Lorraine Fleming

Lorraine Fleming developed a commitment to protecting open spaces and natural resources after taking wildflower walks as a student through the dwindling prairie of the greater Chicago area. In the mid-1970s, she volunteered for the Delaware Nature Society and was later hired there, remaining with the organization until her retirement as Associate Director nearly 30 years later. During that time, she wrote Delaware's Outstanding Natural Areas and Their Preservation, published in 1978, a comprehensive catalog of Delaware's best remaining natural sites that is still used by conservationists as a reference for evaluating the state's natural landscapes and progress toward their preservation. She received the Delaware Nature Society Lifetime Achievement and the Delaware Audition Society Conservation Award among many honors, served on Delaware's Open Space Council, advocated for the environment with Delaware's General Assembly, and was a leader in the conservation community. She was a driving force behind preserving more than 120,000 acres of Delaware open space and farmland, the successful passage of the Natural Areas Preservation Act of 1978 and the Conservation Easement Act of 1978, and the income tax check-off for wildlife.

Delaware · United States