As President and Founder of the non-profit Wyland Foundation, in partnership with the United States Forest Service and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Wyland is actively engaged in teaching millions of students around the world to become caring, informed stewards of our ocean, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands.  The artist’s efforts for conservation awareness and action have been recognized by the United Nations, Sierra Club, Rotary International, the Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he is listed among its Diving Hall of Fame, and recently he was inducted into the International Diving Hall of Fame.   Numerous conservation groups and renowned scientists have praised his art and mission conservation efforts.

Internationally recognized as an official artist for the 2008/2010 United States Olympic Teams, Wyland has been further honored in the Guinness Book of World Records, Who’s Who in American Art, the U.S Department of Commerce / NOAA’s 200th Anniversary Celebration, the Natural World Museum’s “Art In Action” Campaign, and many national and international publications.

In May 2010, the United Nations released six Wyland images for an international stamp issue celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

He is perhaps best known for his monumental Whaling Wall mural project — an epic series of one hundred life-size marine life murals that spans fourteen countries on four continents and is viewed by an estimated 1 billion people every year. His 100th and final Whaling Wall, Hands Across the Oceans, a 24,000-square-foot, half-mile-long series of canvas murals with student artists from 110 countries, was displayed in October 2008 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,and honored by the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Department of the Interior.