WASHINGTON — Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Russell Train, a leading US conservationist who helped craft some of the nation’s enduring environmental laws, died Monday.

As a leader with the federal agency at the time it was just starting under the Nixon administration, Mr. Train helped set the path for the ongoing work of the agency.

Richard Nixon named him undersecretary of the Interior Department and in 1970 he ­became first chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. The EPA was started in 1970, and William Ruckelshaus was its first administrator. When Ruckelshaus left to take over the FBI, Mr. Train was chosen to lead the EPA.

Mr. Train also served as the first president of the World Wildlife Fund’s US chapter.

Mr. Train, 92, died Monday at his farm in Bozman, Md .