Natural Areas Association (NAA) has lost a legend in Wisconsin's natural areas conservation and in our organization's history. Clifford E. Germain, founding NAA member, the first George Fell Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 1987, and inductee into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, passed away at age 99 on September 26, 2022. It is difficult to think about NAA's first 50 years without remembering the important contributions from individuals like Cliff.

Thomas Meyer, Wisconsin DNR, was a long time friend and colleague of Cliff Germain. Thomas had recently contacted Cliff to share the news that he would follow in his mentor's footsteps as the 2022 recipient of the 2022 George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Award, 35 years after Cliff had been similarly honored.

Thomas recognized Cliff during his 2022 Fell Award acceptance speech and by through the remembrance below. He used a quote from Isaac Newton to describe Cliff's influence on his career, and the work of so many others, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants." Cliff was a giant in natural areas conservation.

NAA would like to thank Thomas for offering a tribute to Cliff as a champion of the natural area protection movement.

- Lisa Smith, Executive Director of Natural Areas Association

Thomas Meyer, 2022 Fell Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Remembers His Mentor, Clifford Germain, the 1987 Fell Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Clifford E. Germain’s legacy as a champion of the natural area protection movement extends well beyond the huge impact he had on his native Wisconsin. Born in 1923 in Merrill, he went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin in 1949 with a BS in zoology. Among his professors was the legendary Aldo Leopold, whose teaching and writings were ever-present touchstones through Cliff’s long career. His public service spanned 36 years with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He was hired in 1966 as the first staff ecologist and program manager of the State Scientific Areas Program, later renamed the State Natural Areas Program (SNA), which had its start in 1951 as the nation’s pioneer statewide natural area protection program. Under Cliff’s guidance, the Wisconsin SNA program grew into arguably the largest and most successful of its kind in the country.

Cliff’s connection to the Natural Areas Association dates back to a time before there was an NAA. In the early 1970s, he and George Fell, his counterpart in Illinois, along with other natural area program directors in the Midwest, decided to meet to exchange ideas. Cliff offered to organize and host the meeting in Wisconsin at Wyalusing State Park overlooking the Mississippi River. In October 1974 representatives from eight states and The Nature Conservancy met, marking the very first gathering of nature preserve professionals in the nation. From this and subsequent annual gatherings was born the idea to form a national organization, and consequently in 1978 the Natural Areas Association was created, with Cliff as a founding member.

In 1987, NAA honored Cliff with its very first George B. Fell Award for lifetime achievement in the natural areas profession. This and his many other accomplishments were further recognized by Cliff’s 2014 induction into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, and by the naming of Germain Hemlocks as a State Natural Area during the SNA Program’s 50^th anniversary in 2002.

Word has it that Cliff’s son retrieved a leaf from the ground under the burr oak tree in Cliff’s back yard and placed it on his father’s chest while he lay on his bed during his final hours. The family told Cliff that like the leaf that had fallen from the tree, nature – and life – will take its course. And it did.

Rest in peace, Cliff Germain.

Photos courtesy of Thomas Meyer and Wisconsin DNR