On March 10, 1934, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace appointed political cartoonist Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling to be the chief of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey.

[10] At the conference, Darling spoke passionately about the contamination of the United States' environmental resources, which he said had resulted from years of neglect.

[6] Darling criticized people who considered themselves conservationists but whose actions were limited to hanging a bird feeder and subscribing to an outdoors magazine.

[13] As keynote speaker, Agriculture Secretary Wallace recognized the federal government's role and responsibility to restore and conserve the nation's environmental resources.

There have been 111 Summits since 1970, with notable environmental educators, naturalists, authors, and artists such as Robert Michael Pyle, Jim Halfpenny, Roger Tory Peterson, Clare Walker Leslie, Annie Tiberio Cameron, and National Wildlife Federation's 33-year employee and Chief Naturalist Craig Tufts (1946–2009) all on faculty at many Summits.

Week-long Summits have been held most frequently in Colorado, North Carolina, and New York, but also in Wisconsin, California, Maine, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and other locations.

[18] On Earth Day 2002, National Wildlife Federation was given an award by the American Institute of Architects for its Reston headquarters being one of the Top Ten "Green" Projects.

[20] The Campus Ecology program promotes climate leadership and sustainability among colleges and universities by providing resources, technical support, networking opportunities, and by organizing education events.

The webcast highlights winners of the NWF Chill Out competition[23] and has an interactive panel of climate experts and student videos.

Through school-based action teams of students, administrators, educators and community volunteers, Eco-Schools USA combines effective "green" management of the school grounds, the facilities and the curriculum.

[28] The Chesapeake Mid-Atlantic office works with affiliates and partners across the region of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay; the Delaware River Watershed; the Appalachian forests, rivers and flyways; and the extensive shoreline and coastal bay habitats of the Mid-Atlantic.

The Office also actively educates and mobilizes hunters, anglers, gardeners and other wildlife enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic to support climate solutions at all levels of government.

From the desert to the coastal rainforests, and from Puget Sound to the "gems of the Pacific," the wildlife species that depend on these habitats in Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii are also diverse and among the most treasured by people throughout the world.

Climate change is expected to take a large toll on wildlife in the region, and NWF is working to help people understand and minimize the impacts.

[33] The Northeast Regional Center works mostly with state-based affiliates and local organizations to protect natural resources in New England.

[35] The Rocky Mountain Regional Center is located in Boulder, Colorado, and focuses on protecting public lands and wildlife of the American West.

[36] The Gulf States Regional Center focuses the multi-state and territory region of Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Iowa, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and attempts to restore clean rivers and estuaries, conserve wetlands, springs, and natural river systems, protect wildlife populations, and promote sustainable land and water use.