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They tell us what we should be paying attention to—both the places that are healthy and those that are being degraded.
The past year was a time of change at Audubon.
the work done under David Yarnold’s leadership to encompass birds’ full annual cycles.
There’s a real hunger to knit together the different components of the Audubon network of chapters, sanctuaries, and centers with our state, regional, national, and global programs.
We’ve also had a wake-up call that has energized our work around equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and building a culture of workplace excellence.
The entire world is changing; we can make that world a better place—and Audubon a stronger organization—by incorporating different points of view and new voices from the field into our work.
group of endangered species native to the state.
the threats they faced was a landmark in activating my interest in climate change.
Acting Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Gray was named Acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Audubon Society in April.
She is the first woman to lead Audubon in the organization’s history.
They sparked my original interest in science and conservation and my subsequent focus on climate change.
My under graduate thesis focused on how homing pigeons navigate.
Exploring the mystery of navigation was what got me hooked on birds.
In graduate school, I studied interactions between Redwinged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
During the second year of my project, I noticed that the Yellow-headed Blackbirds weren’t returning to the marsh where they had been breeding for years.
It was an early signal that the Earth was changing profoundly.
In that sense, birds brought me to conservation.
Elizabeth Gray and her leadership team are laying the groundwork for Audubon’s next strategic plan, which will focus on three drivers of impactful conservation that have been identified as key to Audubon’s continued effectiveness and success.
CLIMATE ACTION “Climate is the single biggest threat confronting birds and our planet.
A Red-winged Blackbird sings a tune in California’s Imperial Valley.
Between and 2020, North America lost nearly 3 billion birds.
We need bedrock protections in place to prevent future losses at this scale, and Audubon’s Bring Birds Back policy agenda has been crafted with this goal in mind.
Fund to the tune of $funds to address deferred maintenance projects at the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education schools.
This law supports our national parks, local parks, and public land throughout the nation, providing birds with the habitat they need to thrive.
At the tail end of Congress passed the landmark, bi partisan Energy Act of 2020— encompassing the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act, the Clean Industrial Technology Act, and a reauth orization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy—which included provisions for everything from batteries, renewables, and energy efficiency to nuclear energy and carbon capture.
by the Senate in June 2021, becomes law.
policy agenda at the local, state, and federal levels with on-the-ground conservation, and has delivered meaningful results.
But there’s still more work to be done.
A Horned Lark forages at May Ranch, an Audubon-certified ranch in Prowers County, Colorado.
Grassland birds are among the most threatened birds in North America, and Audubon is working to support them through our Conservation Ranching program.
GUIDING OUR WAY The Burrowing Owl The only owl species to live underground, Burrowing Owls inhabit open, treeless spaces, most often in grasslands.
As temperatures rise, unprecedented spring heat endangers young birds, while wildfires—more frequent and prolonged due to climate change—threaten their burrows.
Through Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program, we work with ranchers to develop and implement bird-friendly land management plans that protect and renew grassland habitats.
Not only does this benefit Burrowing Owls and other grassland birds, but by encouraging the growth of native grasses, this work also forms valuable carbon sinks, critical to absorbing COand slowing the effects of climate change.
environmental initiatives, including new programs established in the Energy Act of 2020.
We will continue pushing lawmakers to take even bolder steps, such as the introduction of a national Clean Energy Standard.
Our that there is significant overlap between critical bird habitat areas and areas of high carbon value.
In other words, by protecting the places birds need most, we’re also working to combat the effects of climate change.
Audubon is advancing Natural Climate Solutions as a science-based approach to help restore and maintain natural ecosystems.
As effective carbon stores, ecosystems like prairies and wetlands help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions—and provide safe habitats for birds to thrive.
The largest functioning restoration project of its kind in the world, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project has restored returned almost 25,000 acres to wetlands in the Florida Everglades.
Birds have already begun to return to the newly restored ecosystem after decades of construction.
The continued expansion of the Audubon Conservation Ranching program—including a groundbreaking new partnership with Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats— supports ranchers who manage their land in ways that benefit the ecosystem and birds.
In partnership with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Great Lakes Commission, Audubon Great Lakes has launched a three-year initiative to restore more than wetlands in southeast Chicago, a historically underserved community that has been vulnerable to flooding.
The last time water was routed to this region, through the “pulse flow,” we saw a 20 percent increase in bird abundance and a 42 percent increase in species diversity.
The restored wetlands of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project will serve as an important natural climate solution, benefiting birds, people, and communities in Florida.
the increased diversity in our leadership and Board.
We are working to effect change at these and all levels of the organization.
We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth Gray, Audubon’s first female Acting Chief Executive Officer; Marshall Johnson, the first Black Acting Chief Conservation Officer in our history; and Jamaal Nelson, our new Chief Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Officer, who are sure to bring critical perspectives, informed by their lived experiences, to our conservation work.
We are also thinking more deliberately about how Audubon can serve as an integrated launching pad for the next generation of conservationists.
“If someone wants to become the youngest trans-identifying CEO of a major NGO, what do they need to do to get there?” asks Jamaal.
Through a range of mutually reinforcing initiatives, we’re creating a pipeline from college to career to the C-suite for young people who have long been overlooked and otherwise not included in the conservation world.
