Haley Mellin – Creativity, Courage and Conservation
Bioneers | Published: May 6, 2025 ArtRestoring EcosystemsWomen's Leadership Video
Is biodiversity conservation a science, a form of stewardship, or perhaps an art? Artist and activist Haley Mellin shows how it can be all three. As the founder of Art into Acres, she uses her creative talents to support Indigenous and community-led efforts to protect wild places, weaving care into the tapestry of sustaining biodiversity. She brings her creativity from the canvas to the planet, generating a cultural tributary of philanthropy to land stewardship. In 2024 alone, this work helped preserve 6.45 million acres. Raised in Northern California surrounded by Blue Oaks, she shares how her passion inspires action and how we can all connect to the earth through the art of land preservation.
This talk was delivered at the 2025 Bioneers Conference.
Haley Mellin, PhD, is an artist focusing on painting and land conservation. In 2017, she founded Art into Acres, a non-profit supporting permanent land conservation on behalf of the arts. Indigenous-led and community-led protected areas are the focus, and the initiative has supported the designation of about 70 million acres of new protection. Haley initiated the first environmental council and carbon emissions calculations at U.S. art museums, and juried the inaugural National Endowment for the Humanities climate grants. She is the co-author of Conservation Imperatives published last year in Frontiers. Her painting is observational and done outdoors. Haley advocates for environmental justice for all life, and was mentored by Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Chandra Pai and the South African artists rosenclaire.
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