In January 1922, a group of 54 outdoor sports enthusiasts, fishermen and hunters gathered in Chicago to formally establish one of the country’s first national wildlife conservation organizations, the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA). The group was named for a 17th century British writer, Izaak Walton, who was an impassioned angler and a gifted biographer and essayist who wrote eloquently about fishing and a greater connection between mankind and our natural surroundings.