Jamaal explains, “We offer conservation, climate, policy advocacy—all under one roof.
of all ages and is spreading across the country like its namesake wildflower.
45,000 people engaged with Audubon’s posts during our two-week takeover with Latino Outdoors on Instagram.
a range of nature-based opportunities, including bird walks, field trips, camping trips, and stewardship days.
Because coordinators are hired from within their respective local communities, they are well positioned to develop and lead programs that resonate with young people and their families where they live.
Outside of leadership development, the values of EDIB are increasingly reflected in Audubon’s conservation and policy goals.
We are all affected by threats to our planet—from loss of species to unsustainable development and sea level rise.
Together with Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice (formerly Shore Up Marin City), Audubon is partnering with a marginalized community to revitalize a wetland in a flood-prone lower-income part of otherwise affluent Marin County, California.
in city decision-making related to urban, greenspace, and infrastructure planning.
stations, transforming a stormwater basin into a functioning wetland, community park, and gathering place.
For Jamaal, these efforts combine to create a growing sense of positive momentum around EDIB at Audubon.
“We must hold two ideas in tension,” he says.
The Great Blue Heron While we wouldn’t call it a backyard bird, the Great Blue Heron is common in neighborhoods nationwide.
or bay, there’s a chance you’ll spot one resting or scoping out a meal.
Through our wetlands restoration work in places like Marin City, California, we create robust habitat for birds like the Great Blue Heron.
At the same time, we provide the benefits of healthy ecosystems, such as clean water and recreational opportunities, to communities long overlooked by the conservation world.
BIRDS TELL US “Birds remind me that we are all connected.
Through our WildLife Guards program, young people from Bridgeport and West Haven, Connecticut, work with field biologists to steward habitat and raise awareness about the needs of birds that share our shores.
Here, a group of WildLife Guards surveys for beach-nesting birds at West Haven’s Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary.
BIRDS TELL US “Birds have taught me to pay attention.
Audubon Great Lakes Audubon on Campus is another critical touchpoint where we can spark a love for conservation and empower young people to enter the green workforce.
Campus engagement is also a powerful strategy for expanding Audubon’s reach.
onboarded, enhanced programming, or advanced partnership conversations with and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions.
We’re continuing to prioritize these institutions, as well as community colleges, which typically serve more diverse student populations.
These young professionals can then launch their careers at Audubon in one of our many fellowships, apprenticeships, or internships that are designed to provide the experience they will rely on to advance and lead throughout their professional lives— at Audubon or wherever their careers may lead.
Moving On Up at Audubon Fresh out of college, Christine Lin joined Audubon in she was interviewing Saturday Night Live’s Melissa Villaseñor as the co host of Audubon’s popular web series I Saw a Bird.
“The fellowship helped me hone my marketing and visual production skills,” Christine says.
Now she’s in the position to mentor and manage incoming Walker Visual Storytelling Fellows.
“I always encourage them to run with their own projects, just as I was taught,” explains Christine.
B irds aren’t limited by national boundaries— and neither is our work.
Many of the species Audubon works to protect spend a large portion of the year outside the United States.
our ability to work effectively across the hemisphere. Thanks to partnerships with over hundreds of migration scientists, this first-of-its-kind project aggregates the migratory data of more than 500 bird species to paint a comprehensive picture of the journeys they take each year.
By combining the known movements of both individually tracked birds and their entire populations, we can gain a better understanding of the threats they encounter and identify with precision where and when birds need the most help.
Audubon’s MBI team consists of spatial data analysts, cartographers, outreach biologists, and migration scientists who have built partnerships and shared data with researchers across the hemisphere.
We are using these tracking data to generate interactive maps that show the full annual cycle of bird species, as well as the conservation challenges along their routes, from light pollution to land conversion and power lines.
In the coming months, Audubon will launch the Bird Migration Explorer, an interactive platform that scientists, conservationists, and bird enthusiasts alike can use to understand migration like never before.
This groundbreaking tool will enable users to witness the remarkable and perilous journeys the birds they see in their own backyards and communities make every spring and fall, sparking a renewed sense of responsibility and advocacy.
BIRDS BEYOND BORDERS An effective conservation strategy means going wherever birds lead us to defend the places they need throughout their full annual cycle.
The Bird Migration Explorer offers views of individual species’ migration journeys with unprecedented granularity.
10,500+ Hudsonian Godwits will be protected thanks to a Conserva Aves land management agreement in Chile.
CONSERVATION THAT SPANS CONTINENTS Audubon launched Conserva Aves, a coalition that uses MBI data to identify areas of vital importance to birds in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Alongside our core partner organizations—which include BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy, and RedLAC (Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds)—we will leverage our expertise in policy, science, and fundraising to help local organizations that are working to establish land protections and management in these key areas.
Years of work in Latin America and the Caribbean has shown us that partnering with local governments and organizations is the most effective way for Audubon to create lasting impact in these regions.
Through the Conserva Aves coalition, we are structuring a fund to support local conservation organizations working to protect and manage these areas of great importance to birds.
Conserva Aves will secure matching funding from local sources to further leverage the investments and ensure sustainability.
The first request for proposals to several local conservation partners in Latin America will be issued in May 2022.
GUIDING OUR WAY The Whimbrel The ultimate migrant, the Whimbrel flies from its breeding grounds in Alaska to its wintering grounds in Chile— an epic journey that can top 9,000 miles.
Along the way, Whimbrels use critical coastal and wetland habitat in the Central Valley, the Colorado River Delta, and Panama.

