Grey Owl

Grey Owl (or Wa-sha-quon-asin, from the Ojibwe wenjiganooshiinh, meaning "great horned owl" or "great grey owl") was the name Archibald Belaney (September 18, 1888 – April 13, 1938) chose for himself when he took on a First Nations identity as an adult. Born in England as Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, and migrating to Canada in the first decade of the 20th century, he rose to prominence as a notable author, lecturer, and one of the "most effective apostles of the wilderness". In his studies of the Ojibwe, Belaney learned some native harvesting techniques and trapping skills. The pivotal moment of departure for Grey Owl's early conservation work was when he began his relationship with a young Iroquois girl named Gertrude Bernard, who assisted in his transition from trapper to conservationist.