John Hartig

John Hartig is the refuge manager of the only international wildlife refuge in North America (i.e., Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge) and has authored or co-authored over 100 publications on the Great Lakes. His writing specializes in science transfer. On Earth Day 2016, John was honored for his work in conservation and environmental writing with the Conservationist of the Year award from the John Muir Association.

John’s most recent book titled Burning Rivers: Revival of Four Urban-Industrial Rivers that Caught on Fire was the 2011 Green Book Festival winner in the “scientific” category and a finalist in the “science/nature/environment” category of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

His residency at the Mesa Refuge focused on telling the unique story of building an international wildlife refuge in the industrial heartland using innovative public-private partnerships.