They tell us what we should be paying attention to—both the places that are healthy and those that are being degraded.

The past year was a time of change at Audubon.

the work done under David Yarnold’s leadership to encompass birds’ full annual cycles.

There’s a real hunger to knit together the different components of the Audubon network of chapters, sanctuaries, and centers with our state, regional, national, and global programs.

We’ve also had a wake-up call that has energized our work around equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and building a culture of workplace excellence.

The entire world is changing; we can make that world a better place—and Audubon a stronger organization—by incorporating different points of view and new voices from the field into our work.

group of endangered species native to the state.

the threats they faced was a landmark in activating my interest in climate change.

Acting Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Gray was named Acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Audubon Society in April.

She is the first woman to lead Audubon in the organization’s history.

They sparked my original interest in science and conservation and my subsequent focus on climate change.

My under graduate thesis focused on how homing pigeons navigate.

Exploring the mystery of navigation was what got me hooked on birds.

In graduate school, I studied interactions between Redwinged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

During the second year of my project, I noticed that the Yellow-headed Blackbirds weren’t returning to the marsh where they had been breeding for years.

It was an early signal that the Earth was changing profoundly.

In that sense, birds brought me to conservation.

Elizabeth Gray and her leadership team are laying the groundwork for Audubon’s next strategic plan, which will focus on three drivers of impactful conservation that have been identified as key to Audubon’s continued effectiveness and success.

CLIMATE ACTION “Climate is the single biggest threat confronting birds and our planet.

A Red-winged Blackbird sings a tune in California’s Imperial Valley.

Between and 2020, North America lost nearly 3 billion birds.

We need bedrock protections in place to prevent future losses at this scale, and Audubon’s Bring Birds Back policy agenda has been crafted with this goal in mind.

Fund to the tune of $funds to address deferred maintenance projects at the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education schools.

This law supports our national parks, local parks, and public land throughout the nation, providing birds with the habitat they need to thrive.

At the tail end of Congress passed the landmark, bi partisan Energy Act of 2020— encompassing the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act, the Clean Industrial Technology Act, and a reauth orization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy—which included provisions for everything from batteries, renewables, and energy efficiency to nuclear energy and carbon capture.

by the Senate in June 2021, becomes law.

policy agenda at the local, state, and federal levels with on-the-ground conservation, and has delivered meaningful results.

