Irvin Talton Quinn (January 13, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American conservationist who served as game commissioner of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and was one of the founders of the

National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (includin ...

. I.T. Quinn was born in Belgreen, Alabama on January 13, 1887. He was educated at the Sixth District Agricultural School in

Hamilton, Alabama Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1896 and since 1980 has been the county's largest city, surpassing Winfield. It was previously the largest town in 1910. At the 2020 census, ...

and at the

Alabama Polytechnic Institute Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from the latter school in 1913. After graduation, he served as principal of Clarke County High School in Grove Hill from 1913 to 1914, and Lee County High School in Auburn, Alabama from 1914 to 1915. Quinn worked with the Alabama Extension Service in Montgomery County from 1915 through 1918, supervised the Division of Fertilizers of the Alabama State Department of Agriculture from 1919 to 1920, and directed

county agent Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...

s in northern Alabama for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

from 1921 to 1922. Quinn was appointed to the post of Conservation Commissioner of Alabama in February 1922 by Governor

Thomas Kilby Thomas Erby Kilby Sr. (July 9, 1865 – October 22, 1943) was an American politician. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Alabama and the 36th governor of Alabama. Biography Kilby was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was educated in publi ...

, replacing John H. Wallace Jr., who died in office. He was re-elected as Commissioner of Game and Fisheries in 1930. As Alabama game commissioner, Quinn rebuilt a wildlife population which had been virtually eliminated by poor conservation practices in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Immediately upon assuming office, Quinn hired a force of

game warden A conservation officer is a law enforcement officer who protects wildlife and the environment. A conservation officer may also be referred to as an environmental technician or technologist, game warden, forest ranger, forest watcher, forest gu ...

s, Alabama's first. Due to this and other conservation practices instituted under Quinn's leadership, Alabama's whitetail deer population—which was on the brink of extinction in 1920 with fewer than 2,000 animals—rebounded, with deer found in forty-three of Alabama's sixty-seven counties by 1939. Quinn was also instrumental in the passage of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929 and its successor law, the 1934 Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act, or Duck Stamp Act. He also instituted the annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo near

Dauphin Island Dauphin Island is an island town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States, on a barrier island of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico. It incorporated in 1988. The population was 1,778 at the 2020 census, up from 1,238 at the 2010 census. The t ...

.Walter J. Knabe, "Game and Fisheries Conserved in Alabama", ''The Alabama Historical Quarterly '', vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1930), 50-62; National Wildlife Federation and American Wildlife Institute, ''American Wildlife'', vol. 28 (1939), 15. In February 1936, Quinn attended the North American Wildlife Conference in St. Louis, where he chaired the committee which created the

(then the General Wildlife Federation), and was subsequently elected that body's vice president. In 1939, he began to serve as director of public relations for the Federation. By 1947, Quinn had become executive director of the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. He served as executive director and executive secretary of that body until 1958, when he retired to Grove Hill, Alabama. Quinn died in Grove Hill on February 5, 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, I. T. 1887 births 1972 deaths American conservationists Auburn High School (Alabama) people Auburn University alumni People from Franklin County, Alabama People from Grove Hill, Alabama Activists from Alabama