Twenty years of conservation work on behalf of Wisconsin’s grasslands, wetlands, and other signature habitat areas have certainly seen some triumphs for Becky Abel, but none perhaps as indelible as the ongoing recovery of the Trumpeter Swan. In 1932, the worldwide population of the species was estimated at 69 individuals, but decades-long efforts at habitat protection and hunting...
Christi Norman
Audubon Washington
Seattle, Washington
Year: 2010
Christi Norman
Networking with Native Stewards of the Land for Healthy Communities
Christi Norman wants to tap the passion of birders and transform these skillful observers into active land stewards – with the help of Native American tribes.
A longtime resident of Washington State, Christi manages Audubon’s Great Washington State Birding Trail program, which partners with eight tribes to allow birders access to specific sites on tribal land. She has spearheaded several other environmental initiatives, including Seattle Audubon’s Neighborhood Bird Census, the King County Landowner Incentive Program, and Audubon Washington’s Watchable Wildlife coalition with four state agencies.
The TogetherGreen Fellowship award will enable Christi to expand and enhance the Birding Trail’s Olympic Loop. Through Audubon Washington, she will join forces with Northwest Tribal Tourism to explore how best to safeguard habitat on tribal lands while developing ecotourism to benefit tribal landowners. This effort will engage a diverse alliance of tribes, tourism and business interests, and local Audubon chapters to restore and preserve habitat for species of special concern and to ensure healthy water quality. The goal of the project is to create a model that can be replicated by other tribes in the state and country, and in communities along the Pacific Flyway.
As Christi continues to contribute her enthusiasm and leadership to innovative partnerships, she’ll continue to set an environmental example and inspire others to follow in her green footsteps.
Featured Current Fellow
Featured Past Fellow
Lehighton, Pennsylvania
When Dan Kunkle talks about conservation, he is thinking broadly and working locally. Dan feels a strong sense of responsibility to the environment and to the future, and has devoted his life to responding to this call in the Lehigh Valley. At the Wildlife Information Center, and through his work as a high school science teacher, Dan has been involved with almost every sort of environmental...