Russ Dickenson, 11th Director of National Park Service “Our Legacy of Recreation Lands.”

1980 - R. Max Peterson, 14th Chief of U.S. Forest Service, “Recreation: Changing Roles in a Changing Society.”