Ranger Rick, Monarchs, and a Mission: The Untold Story of the National Wildlife Federation

If you spent your childhood flipping through Ranger Rick magazine, hiked a trail peppered with native wildflowers, or felt moved to save the monarch butterflies fluttering through your backyard, you’ve likely brushed up against the work of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). But what you might not know is that this iconic American conservation organization was the brainchild of a political cartoonist. Yes, really!

“Our founder was a political cartoonist named Ding Darling,” says David Mizejewski, naturalist and media spokesperson for the Federation. “The 1930s were an era where things looked very different from what they do today in terms of how we relate to and manage the natural world. Wildlife was disappearing. The Dust Bowl had just happened, and it was becoming very apparent that unless we changed the way we were doing things pretty radically, we weren’t going to have much nature left. And we were going to suffer as a result.”

In 1936, Darling called together a landmark conservation summit in Washington, D.C., inviting everyone from birders and gardeners to hunters and anglers to discuss one thing they all had in common: a deep concern for the natural world. That coalition became the National Wildlife Federation, now one of the largest and most diverse conservation nonprofits in the U.S.

A True Federation — With Roots in Every State

Unlike many national nonprofits, the NWF isn’t a top-down organization. “We truly are a federation,” David explains. “We’re a 501(c)(3) conservation and education organization, but we have an affiliate in every state and territory.” These affiliates operate independently, yet come together annually to vote on conservation priorities and guide the Federation’s national initiatives.

“It just makes conservation more powerful when it’s the actual people who live in a place who are advocating,” David says.

And those people come from all walks of life. “We can bring in somebody from a very conservative background — maybe an elk hunter — and put them in the same room with a climate activist on a lobby day in Washington, D.C. That ability to bring in constituents focused on their shared love of the natural world is pretty powerful, especially in such a divided political time.”

People + Wildlife = The Mission

Although it’s called the National Wildlife Federation, the organization’s mission of “uniting all Americans to ensure that wildlife and people thrive in a rapidly changing world” explicitly acknowledges that humans are part of the equation.

“We acknowledge that we’re a wildlife group, and wildlife is in our name, but we can’t actually achieve our goals unless we are engaging everyone,” David says. “It can’t just be one demographic or one kind of person.”

That human connection is especially vital when working with communities facing the brunt of climate change and pollution. “People are the ones who have to care enough to save the wildlife in the first place,” David adds. “Trying to be a disassociated group that is just focused on ‘that endangered species over there’ is never going to work.”

Nurturing the Next Generation of Naturalists

Long before STEM was a buzzword, the National Wildlife Federation was getting kids outdoors and helping them fall in love with nature. “From very early on, we’ve been doing programs aimed at engaging the next generation,” David explains. “Because we know that experiential learning is what forms the love of nature in kids, which then becomes a conservation ethic in adults.”

For more than 50 years, Ranger Rick has been a beloved entry point for curious kids. “I was a Ranger Rick kid!” David laughs. “I’m living proof of everything I was just saying.”

But it doesn’t stop at magazines. The Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats program helps schools build outdoor classrooms, while the Green Hour initiative encourages families to swap screen time for unstructured outdoor play. And there’s National Wildlife Week, a tradition dating back nearly a century, now celebrated through social media, selfies with songbirds, and spirited PSAs (think Muppets and Shirley Temple).

David is now the naturalist reviewer for Ranger Rick Jr., a role he calls “something I’m very, very proud of.”

Planting Change. Literally.

Beyond advocacy and education, the NWF champions action that begins at home. Sometimes quite literally.

“We founded the Garden for Wildlife movement in the U.S. in 1973,” David says, and we have these opportunities for personal action. We want people to call their representative and help protect native species. There are a lot of pathways for people to do that, and not everybody’s going to. But that’s not the only valid way of participating in conservation. Maybe it is planting a butterfly garden and choosing not to spray pesticides. Think globally; act locally.”

David’s own story speaks to the power of that message, and the movement has grown in many other tangible ways. “Twenty-five years ago, maybe two or three people in a room would raise their hands if I asked if they knew what a native plant was. Today, everybody raises their hands.”

As deeply rooted as the NWF is in American history, it’s also evolving — especially when it comes to inclusion and justice.

“Like most other big US-based conservation organizations, we’ve got a long way to go to truly be inclusive and have everybody have a voice,” David says. “There’s horrible racism baked into the history of the conservation movement — globally, but in the US in particular. It’s something that we are really leaning into. We’re reckoning with that past history and trying to evolve into an organization that looks like America. That has true power structure changes that allow for that incredible diversity.”

One example? The Federation’s expanding tribal partnerships, which center on free, prior, and informed consent. “It’s the total opposite of the way indigenous communities have been approached by conservation forever,” David explains. “We’re not out there bragging about it; It’s the work that needs to be done.”

This humility also reflects the Federation’s belief that real change is often quiet and steady. “There’s a lot going on that is unsung and revolutionary,” he says.

Hunting, Harmony, and Hard Conversations

If you’re surprised to hear that a conservation group includes hunters and anglers in its ranks, you’re not alone.

“For a lot of people, there is a real disconnect to, for example, the fact that we’re protecting wildlife and also engaging with groups that are hunting,” says David. “There’s a fundamental lack of understanding.”

It’s all about balance. “Ecosystems are strong and resilient when they’re balanced,” he says. In places where wolves no longer exist, for example, regulated deer hunting becomes essential. “They’re decimating our forest ecosystems and eating all the native plants that all the songbirds and pollinators rely on.”

And those hunting and fishing licenses? They help fund conservation efforts in every state. “It doesn’t get more local and organic than hunting for a deer,” David says. “And most hunters are consuming the deer they shoot.”

It’s a nuanced message, and one that resists being boiled down into quick talking points. But the Federation embraces complexity. “Humans can participate in our local ecology,” David says. “That might mean planting native plants or playing the role of predator where it’s needed.”

Getting Involved (Without Getting Overwhelmed)

For anyone who wants to help but doesn’t know where to start, David has simple advice: “Just do something.”

Visit NWF.org, and you’ll find plenty of options, from becoming an activist or planting a pollinator garden to gifting a Ranger Rick subscription or simply donating a few dollars a month. “Everything counts,” David says. “And I embrace an attitude of ‘meet people where they are.’”

The work is serious, yes. But it’s also hopeful. “I just saw the Superman movie,” David shares. “The sense of hope is palpable in that film, and I think it really encapsulates what we, as a country, are desperate for— something to be hopeful about. And how do we find that hope? We help. We do something good. Maybe it’s not saving a kid from a falling building; maybe it’s planting a native plant to support the monarch butterfly that’s rapidly disappearing.”

Want to Get Involved? Start Here:

• Visit nwf.org and click on “Get Involved.”

• Plant native flowers and skip the pesticides.

• Subscribe to Ranger Rick for the curious kid in your life.

• Call your local rep, sign a petition, or simply start with one small act of good.

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