Guy Bradley - Legacy

Legacy

These three deaths within as many years helped end the commercial trade of feathers from Florida. In 1910, the New York legislature passed the Audubon Plumage Act, outlawing the plume trade; other states followed, and Congress soon banned the import of hats decorated with bird feathers. In time, the fashion craze for bird feathers faded. As the demand for plumage dwindled, thousands of birds returned to the Everglades rookeries; adventure writer Zane Grey wrote after visiting a creek near Cape Sable:

Though we saw birds everywhere, in the air and on the foliage, we were not in the least prepared for what a bend in the stream disclosed. Banks of foliage as white with curlew as if with heavy snow! With tremendous flapping of wings that merged into a roar, thousands of curlew took wing, out over the water. …It was a most wonderful experience.

Bradley was buried on a shell ridge at Cape Sable, overlooking Florida Bay. A nearby monument was erected by the Florida Audubon Society, reading: "Guy M. Bradley, 1870–1905, Faithful Unto Death, As Game Warden of Monroe County He Gave his Life for the Cause to Which He Was Pledged". The grave and monument, however, were later washed away in 1960's Hurricane Donna. The original gravestone was recovered, and is now on display at the Flamingo Visitor Center. A nearby plaque was also dedicated to Bradley's memory, and reads: "Audubon warden was shot and killed off this shore by outlaw feather hunters, July 8, 1905. His martyrdom created nationwide indignation, strengthened bird protection laws and helped bring Everglades National Park into being."

The story of Bradley's defense of the Everglades' birds, and the manner of his death, has been depicted in both literature and film. Author Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who would later become famous for publicizing the need for conserving and restoring the Everglades, based the hero of her 1930 short story "Plumes" on Bradley. The 1958 film Wind Across the Everglades, starring Christopher Plummer and Burl Ives, was loosely based upon Bradley's life and death.

In 1988, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation established the Guy Bradley Award to recognize achievements in wildlife law enforcement. The award is presented annually to two recipients, one state and one federal officer. Another honor, the Guy Bradley Lifetime Conservation Award, was established in 1997 by the Audubon Society Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Campaign to those who promote conservation and offer workable conservation solutions. A trail in the Everglades, leading from the Flamingo Visitor Center to the Flamingo Campground, also was named in Bradley's honor.