One of Michigan's least-known conservation pioneers was also one of its least-known trailblazers in gender equality. Helen Martin, a geologist and 30-year employee of the state Department of Conservation, earned the respect of her professional colleagues while refusing to sacrifice her integrity and outspokenness.

Martin, whose papers have recently been organized by the State Archives and are now available for public inspection, is an inductee of the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. It turns out she was also a chronicler and teacher of Michigan's geologic history and a critical organizer in the campaign to tell conservation's story to generations of young people.

Born in North Dakota in 1889, Martin acquired a degree from the University of Michigan in 1908 and a master's degree in geology and chemistry from the school in 1917-a rarity at the time for a woman. Between degrees, she taught both high school and college classes. In 1917, she became an editor and geologist for the state. Departing after six years to work for two oil companies, she returned to the Department of Conservation in 1934 and worked there until 1958.

A 1964 newspaper profile called Martin "a non-conformist at heart" who had spent "most of her life doing what she wanted, not what was expected of her." Her collected papers reveal a frank tongue and a droll wit, especially when mocking administrators who failed to understand the importance of her science.

In a 1955 lecture, Martin remembered the first director of the conservation department, John Baird, who served from 1921-26. "Baird was a man who knew nothing about geology and cared considerably less. He called us them 'Jolly-ology' fellars, and he didn't care anything about what we did, so the [Geological] Survey was on rather bad terms." The director's refusal to support her program may have contributed to her decision to leave temporarily for the private sector. She said she "began peddling geology to basic conservation with the snorting disapproval of the first director of conservation, a political appointee."

But Martin came back to play a critical role in conservation education, along with other Michigan women. "Conservation ceased to be male," Martin wrote of the emergence of female educators in the 1930s. In 1934, the first Conservation Conference for Women took place in East Lansing. Believed by Martin to be the first of its kind in the nation, the conference helped launch education projects and publications such as A Conservation Handbook for Women's Clubs and Wild Flowers of Michigan, a joint effort of the state and the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan. This touched off an era of ever-spreading conservation education in the state, featuring scholarships for teachers and a training school.

Martin's role in this movement was substantial. Authoring dozens of technical publications and biographies of state geologists, and leading scores of tours on the geological history of Michigan, she appears to have been active in the planning and execution of many if not most of the conferences and education programs launched during the 1930s and 1940s. Martin did not hog the glory, however; in her lectures, she credited by name many of the women who participated in the conservation education movement.

While it is difficult to measure the impact of the conservation education movement in Michigan just before, during and after World War II, it is likely no coincidence that some of the state's most principled and effective conservation professionals emerged after this time.

Her geological work continued long after her retirement in 1958. She served as national Conservation Chairman of the National Council of State Garden Clubs and won awards for her work from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Public Health Service, the Forestry Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Forestry Association.

Her recollection of the pioneers of conservation education in Michigan begins: "You will not find their names nor records of their achievement in the biennial reports of the conservation department. Nor will you find their records in the minds of present day holders of their places…Maybe it makes no difference what the foundations are, by whom laid or why, but knowledge of foundations makes for better use of superstructures."

Martin, who died in 1973, laid much of the foundation for an era of conservation progress in Michigan.