Manuel Armand Yramategui

Armand Yramategui was a natural science teacher and curator at the Burke Baker Planetarium in Houston, and was active in lobbying for the Open Beaches Act. He also urged the preservation of 2500 acres of coastal prairie, riparian forests, bayous and marshlands near Pasadena, Texas. The property was protected in 1974, and became known as the Armand Bayou Nature Center, named in his honor after his tragic killing in 1970. By the time of its opening, it ranked as one of the largest urban wilderness preserves in the United States. Posthumously, the U.S. Department of Interior gave Mr. Yramategui the Conservation Service Award, the highest recognition available to non-staff.