Even as children in the late 1800s, Olaus and Mardy were drawn to the outdoors: he in the deep woods of Minnesota and she in the snowy wilderness of Alaska. When they finally met as adults, their love of the natural world expanded to include each other. Olaus was a biologist working for the U.S. government, so after their marriage, Mardy joined him on his scientific adventures. They explored thousands of miles in Alaska, studying hundreds of animals from reindeer to geese to arctic mice. They learned that everything in nature is connected—all life needed free, wild spaces to live. From then on, they devoted their lives to the cause of conservation