Beatrice Ward Nelson (1893-1976) was born in Atchison, Kansas and received the Pugsley Bronze Award in 1928 for her services as secretary of the National Conference on State Parks. When Stephen Mather became NPS director, he was frequently lobbied to accept lands into the system that were of lesser status than he believed national park standards required. He believed they should be the responsibility of state governments and sought to expand the fledgling state park movement that had emerged.To this end, he conceived a National Conference on State Parks (NCSP) in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1921. It was attended by 200 enthusiastic supporters of the state parks idea. Under Mather's guidance, the group became a fromal organization with an executive committee of ten people to guide its mission of fostering organization the growth of state parks.
Ward, Mather and Raymond Torrey ( Pugsley Medal 1938) were the primary "voices" for state parks throughout the 1920's. Each of these principal spokepersons had a different point of emphasis, although they varied their comments as the occasion or purpose required. Mather was generous in his praise of individual state accomplishments and spoke eloquently of opportunities that still awaited. Torrey completed a survey of state parks around the country and drew on his research to assess their current status and future potential. Ward focused on the role and mission of the NCSP. Together, the three of them provided a fairly comprehensive view of America's state parks movement in 1920's.
In 1929, Ward published a reference book on state parks and other state recreational areas entitled State Recreation, Parks Forests and Game Preserves.