# Jane Yarn

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American conservationist and environmentalist

Jane Yarn Born Jane Hurt Yarn (1924-10-05)October 5, 1924 Greenville, South Carolina, United States Died October 18, 1995(1995-10-18) (aged 71) Education Saint Mary's School Alma mater University of Georgia Occupations Conservationist Environmentalist Years active 1967–1995 Spouse Charles Yarn ​ (m. 1944)​ Children 3 Awards Georgia Women of Achievement

**Jane Hurt Yarn** (October 15, 1924 – October 18, 1995) was an American [conservationist](/source/Conservation_movement) and environmentalist. She became interested in the environment in 1967, and focused on protecting Georgia's coastal islands, barrier islands and marshes. Yarn was the recipient of several awards, including induction into the [Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement) in 2009.

## Biography

### Early life

Yarn was born on October 15, 1924, in [Greenville, South Carolina](/source/Greenville%2C_South_Carolina).[1] She was the daughter of Edna Brown and John Henry Hurt.[2] Yarn was brought up in [Scottsboro, Alabama](/source/Scottsboro%2C_Alabama).[1] She was educated at [Saint Mary's School](/source/Saint_Mary's_School_(Raleigh%2C_North_Carolina)) in [Raleigh, North Carolina](/source/Raleigh%2C_North_Carolina). At the [University of Georgia](/source/University_of_Georgia), Yarn conducted post graduate work in landscape design. She married physician Charles Yarn in 1944.[2] They moved to [Atlanta](/source/Atlanta) where they had three children, and Yarn took part in local charitable acts.[1]

### Career

She became interested in the environment while on a 1967 family trip to Africa.[2] After returning to Georgia, Yarn spent one year researching Georgia's problems with preservation.[1] She served on the boards on the Georgia Conservancy and the state chapter of the [Nature Conservancy](/source/Nature_Conservancy) as its Vice Chairperson in 1969, the organizations' first woman in such a position, as well as organizing the state's coastal landowners against development.[2][1] Yarn succeeded in lobbying against mining on [Little Tybee Island](/source/Little_Tybee_Island), and focused her attention on the protection of Georgia's coastal islands and marshes.[1] Her efforts also ensured other barrier islands were preserved including [Cumberland Island](/source/Cumberland_Island) and [Wassaw Island](/source/Wassaw_Island). Yarn was able to successfully organize of Georgia's garden club members to stop a plan to strip-mine the state's barrier islands for phosphate. Due to her efforts, a large number of letters were addressed to the [Governor of Georgia](/source/Governor_of_Georgia) [Lester Maddox](/source/Lester_Maddox).[2]

Yarn founded the environmental lobbying organization in Georgia, the Save Our Vital Environment, in 1969. The organization worked to get the 1970 Coastal Marshlands Protection Act to be passed into law.[1] She became noted to smoothly work with politicians from the Republican and Democrat parties.[2] She helped [Jimmy Carter](/source/Jimmy_Carter) in environmental lobbying while serving as Georgia's governor, and nominated Yarn to serve as a member on the [Council on Environmental Quality](/source/Council_on_Environmental_Quality) after he was elected U.S. president. Yarn worked with the division for three years. She was most proud of her efforts in getting the [Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act](/source/Alaska_National_Interest_Lands_Conservation_Act) passed into law.[1] In the Carter Administration's final days when the president was dealing with large-scale world events, she convinced him to sign legislation which created three new [National Marine Sanctuaries](/source/United_States_National_Marine_Sanctuary).[2]

### Later years and death

After the Carter Administration ended, Yarn returned to Georgia, and remained on working on environmental problems with several organizations including [The Wilderness Society](/source/The_Wilderness_Society_(United_States)), [National Wildlife Federation](/source/National_Wildlife_Federation) and the [Southern Environmental Law Center](/source/Southern_Environmental_Law_Center). She died on October 18, 1995, after battling with breast cancer during the previous 20 years.[1]

