Photo: Tundra Swan illustration, John James Audubon
Libby Lyons
Looking back across the last year, I saw ASNV came out of the pandemic energized and ready to take on some big challenges. To counter the threat of continued massive losses of birds from North America (estimated at 3 billion, or one in four, since 1970), of rapid urban development in northern Virginia, and of climate change, we have developed our Stretch Our Parks initiative.
We also are adopting a proactive approach to our mission of engaging all northern Virginia communities in enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people. Our recently hired Volunteer Coordinator is increasing our volunteer engagement, we are reaching younger audiences with our NextGen Birders for Conservation events, and we continue to reach out to all communities in our chapter territory through our diversity and inclusion initiatives, which are now featured on our website.
It is in this context of how we fulfill our mission, today and for years to come, that we now consider whether to change our organization’s name. John James Audubon’s vast contributions to American ornithology are well known. In recent years, however, it has come to light that, like some others of his era, he was a slave owner and collected skulls for another’s eugenics research, practices that are now universally condemned. He also copied another artist’s drawing of a bird that did not exist, using it to promote his own publication -- scientific fraud by any era’s standards.
ASNV, like many other Audubon chapters, has embarked on a process to decide whether to keep the Audubon name. The National Audubon Society in March of this year decided not to change its name, but is allowing its many chapters to decide for themselves.
Our Board of Directors will make this decision – and it is a complex one. More background information is available in this essay on the Audubon Name, and in this series of Frequently Asked Questions. On the one hand, some feel that changing the name will help remove the taint of racism associated with Audubon. And as Christian Cooper wrote in the Washington Post, we can’t adequately protect birds and other wildlife from the immense challenges ahead without the participation of non-Whites, a large and growing part of the population. Having a name that honors Audubon could deter such participation; this is especially relevant for northern Virginia, a part of the country that has recently become a majority-minority region.
On the other hand, Audubon did make significant contributions to ornithology, art, and natural history. Changing our name could weaken the Audubon “brand recognition.” A name change could alienate some members and also would be expensive, draining funds away from important conservation work.
Because we are a membership organization and have long benefited from your generous involvement and support, we are now in a listening and learning phase. We ask for your input – please use this link to take our brief survey. We also will consult other groups in northern Virginia communities that are not well-represented in our membership and other Audubon chapters around the country.
We look forward to hearing from you – about the name change issue – and about other suggestions that you have to help us protect the birds and nature that we all treasure.