Statement of Candidacy, Jess Gwinn

My name is Jess A. Gwinn and I am running for the office of the Great Lakes Regional Representative to the National Audubon Society Board of Directors. I am 43 years old and have been interested in birds since I was a child watching the Cardinals, Robins, Blue Jays, Starlings and other so-called city birds from my yard in Indianapolis, Indiana. It wasn't until I moved to New Hampshire after college (BS Agricultural Engineering and BS Land Surveying from Purdue University) that I became more serious about birding. I joined the Seacoast Chapter of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire and started attending outings and programs. I moved back to Indiana in 1991 and promptly joined the Sassafras Audubon Society, a chapter of the NAS based in Bloomington. In 1995 I was asked to join the Sassafras board to replace a member who was leaving in mid term. I eventually became president of the chapter from 1999 to 2001. After leaving the board for a year I returned so that I could focus on what has really attracted my attention all along, even from childhood, conservation issues. I remember being horrified as a child with aerial photographs of clear cuts. As I aged, more and more issues became known. Being a member of an Audubon chapter has educated me about these many issues and allowed me to speak to a larger audience about them.

The Audubon name means different things to different people. To some it is just a general association with birds and birding. To others it may only connote the magazine. Others still may associate the name with NAS. My contention is that there is another subset of the population to whom the Audubon name connotes the local chapter in their community. These chapters are the face of Audubon to many people. To many, NAS, like many large national organizations is somewhat of an abstract entity based somewhere on a coast and doing who knows what. Maybe getting a little press now and then with a stance on protecting the Arctic Refuge or some other national issue. But the chapters are the entities we really know on a personal level. The chapters lead outings, give programs, clean up shore lines, take stands on local issues, compile Christmas Bird Counts and other species inventories and in general fight for the environment in your back yard. We are Audubon on the ground.

I applaud NAS for looking forward and setting goals for new centers and state offices and preparing a new vision for the organization. Unfortunately I believe that they have failed to look backwards as well and to see one of the engines that has driven them to their present position. In a word, chapters. We have not captured the national spotlight on national issues like NAS. They do an admirable job of that and I am extremely grateful for those efforts. Until recently, at least from the perspective of our chapter, NAS has not been a very hands on outfit. Indiana, like most of the Great Lakes states, does not have a State Office, the supposed holy grail of Audubon support for chapters. Nor do we have a regional office which was folded into the Ohio state office during the NAS reorganization. There is nothing overtly negative about any of this. Except that Indiana like the other states without offices began to feel neglected. Forced to fend for ourselves we have become more self sufficient as a chapter.

Then comes the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back, the reduction with ultimate expiration of the dues split. We all pay membership dues to NAS, regardless of affiliation with a center, office or chapter. On the chapter level, the dues split was never enough to cover expenses so fund raising was an annual endeavor. There was nothing wrong with that as chapters learned innovation and also engaged their memberships. While we never heard much from NAS, we still received the dues split to help us get along. With the dues share being removed, what was the connection to NAS except in name.

In the opinion of our chapters, many of the problems that NAS has faced and was trying to address with their new vision were created by NAS. We feel that NAS has tried to alleviate their own organizational malaise on the backs of the chapters. Chapters for the most part live and die on their own efforts. The only thing we asked for was a portion of the dues to offset some of the costs. We did the rest.

So here we are. I have two goals for a term on the NAS board of directors. First and foremost is to hammer home the importance of chapters to the health of NAS. I think too many board members are disconnected and unfamiliar with local chapter functions and services provided to members. The amount of work that chapters perform in the Audubon name is tremendous. For this work to continue, support from NAS is imperative.

My second goal for NAS is to strengthen the NAS focus on conservation. NAS works very effectively behind the scenes on many issues but the membership and especially the general public need to know about these efforts. Success in this endeavor will greatly advance the Audubon mission as well as cultivate the increased public support that NAS has lacked for many years.

Thank you for your vote.

Jess A. Gwinn
Solsberry, IN 47459
jagmo@bluemarble.net