In 1971, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and minor studies in forestry and wildlife management.

During this time he met and began to work closely with author/explorer Sir Laurens van der Post[2] and South African, international conservationist Dr. Ian Player.

Martin[4] was President of the WILD Foundation from 1983-2023,[5] a leading program and financial development for a conservation NGO that was established by South African conservationist Dr. Ian Player in 1974.

Between 1992 and 2002, Martin closely collaborated with Dr Laurie Marker to establish and expand the Cheetah Conservation Fund, based in Namibia.

CCF is recognized as the premier global initiative to protect the endangered wild cheetah, and has become one of the most successful and far-reaching species-oriented field projects in the world.

[6] Approximately every four years in a different country, the WWC convenes a diverse convergence of leaders in international conservation, government, science, the arts and humanities, communications, and business with the public to: achieve practical conservation results; strengthen constructive dialogue and positive action on important environmental issues; promote a greater understanding of wilderness; and enhance the protection of wildlands and seas.

Dedicated to collaboration and cooperation as an effective means of empowering a wider social movement for nature conservation, Martin has helped initiate or worked closely with others to foster many new projects and organizations.

Martin is committed to the critical role of human culture as a necessary and effective force in nature conservation, and in creating solutions across boundaries and ideologies.

As well as working with traditional communities, elders and leaders in Africa, Asia, and North and South America, he co-founded the Native Lands and Wilderness Council with Terry Tanner of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (2005); co-founded with Sharon Shay Sloan the Indigenous and Community Lands and Seas project (2013); and continues to work very closely with Chief Tashka Yawanawa and his people in the far Western Amazon.