INFLUENCING THE GLOBAL CONSERVATION NETWORK

Hawk Mountain fulfills a unique niche in the raptor conservation world, having trained a network of nearly 500 young raptor conservation scientists around the globe. Fifteen percent of our trainees, to date, have come from the Mesoamerican corridor where we have been mentoring talented conservation leaders for more than 35 years. We help these young scientists by modeling specific tools such as scientific data collection, research methods, authoring collaborative research papers with affiliated universities and scientists, environmental education, public outreach, social media and communications, and fundraising—all necessary tools to ensure success in conservation. Last year we invited colleagues, many of whom are former trainees currently working in raptor conservation, to form a raptor collaborative with Hawk Mountain called “Conserve the Corridor,” where each partner can share experiences with monitoring migration and developing education outreach within the corridor.

It is an effective way to leverage science and conservation in what is arguably the single largest raptor migration corridor on the planet, while creating opportunities for tomorrow’s conservation leaders who also just happen to be diverse. Former trainees, along with accomplished scientists and experts, like Dr. Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, Pablo Porras, and Esther Vallejos are just some of the names of an ever-expanding group of South and Central American scientists, collaborators, and friends that we are collaborating with on a shared vision to “Conserve the Corridor” and provide safe passage for millions of raptors. Isn’t it obvious that people from the corridor should be the ones leading the work as they understand the conditions on the ground as well as the cultural and political nuances of each country and site?

Diversity and Inclusion in Science, and Why It Is Important:

Recently, Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza was one of a group of Latin American and Caribbean ornithologists who wrote two papers on the lack of inclusion and diversity and the underrepresentation of Latin American ornithologists in leadership roles, as well as a bias against citing papers in Spanish and Portuguese, which marginalizes the region’s researchers. In one of the papers, they offer 14 recommendations for how ornithology’s major journals can revise their policies and practices “to improve the flow of science from the region’s bird scientists.”

Ernesto fledged from Hawk Mountain in 1990 with a goal of establishing the Veracruz River of Raptors as the single largest raptor count site on earth with help from our Director of Conservation Science Dr. Laurie Goodrich and other staff. Now Ernesto is a professor at the University of Veracruz in Mexico and a Hawk Mountain Board Member. He knows from experience the difficulties of exporting education programs that apply to a temperate Pennsylvania and equally in exporting organizational models that apply to running a non-profit in the United States.

Staff

PRESIDENT

Sean Grace

SARKIS ACOPIAN DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION SCIENCE

Laurie Goodrich, Ph.D.

SENIOR SCIENTIST AND GRADUATE STUDY DIRECTOR

Jean-François Therrien, Ph.D.

SENIOR RESEARCH BIOLOGIST

David Barber

BIOLOGIST-NATURALIST

Bracken Brown

RESEARCH BIOLOGIST

Rebecca McCabe, Ph.D.

SCIENCE-EDUCATION OUTREACH COORDINATOR

Rebekah Smith

ACOPIAN CENTER OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

Wendy Nicodemus

DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

Jamie Dawson

EDUCATOR

Aaron Prince

DIRECTOR OF SANCTUARY STEWARDSHIP

Todd Bauman

SANCTUARY STEWARDS

Stephen Wade

Noah Rauch

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Mary Linkevich

MEMBERSHIP & VOLUNTEER MANAGER

Tammy Jandrasitz

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Gigi Romano

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT

Annie Trexler

BUSINESS MANAGER

Shelley Davenport

BOOKSTORE MANAGER

Mary Therese Grob

Board

CHAIRMAN

Tom Kerr

VICE CHAIRMAN

David Bonenberger

TREASURER

Edwin Baldrige

SECRETARY

Wendy McLean, Esq.

Jacquelyn Bonomo

Ana Maria Castaño

Deborah Edge, M.D.

Stephen Edge, M.D.

Peter Fontaine

Jeff Goldenberg

Ken Hawkinson, Ph.D.

Diane Husic, Ph.D.

Richard W. Holt

Ernesto Ruelas

Inzunza, Ph.D.

Nasreen Kara

Holly Merker

David Middleton

Sara Nicholas

Sally O’Byrne

Dan Rubenstein, Ph.D.

Jeff Weil

Ferdinand Thun, Emeritus Member

Minturn Wright, III, Emeritus Member

Ernesto said, “Running a conservation non-profit needed a better-planned organizational structure that would work in Mexico under its legal, political, and operational circumstances,” and that is why Ernesto partnered with Pronatura, a Mexican non-profit conservation organization very similar in structure and operations to The Nature Conservancy of the United States, to more effectively guide the River of Raptors count site.

A top goal of the new Conserve the Corridor initiative is to provide educational resources about the significance of the flyway while highlighting the unique culture of each location. We are actively recruiting additional trainees from these various locations with a focus on expanding raptor education, networking, and online outreach across the corridor.

Hawk Mountain is an influencer in conservation, with a proven history that has resulted in spawning most of the raptor count sites around the globe and many offshoot organizations, including the Raptor Population Index and the Hawk Migration Association of North America that hosts sister count sites’ migratory raptor data. We have an outstanding reputation for working collaboratively across governmental agencies, nonprofits, and with academics, earning the highest ranking as a conservation investment. Now we are setting our sights on one our loftiest objectives yet, to create a long-term collaborative of self-sustaining raptor count sites, with effective community engagement tailored to individual countries and unique cultural perspectives, all along the corridor, and to conserve migrating raptors. If you, or someone you know, is interested in helping fund our long-term efforts to “Conserve the Corridor” for raptors and future generations of people, then please reach out today.

Yours in Conservation,

Sean Grace PRESIDENT