But there’s still more work to be done.

A Horned Lark forages at May Ranch, an Audubon-certified ranch in Prowers County, Colorado.

Grassland birds are among the most threatened birds in North America, and Audubon is working to support them through our Conservation Ranching program.

GUIDING OUR WAY The Burrowing Owl The only owl species to live underground, Burrowing Owls inhabit open, treeless spaces, most often in grasslands.

As temperatures rise, unprecedented spring heat endangers young birds, while wildfires—more frequent and prolonged due to climate change—threaten their burrows.

Through Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program, we work with ranchers to develop and implement bird-friendly land management plans that protect and renew grassland habitats.

Not only does this benefit Burrowing Owls and other grassland birds, but by encouraging the growth of native grasses, this work also forms valuable carbon sinks, critical to absorbing COand slowing the effects of climate change.

environmental initiatives, including new programs established in the Energy Act of 2020.

We will continue pushing lawmakers to take even bolder steps, such as the introduction of a national Clean Energy Standard.

Our that there is significant overlap between critical bird habitat areas and areas of high carbon value.

In other words, by protecting the places birds need most, we’re also working to combat the effects of climate change.

Audubon is advancing Natural Climate Solutions as a science-based approach to help restore and maintain natural ecosystems.

As effective carbon stores, ecosystems like prairies and wetlands help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions—and provide safe habitats for birds to thrive.

The largest functioning restoration project of its kind in the world, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project has restored returned almost 25,000 acres to wetlands in the Florida Everglades.

Birds have already begun to return to the newly restored ecosystem after decades of construction.

The continued expansion of the Audubon Conservation Ranching program—including a groundbreaking new partnership with Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats— supports ranchers who manage their land in ways that benefit the ecosystem and birds.

In partnership with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Great Lakes Commission, Audubon Great Lakes has launched a three-year initiative to restore more than wetlands in southeast Chicago, a historically underserved community that has been vulnerable to flooding.

The last time water was routed to this region, through the “pulse flow,” we saw a 20 percent increase in bird abundance and a 42 percent increase in species diversity.

The restored wetlands of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project will serve as an important natural climate solution, benefiting birds, people, and communities in Florida.

the increased diversity in our leadership and Board.

We are working to effect change at these and all levels of the organization.

We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth Gray, Audubon’s first female Acting Chief Executive Officer; Marshall Johnson, the first Black Acting Chief Conservation Officer in our history; and Jamaal Nelson, our new Chief Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Officer, who are sure to bring critical perspectives, informed by their lived experiences, to our conservation work.

We are also thinking more deliberately about how Audubon can serve as an integrated launching pad for the next generation of conservationists.

“If someone wants to become the youngest trans-identifying CEO of a major NGO, what do they need to do to get there?” asks Jamaal.

Through a range of mutually reinforcing initiatives, we’re creating a pipeline from college to career to the C-suite for young people who have long been overlooked and otherwise not included in the conservation world.

Jamaal explains, “We offer conservation, climate, policy advocacy—all under one roof.

of all ages and is spreading across the country like its namesake wildflower.

45,000 people engaged with Audubon’s posts during our two-week takeover with Latino Outdoors on Instagram.

a range of nature-based opportunities, including bird walks, field trips, camping trips, and stewardship days.

Because coordinators are hired from within their respective local communities, they are well positioned to develop and lead programs that resonate with young people and their families where they live.

Outside of leadership development, the values of EDIB are increasingly reflected in Audubon’s conservation and policy goals.

We are all affected by threats to our planet—from loss of species to unsustainable development and sea level rise.

Together with Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice (formerly Shore Up Marin City), Audubon is partnering with a marginalized community to revitalize a wetland in a flood-prone lower-income part of otherwise affluent Marin County, California.

in city decision-making related to urban, greenspace, and infrastructure planning.

stations, transforming a stormwater basin into a functioning wetland, community park, and gathering place.

For Jamaal, these efforts combine to create a growing sense of positive momentum around EDIB at Audubon.

“We must hold two ideas in tension,” he says.

The Great Blue Heron While we wouldn’t call it a backyard bird, the Great Blue Heron is common in neighborhoods nationwide.

or bay, there’s a chance you’ll spot one resting or scoping out a meal.

