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Linda Vanderveer
212/979-3197
lvanderveer@audubon.org

New York, NY, January 5, 2005—The National Audubon Society, the nation’s largest bird conservation organization, is turning 100 today. Audubon will celebrate its centennial throughout the year with events across the country, including both annual activities like the Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb. 18-21, 2005), and new, special centennial events.

“A full century after its foundation, Audubon remains the nation’s leading bird conservation organization,” stated John Flicker, president of National Audubon Society. “From our landmark “State of the Birds” report issued in October 2004, to the recent battle to restore the nest site of legendary Red-tailed Hawk Pale Male, Audubon’s work today is as relevant and critical to bird conservation as it was 100 years ago. We will be here through the next 100 years to give voice to those same founding values and principles.”

Picture the year of Audubon’s founding, 1905; Theodore Roosevelt was President, milk cost about 10 cents a gallon, and Albert Einstein published his Theory of Relativity. In the world of high fashion, ladies donned hats adorned with heron and egret plumes, and many even wore elaborate millinery creations containing entire bird bodies.

In response to the plunder and subsequent decimation of plume bird colonies, several local Audubon Societies agreed to take aggressive action and form a united front to protect birds and their habitat throughout the nation. On January 5, 1905 they officially incorporated to form the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, later shortened to the National Audubon Society.

During its first several years, the fledgling Audubon organization racked up an impressive list of accomplishments, including passage of the Audubon Plumage Law (1910), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918), and establishment of its first two bird sanctuaries (1924): the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary near the president’s former home in Oyster Bay, New York, and the Paul J. Rainey Sanctuary in coastal Louisiana.

“Our heritage at Audubon has always been to connect people with nature,” continued Flicker. “From our earliest days our chapters, staff, and grassroots volunteers have worked to help people make the connection between the health of bird populations, and the health of human populations. Declines in bird populations are often early warning signals of threats to other species, including people.”

Audubon continues to take up the torch for avian conservation, monitoring bird populations and sounding alarm bells about hazards like DDT, fighting for clean air and water, and providing environmental education to Americans through Audubon magazine, Audubon Adventures, and our network of chapters and nature centers.

Audubon is celebrating its centennial year of protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in positive conservation experiences.

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