Durett, Daniel
Daniel Durett
Dan Durett has had a distinguished career in cultural and natural resource conservation in major urban centers, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Nashville, and Washington, DC. He has held increasingly responsible positions with organizations as diverse as the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The United Negro College Fund, the National Council for Science and the Environment, and most recently, the African American Environmentalist Association. He founded Danhiko International, a private-sector initiative to advance communication among scientists of African heritage and descent. Now retired, he serves as a Rowan County Literacy Council volunteer teacher.
Born in 1950, Dan Durett grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the Marcy Public Housing Projects. As a result, he realized that no matter where you come from, you do not have to be limited by your circumstances. Durett’s mother, a nurse’s aide, and his father, a maintenance worker, raised him and his five siblings. He was President of his Senior Class at Eastern District High School. He also received the John F. Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1968. He attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in history. He later earned a master’s degree in history from Atlanta University in 1973. Durett also completed graduate studies in city planning theory and urban history at Emory University in 1976. While at Emory, he became interested in the environmental field because of his work in historic preservation and urban environmental Issues.
In 1975, Durett began working in conservation when the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office asked him to help organize nominations for Martin Luther King, Jr. National Landmark and Atlanta University’s National Register Historic District. In 1978, Durett became the Technical Preservation Historian of the National Park Service’s Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service (HCRS). After leaving the HCRS, he joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation staff. There, he established the Minority Heritage Initiative – a program intended to introduce diversity issues into the National Trust’s outreach efforts. He continued working in conservation. During the 1980s, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the Parks and People Foundation in Baltimore asked him to raise funds from public and private sources to help revitalize the city’s parks and recreation resources. While working on this project, Durett wrote the Druid Hill Park Impact Study.
From 1995-1998, Durett worked with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and while there, he
established the Department of Environmental Education Programs (DEEP). DEEP’s work centered on a $5 million EPA-funded Program for Environmental Justice Education and Research (PJER) that helped 75 percent of UNCF institutions to engage in environmental activities on the campuses and in the communities. Durett also helped to establish the Strategy for Ecology Education Development and Sustainability (SEEDS) in 1996. SEEDS, funded by the Mellon Foundation, evolved from a partnership with the Ecological Society of America (ESA).
SEEDS aims to increase the number of minority students studying and pursuing careers in ecology. SEEDS was one of the first attempts to develop collaborative efforts with a scientific professional association like ESA and a consortium of historically black colleges and universities. Since the program’s inception, ESA chapters have been established in 18 minority-serving institutions.
In 1997, Durett began a partnership between the Texas Consortium for Water Quality Research and four Texas-based minority-serving institutions program, which the Hutson Endowment funded. This program involved students at four Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Texas doing water quality research in minority areas.
Durett also developed the Building Environmental Stewardship (BES) project in 1997. The program, funded by the Department of Energy, was a partnership with Second Nature. The program aimed to bring together UNCF institutions to work on sustainability issues. BES also sought to provide technical assistance and networking opportunities to participants. Durett also helped to establish the CSX Scholars Program in 1998. This program arose from a collaboration between UNCF, the National Audubon Society, and CSX. The $1.5 million scholarship program provided one-year renewable scholarships to outstanding students at historically black colleges and universities, plus paid summer internships at CSX and the National Audubon Society.
Durett served as the Director of the Minority Programs Office for the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) since 1992 and was responsible for outreach at minority-serving institutions. He worked with their science departments on campus, assisting the students in understanding the range of federal programs that can help them.
Durett also mentors aspiring youth. He encourages students to pursue advanced degrees and recognizes that every challenge can be an opportunity. His experience has given him national and international exposure. In 2003, he received the Second Annual Norman A. Berg Award, a national Soil and Water Conservation Society award. He became the President of the Board of the Council for U.S. Land Care Initiative – the first person of color to hold such a position in a national organization of this type.
Most recently, he was the African American Environmentalist Association director before retiring in 2018. Durrett is now a volunteer teacher at Rowan County Literacy Council. He lives in Salisbury doing volunteer work for the community.
Dr. Clarence A. Bacoate, the history department chair at Clark Atlanta University, mentored Durett. Dr. Bacoate encouraged his students to ask questions and work hard. Durett also saw Dr. Bacoate as a courageous man who fought to dismantle segregation in Atlanta. Durett has enjoyed mentoring students over the years. He counts it as one of the many highlights of his career. However, the biggest highlight of Durett’s career was meeting Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the presidential palace in 1998. Durett was there to present a paper on environmental issues and policy at an international conference, the African and African-American Summit. Meeting Mr. Mandela was a great honor for Durett and one he will never forget.
Durett has also experienced some discouraging moments in his career. He cites the lowest point of his career as the fact that diversity is not yet realized today. “We’re still fighting the same demons in terms of racism and expanding diversity,” he says. He has experienced racism in his life and in some aspects of his career. However, Durett remains in the environmental field because he has been able to “see the difference one individual can make.” Durett has seen people make an impact within the mainstream environmental movement, in academic institutions, and other organizations. “I have a very comprehensive perspective when it comes to the environment,” he shared in 2005. Durett’s most significant achievement has been “inspiring young people to recognize that they can do what I’ve done and better.” He is also proud that he is encouraging faculty as well as students.
He advises minorities considering a career in the environment to do their best and not settle for less.
Durett, Dan. n.d. 2004 Norman A. Berg Conservation Legacy Award Recipient. Retrieved June 22, 2023 from https://www.swcs.org/static/media/cms/2004_SWCS_NCC_Norman_A_Berg_Awarde….
Salisbury Post. 2020. ‘Kept our masks on’: Salisbury couple made rapid return to U.S. as COVID-19 spread. Retrieved June 22, 2023 from https://www.salisburypost.com/2020/04/05/kept-our-masks-on-salisbury-cou….
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.