Rosalie Barrow Edge (November 3, 1877 – November 30, 1962) was a New York socialite, suffragist, and amateur birdwatcher who in 1929 established the Emergency Conservation Committee to expose the conservation establishment’s ineffectiveness, and strongly advocate for species preservation. In 1934 Edge also founded the world's first preserve for birds of prey —
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary near Kempton, Pennsylvania. During the
Great Depression, Edge was considered the United States' most militant
conservationist (
Hawk of Mercy). In 1948, a profile of her in
The New Yorker described her as "the only honest, unselfish, indomitable hellcat in the history of conservation" (New Yorker, April 17, 1948).