## Legacy

Yarn was considered by *Georgia Encyclopedia* as a pioneering conservationist and environmentalist. According to senator and former Governor of Georgia [Zell Miller](/source/Zell_Miller), "No other single individual has done as much for conservation in Georgia as Jane Yarn."[2] She was featured in the *[Atlanta Journal Constitution Magazine](/source/The_Atlanta_Journal-Constitution)* and *[Harper's Bazaar](/source/Harper's_Bazaar)* magazine.[2] In 1970, Yarn was named Atlanta's Women of the Year. She was a recipient of the American Motors Conservation Award in 1971.[1] In April 1978, Yarn was the first person to receive the R.S. Howard natural resources conservation award.[3] She received the Nature Conservancy Oak Leaf Award in 1989, and four years later, the Georgia Environmental Council made her a recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award.[1] Yarn was inducted into the [Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement) in 2009.[2]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-georgiawomen_1-10) ["Yarn, Jane Hurt"](https://web.archive.org/web/20161008163939/http://georgiawomen.org/2010/10/yarn-jane-hurt/). Georgia Women of Achievement. Archived from [the original](http://georgiawomen.org/2010/10/yarn-jane-hurt/) on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-encyclopedia_2-9) Jordan, Michael L. (February 14, 2011). ["Jane Hurt Yarn (1924–1995)"](http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/jane-hurt-yarn-1924-1995). *New Georgia Encyclopedia*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170201113201/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/jane-hurt-yarn-1924-1995) from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Governor Says"](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19780425&id=_lcjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yzIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2694,1204358&hl=en). *Rome News-Tribune*. April 25, 1978. p. 9. Retrieved October 8, 2016.

v t e Georgia Women of Achievement 1990s 1992 Martha Berry Lucy Craft Laney Juliette Gordon Low Flannery O'Connor 1993 Dicksie Bradley Bandy Mary Musgrove Cassandra Pickett Durham Viola Ross Napier Ma Rainey 1994 Julia Flisch Carson McCullers Margaret Mitchell Ruth Hartley Mosley Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman 1995 Selena Sloan Butler Anna Colquitt Hunter Hazel Jane Raines 1996 Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson Nellie Peters Black Ellen Craft Corra Harris Lugenia Burns Hope 1997 Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Ann Harris Gay Nancy Hart Lucy Barrow McIntire 1998 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Julia Collier Harris Rhoda Kaufman Carrie Steele Logan 1999 Moina Michael Lillian Smith 2000s 2000 Sallie Ellis Davis Laura Askew Haygood Ellen Axson Wilson 2001 Julia L. Coleman Catherine Evans Whitener 2002 Wessie Gertrude Connell Lula Dobbs McEachern Alice Harrell Strickland 2003 Madeleine Kiker Anthony Helena Maud Brown Cobb Julia Lester Dillon Leila Ross Wilburn 2004 Mathilda Beasley Louise Frederick Hays Helen Dortch Longstreet Sarah McLendon Murphy Emily Barnelia Woodward 2005 Alice Woodby McKane Nina Anderson Pape Jeannette Rankin 2006 Eliza Frances Andrews Grace Towns Hamilton Sarah Porter Hillhouse 2007 Margaret O. Bynum Edith Lenora Foster Helen Douglas Mankin Sara Branham Matthews 2008 Elfrida De Renne Barrow Amilee Chastain Graves Susan Dowdell Myrick 2009 Caroline Pafford Miller Jane Hurt Yarn Harriet Powers 2010s 2010 Mary Ann Lipscomb Celestine Sibley Madrid Williams 2011 Lillian Gordy Carter Mary Francis Hill Coley May duBignon Stiles Howard 2012 Sarah Randolph Bailey Beulah Rucker Oliver Ethel Harpst 2013 Lollie Belle Wylie Mary Gregory Jewett Henrietta Stanley Dull 2014 Rebecca Stiles Taylor Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Bazoline Estelle Usher 2015 Allie Carroll Hart Frances Freeborn Pauley Nell Kendall Hodgson Woodruff 2016 Sarah Harper Heard Ellamae Ellis League Katie Hall Underwood 2017 Carolyn Mackenzie Carter Clermont Huger Lee Lucile Nix 2018 Ludie Clay Andrews Susie Baker King Taylor Mamie George S. Williams 2019 Leila Denmark Mary Dorothy Lyndon 2020s 2020 Clarice Cross Bagwell Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Juanita Marsh Jean Elizabeth Geiger Wright 2021 Ruby M. Anderson Mary G. Bryan Laura Pope Forester Allie Murray Smith 2022 Lizzie Lurline Collier Josephine Fields Sanders Hedy West Josephine Wilkins 2023 Phyllis Jenkins Barrow Alice Coachman Luck Flanders Gambrell Dorothy Rogers Tilly 2024 Beatrice Hirsch Haas Adella Hunt Logan Valerie Murphey Elizabeth "Bessie" Tift 2025 Jessye Norman Alma Thomas

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Yarn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Yarn) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Yarn?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.