Earl L. Poole A real hero in Pennsylvania conservation. By Joe Kosack H E WAS arguably as talented as any other Pennsylvania wildlife artist. He played a major role in the establishment of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. His accomplishments in wildlife conservation touched countless thousands and still are cited by wildlife managers today. But the name Earl L. Poole, outside of Berks County, largely is unknown. Even though he authored several books on wild birds. Even though his paintings appeared on 26 covers of Pennsylvania Game News and in classic books of renowned ornithologists such as Witmer Stone, Jean Delacour and James Bond - after whom Ian Flem18 ing's 007 was named. Poole even took an honorable-mention medal in international competition at the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco for his watercolor painting of a harpy eagle over a freshly killed spoonbill. The piece really didn't fit America's rather conservative mood in mainstream art at the time. There was blood, death, reality. But that was Poole. He lived to help folks better understand the ways of wildlife. Take his first story in Pennsylvania Game News, which appeared in the October 1936 issue. Titled Enter Hawk - Exit Mouse, it was published when most hunters - even a significant number of