Through our wetlands restoration work in places like Marin City, California, we create robust habitat for birds like the Great Blue Heron.

At the same time, we provide the benefits of healthy ecosystems, such as clean water and recreational opportunities, to communities long overlooked by the conservation world.

BIRDS TELL US “Birds remind me that we are all connected.

Through our WildLife Guards program, young people from Bridgeport and West Haven, Connecticut, work with field biologists to steward habitat and raise awareness about the needs of birds that share our shores.

Here, a group of WildLife Guards surveys for beach-nesting birds at West Haven’s Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary.

BIRDS TELL US “Birds have taught me to pay attention.

Audubon Great Lakes Audubon on Campus is another critical touchpoint where we can spark a love for conservation and empower young people to enter the green workforce.

Campus engagement is also a powerful strategy for expanding Audubon’s reach.

onboarded, enhanced programming, or advanced partnership conversations with and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions.

We’re continuing to prioritize these institutions, as well as community colleges, which typically serve more diverse student populations.

These young professionals can then launch their careers at Audubon in one of our many fellowships, apprenticeships, or internships that are designed to provide the experience they will rely on to advance and lead throughout their professional lives— at Audubon or wherever their careers may lead.

Moving On Up at Audubon Fresh out of college, Christine Lin joined Audubon in she was interviewing Saturday Night Live’s Melissa Villaseñor as the co host of Audubon’s popular web series I Saw a Bird.

“The fellowship helped me hone my marketing and visual production skills,” Christine says.

Now she’s in the position to mentor and manage incoming Walker Visual Storytelling Fellows.

“I always encourage them to run with their own projects, just as I was taught,” explains Christine.

B irds aren’t limited by national boundaries— and neither is our work.

Many of the species Audubon works to protect spend a large portion of the year outside the United States.

our ability to work effectively across the hemisphere. Thanks to partnerships with over hundreds of migration scientists, this first-of-its-kind project aggregates the migratory data of more than 500 bird species to paint a comprehensive picture of the journeys they take each year.

By combining the known movements of both individually tracked birds and their entire populations, we can gain a better understanding of the threats they encounter and identify with precision where and when birds need the most help.

Audubon’s MBI team consists of spatial data analysts, cartographers, outreach biologists, and migration scientists who have built partnerships and shared data with researchers across the hemisphere.

We are using these tracking data to generate interactive maps that show the full annual cycle of bird species, as well as the conservation challenges along their routes, from light pollution to land conversion and power lines.

In the coming months, Audubon will launch the Bird Migration Explorer, an interactive platform that scientists, conservationists, and bird enthusiasts alike can use to understand migration like never before.

This groundbreaking tool will enable users to witness the remarkable and perilous journeys the birds they see in their own backyards and communities make every spring and fall, sparking a renewed sense of responsibility and advocacy.

BIRDS BEYOND BORDERS An effective conservation strategy means going wherever birds lead us to defend the places they need throughout their full annual cycle.

The Bird Migration Explorer offers views of individual species’ migration journeys with unprecedented granularity.

10,500+ Hudsonian Godwits will be protected thanks to a Conserva Aves land management agreement in Chile.

CONSERVATION THAT SPANS CONTINENTS Audubon launched Conserva Aves, a coalition that uses MBI data to identify areas of vital importance to birds in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Alongside our core partner organizations—which include BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy, and RedLAC (Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds)—we will leverage our expertise in policy, science, and fundraising to help local organizations that are working to establish land protections and management in these key areas.

Years of work in Latin America and the Caribbean has shown us that partnering with local governments and organizations is the most effective way for Audubon to create lasting impact in these regions.

Through the Conserva Aves coalition, we are structuring a fund to support local conservation organizations working to protect and manage these areas of great importance to birds.

Conserva Aves will secure matching funding from local sources to further leverage the investments and ensure sustainability.

The first request for proposals to several local conservation partners in Latin America will be issued in May 2022.

GUIDING OUR WAY The Whimbrel The ultimate migrant, the Whimbrel flies from its breeding grounds in Alaska to its wintering grounds in Chile— an epic journey that can top 9,000 miles.

Along the way, Whimbrels use critical coastal and wetland habitat in the Central Valley, the Colorado River Delta, and Panama.