Georgia Women of Achievement
Jane Hurt was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1924, and raised in Scottsboro, Alabama, but the impact of her conservation efforts can be seen on the coast of Georgia, her adopted home state. Her work was vital to the protection of the barrier islands and marshes of Georgia, but also instrumental in national conservation legislature as well. She conducted postgraduate work in landscape design at the University of Georgia in Athens after graduating from St. Mary’s College in Raleigh.
Jane eventually married Dr. Charles Yarn, and they both settled in Atlanta. She raised their three children there, and was active in charity work. A trip to the African Brush in 1967 sparked her interest in conserving the environment. She spent the following year back home in Georgia studying preservation issues. She used her knowledge to lobby against the mining on Tybee Island and pushed for the protection of coastal islands and marshes in Georgia.
She was eventually asked to serve on the board of the Nature Conservancy in 1969, becoming its first female Vice Chairman. In 1970, she was named Atlanta’s Woman of the Year. Jane and her husband went on to purchase Egg Island, located in the Altamaha River. Today, Egg Island, Little Egg Island, and Wolf Island make up the Wolf Island Wildlife Reserve which is a designated wilderness area. She also worked to protect other coastal islands, including Ossabaw, Cumberland, Wassaw and St. Catherine’s Island.
Jane founded Save Our Vital Environment (SAVE), which was the first full-time, environmental lobbying organization in Georgia and worked to pass the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act in 1970. In the early 1970’s, Jane was honored many times for her passionate conservationism. For instance, she received the American Motors Conservation Award in 1971, and later that year, she was named by Harper’s Bazaar Magazine as one of the “100 Women in Touch with Our Times.” Jane was known for working smoothly with both Republican and Democratic politicians.
Jane worked under Jimmy Carter with environmental lobbying when he was governor of Georgia, and after he became President of the United States, he nominated her to serve in Washington as a member of the White House’s Council for Environment Quality. She struggled with spending the week in Washington and seeing her family only on weekends, but she didn’t consider it a sacrifice because she was so passionate about her work. She was very proud of her role in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which was one of the many accomplishments of her three-year commitment in Washington.
After her service to President Carter, Jane returned to Atlanta and continued to work on environmental issues with a variety of organizations, including The Wilderness Society, The National Wildlife Federation, and the Southern Environmental Law Center. She received the national Nature Conservancy Oak Leaf Award in 1989, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Environmental Council in 1993, the National Common Cause Public Service Award in 1995, and she served on the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Environmental Task Force.
After a 20-year battle with breast cancer, Yarn passed away in 1995. Trees were planted in her honor on Lafayette Square across from the White House, and in the Chattahoochee River Park. Governor Zell Miller dedicated the Jane Hurt Yarn Environmental Education Center at Tallulah Gorge State Park in her honor, and The Nature Conservancy gives the Jane Hurt Yarn Award to its Outstanding Conservation Volunteer each year. Governor Miller shared “No other single individual has done as much for conservation in Georgia as Jane Yarn.” In 2007, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources sank a 63ʹ ship, named the Jane Hurt Yarn, off the Georgia coast as an artificial reef. The ship will be used as a research site to learn more about the creatures that attach themselves to the vessel, and which sponges and coals can inhabit an artificial reef. Finally, in 2009, Yarn was inducted into Georgia Woman of Achievement.
References:
Council on Environmental Quality nomination of Jane Hurt Yarn to be a member. Council on Environmental Quality Nomination of Jane Hurt Yarn To Be a Member. | The American Presidency Project. (1978, July 13). Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/council-environmental-quality-nomination-jane-hurt-yarn-be-member
Jane Hurt yarn: Georgia Women of Achievement. georgiawomen. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://www.georgiawomen.org/jane-hurt-yarn
Jane Hurt yarn – new Georgia encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/jane-hurt-yarn-1924-1995/
Georgia’s wildlife protector: Jane Hurt yarn. Georgia Public Broadcasting. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.gpb.org/georgiastories/stories/jane-hurt-yarn