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Volume 45, No. 1

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Origins of the American Bird Conservancy: conservation institution-building is difficult and unpredictable


Authors

CRAIG S. HARRISON,1 STEPHEN D. ECCLES,2 STANLEY E. SENNER3 & CYNTHIA LENHART4
14953 Sonoma Mountain Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, USA (craigspencerharrison@gmail.com)
28904 Narem Place, Annandale, VA 22003, USA
34110 SE Hawthorne Blvd., PMB 144, Portland, OR 97214, USA
4294 Lake Hosea Drive, Saluda, NC 28773, USA 

Citation

HARRISON, C.S., ECCLES, S.D., SENNER, S.E. & LENHART, C. 2017. Origins of the American Bird Conservancy: conservation institution-building is difficult and unpredictable. Marine Ornithology 45: 67 - 71

Received 11 November 2016, accepted 12 January 2017

Date Published: 2017/04/15
Date Online: 2017/02/28
Key words: American Bird Conservancy, bird conservation, BirdLife International, conservation in the Americas, conservation leadership, establishing a new conservation organization, International Council for Bird Preservation

Abstract

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) was founded in 1995 after years of complicated negotiations among 50 organizations affiliated with the International Council for Bird Preservation, now BirdLife International. Today it is a great success, but at crucial points in its genesis the enterprise was close to failure. ABC never became, as originally intended, the US partner of BirdLife International. Yet it fills the niche for an entity whose focus is bird conservation in the Americas. ABC's success is an example of the importance of goodwill and persistence by the founders of any conservation organization. Fledgling organizations will always face governance and financial challenges. Entrenched interests, including financial competitors, will often be an obstacle, and founders need to be flexible in how they accomplish their goals.

References


AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY. 2016. 2015 Annual Report. [Available online at: https://abcbirds.org/results/annual-reports/. Accessed 17 January 2017.]

AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY. 1995. Minutes of 30 January 1995 Board of Directors Meeting.

ANONYMOUS. 1993. New Organizational Structure for ICBP in the United States (17 September 1993).

BIRD CONSERVATION ALLIANCE. 1994a. Minutes of 5 January 1994 Board of Directors Meeting.

BIRD CONSERVATION ALLIANCE. 1994b. Minutes of 1 April 1994 Board of Directors Meeting.

BIRD CONSERVATION ALLIANCE. 1994c. Minutes of 19 May 1994 Board of Directors Meeting.

BIRD CONSERVATION ALLIANCE. 1994d. Minutes of 27 October 1994 Board of Directors Meeting.

BIRD CONSERVATION ALLIANCE. 1994e. Minutes of 30 November 1994 Board of Directors Meeting.

National Audubon Society: About Us [online]. New York, NY and Washington, DC: National Audubon Society [Available online at: http://www.audubon.org/about. Accessed 17 January 2017.]

O'BRIEN, D.C., JR. 2003. The Founding of the American Bird Conservancy [unpublished].

RAVER, A. 1991. Audubon Society pursues an identity beyond birds. New York Times (9 June 1991).

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