Giving up on National Audubon
So, I made a decision this week, one I’ve been pondering for a while. What triggered it was an email…
As it happened, I was out birding when an email hit my inbox with the title “Removing ‘Audubon’”. I immediately knew what it was about, because the name of John James Audubon is all over many aspects of birding, but the life of John James Audubon was… seriously problematic. He was a slave owner and white supremacist, among other things. Some of the local chapters that have used Audubon’s name have started changing to remove it — Maryland did so in 2021 and explain very well why they took this step. So I’ve been waiting to see how the National Audubon organization would handle this.
The organization hasn’t completely ducked the issue. They published What Do We Do About John James Audubon? by Black birder J. Drew Lanham, and in 2020, published The Myth of John James Audubon which goes into depth why having an organization named for the man is problematic. But I haven’t seen any real discussion by them since, and no actual action. Then there have been issues about toxic work environments I never felt they properly grappled with. The CEO, David Yarnold, ultimately stepped down.
I’ve had other issues with Audubon National chapter — a bit one being it’s support, or mostly, lack of, the local chapters. The local Audubon chapters get almost no funding from the national, and from my time working within a local chapter on many things, generally treated them not as partners or resources, but as annoyances to be mostly ignored.
So imagine my surprise, or more correctly lack of it, when I got home, opened up my email, and realized that the organization that had started the initiative to rename itself away from Audubon wasn’t the national chapter, but the regional Seattle Audubon.
I realized I was done waiting for National Audubon to get its act together, and that I was done with them. I said as much on Twitter. And then, realizing I was late for my (more or less) quarterly donations I give to organizations I support I spent some time sending off donations: to Kitsap Audubon, my local chapter, to Seattle Audubon, my regional chapter (along with a note thanking them for taking this step), to Nature Conservancy, to the Cornell Labs of Ornithology, and to the American Birding Association. The money that would have gone to the national Audubon got split up between Cornell and ABA.
One reason I finally hit this frustration point was that I’d just finished listening to the latest episode of the ABA Podcast, hosted by Nate Swick and introducing their new Executive Director Nikki Belmonte, who joined ABA from Audubon Georgia. One of my takeaways from that conversation was that the ABA recognized the importance of the community within the birding world, and they seemed to be committing to encourage and grow that community. One of the reasons I’m a birder today is the community that existed around Santa Clara Valley Audubon that drew me in and mentored me, and I think it’s a huge aspect of why the local Audubon chapters are so important to fostering interest and growing the community at the feet-on-the-ground level. The time I spent working on projects with the people at SCVAS, whether it was committee work, fund raising or leading groups around the region, were a huge part of my life and I think the one thing I miss and haven’t replaced since moving to Washington.
I’ve felt for a few years organizations needed to figure out how to deal with the Audubon name problem. Leadership on this really needed to come from national, and it hasn’t. It’s good to see the larger regional and local chapters taking it on themselves, and that’s worthy of support: this is a huge and expensive process, and it’s going to be controversial with some of the membership, but I think it’s a needed change.
Beyond that, I don’t think these local chapters should continue to associate themselves by name to the National organization. They get treated poorly in return, and the goals and ambitions of the local chapters rarely reflect the priorities the national organization have put forward. My take is the national no longer deserves the benefits it gets from the shared name with the local chapters. Now is a time not only for local chapters to grapple with the not-fun realities of the man they are named for, but that their name ties them to an organization that I think is time to be removed as well.
I’ve talked with people in a couple of local chapters since I posted my twitter rant, and it’s clear that other organizations are grappling with this. I’ve encouraged them to contact the Seattle Audubon folks (hope they don’t mind) since it seems there are opportunities here to share knowledge and support. But beyond that, I think the goals of the ABA are much closer aligned to those of most local chapters today, and it seems to me there are possibilities there, so I’ve suggested these people reach out to Belmonte as well. Maybe there’s some support role the ABA can offer to local Audubon chapters looking to rename and rebrand, or perhaps it just makes sense for the chapters to look into partnership opportunities with the ABA in general.
For me, personally, this is about putting my money where it’ll do the most good, and as of now, Audubon national is no longer on that list. I’ve been quite impressed with what Cornell is doing for the larger birding audience, whether it’s eBird, their Merlin app, Birds of the World or the larger data set they manage on what’s going on with birds worldwide, and the ABA has increasingly impressed me with the ideas I’m hearing out of it, and listening to Belmonte spell it out this week really made me feel my hopes align well with their goals.
And if I ever get the sense Audubon National has its act together (and changes its name), then maybe I’ll put it on the list again. But right now, I’m not holding my breath.
If you’re a birder, you should engage with your local chapter, and consider supporting it with a membership. I encourage you to read why Seattle is taking this step, and why Maryland took it, and I know other chapters are starting to or already in discussions for doing this as well. And if you enjoy the community of the birders you interact with, either in the field or here online, please listen to Belmonte’s interview on the ABA podcast, and if you haven’t taking a look at the ABA organization, do so. I think it’s the one best aligned with the interests of your typical birder: the one out around the local area with binoculars and a guide, enjoying what’s around them. (I also strongly recommend the ABA Podcast as a nice way to get bits and pieces of what’s going on across the larger bird and birder community every week. Well worth subscribing to…)
(eagle image because I refuse to post a birding piece without at least one image in it, and boy, am I liking this new camera)
