About Audubon

When John James Audubon died in 1851, he had gained fame for his elegant portraits ofAmerica’s birds and other wildlife in their natural habitats. His perspective and methodswere unique, and his reputation has endured, making his art a rich legacy for all whowish to glimpse what he experienced. Regrettably, much of the natural world Audubonsought to fix in those vivid images has not endured.

Through Audubon’s art, however, people began to see and appreciate birds in new ways,to value them, and to be concerned about their fate. By the 1880s, his name had becomethe banner under which a major conservation movement was taking shape. It started asrevulsion at the heedless slaughter of wild birds for their feathers. In a classic grassrootseffort, Audubon clubs and supporters secured state and federal legislation to suppress thefeather trade and, in 1903, influenced President Theodore Roosevelt to establish the firstfederal wildlife refuge. In 1905, the National Association of Audubon Societies wasorganized, paving the way for a century of new challenges, opportunities and successes incampaigns to conserve birds and other wildlife and their habitats.

Today’s National Audubon Society and a broad network of state and local chaptersremain committed to addressing environmental problems ranging in scale from neigh-borhood to global. The heart of the Audubon effort has always been in helping individu-als make a difference in their communities. As a new century begins, the Audubon AtHome initiative is helping people bring nature back to their homes and communities.

The Seattle Audubon Society’s book and program, Audubon At Home in Seattle:Gardening for Life, illustrate a range of practical ways that people in that area have usedto create more natural habitats around their homes. The Audubon Society of NorthernVirginia is addressing these and related conservation issues for this region with AudubonAt Home in Northern Virginia. We are gratified at the response to this effort anddelighted at the number and variety of ways Virginians are finding to “naturalize” andnurture our local environment.