The morning after Margaret “Mardy” Murie married wildlife biologist Olaus Murie in August 1924, there was no train to catch or seaside retreat waiting. Instead, the newlyweds loaded provisions onto dog sleds and set off into Alaska’s remote Brooks Range on a months-long expedition to study migrating caribou. By the time the journey ended, they had travelled more than 500 miles by boat and dogsled through some of North America’s harshest landscapes, collecting wildlife observations while camping in extreme Arctic conditions. The trip marked the beginning of a partnership that would influence American conservation for decades. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , Mardy served as an unofficial field naturalist during the expedition, cataloguing small mammals while assisting Olaus with his research on Arctic wildlife.
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