History of Izaak Walton League of America

In January 1922, a group of concerned anglers and hunters gathered in Illinois to create an organization to stop the degradation of America’s waterways and natural areas. They named the organization after Izaak Walton, the conservationist and author of the Compleat Angler.

During the 1920s, industrial pollution, raw sewage, and soil erosion threatened many of the nation’s rivers. Forests and other wild areas also suffered as road building, development, and commercial hunting and fishing took an immense toll.

Since then, the League has advanced some of the most effective conservation ideas in the nation’s history, shaping the fundamental, bedrock laws and policies that protect our natural resources now and for generations to come.