Ron Arnold

Ron Arnold (1937- ) was born in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., adopted by his grandparents, grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and began his work career as a technical writer for Boeing Airplane Company in Seattle, Washington, in 1961. He founded his own photojournalism publishing company, Northwoods Studio, in 1971, freelancing for outdoor and natural resource industry magazines, where be became known as a friend of loggers, miners, oilmen, ranchers and others whose lives were disrupted by environmentalist activism. Between 1976 and 1981, Arnold was a contributing editor of Western Conservation Journal and Logging Management Journal, where his 1979 magazine series, "The Environmental Battle", won the American Business Press 1980 Editorial Achievement Award. As a result, Arnold was commissioned to write the authorized biography of U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Interior Secretary, James G. Watt, which launched two decades as a featured speaker at diverse conferences across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. His growing political expertise brought consulting contracts and an invitation to direct the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise in 1984, where he remains Executive Vice President. In 1988 he founded the Wise Use Movement to advocate for "productive harmony between people and nature." His books on politics and the environment spurred congressional hearings and reports as well as positions as a commentary columnist for Washington, D.C. newspapers including the Washington Times, the Examiner, and others. He enjoys sharing his experience and contacts to mentor rising nonfiction writers in the self-publishing world pioneered by Amazon, where he continues his own writing career.