Leadership

Project Leadership

Creating the Minnesota River Valley Birding Trail was a cooperative effort initiated by Audubon Minnesota and the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter. It has been largely a volunteer effort of the two Audubon groups, but has also been supported by Friends of the Minnesota Valley, the State of Minnesota (especially the Department of Natural Resources), the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and several of Minnesota’s finest birders. Financial support was provided by the State of Minnesota, Audubon Minnesota, Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter, the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, and individual and corporate contributors.

Birding Trail Committee Members:
Bob Williams, Josh Cerra, Deanne Endrizzi, John Hickman, Sue Long, Doug Mayo, Lois Norrgard, Bonnie Sample, Tom Schenk, Jack Telfer and Pat Telfer.

Participating Audubon staff:
Cheryl Miller, Paul Konrad, Betsy Daub, Mark Martell.

With Special Appreciation:
To Bob Janssen, who provided the description of bird migration in the Minnesota River valley, the introduction to each region, and the species list.

Audubon Minnesota
Audubon Minnesota is leading the effort to establish the Birding Trail. It is a confederation of the 14 Audubon chapters and about 13,000 National Audubon Society members who live in Minnesota. Its mission is to work through our members to preserve and enhance the ecological diversity of our natural environment through education and advocacy of sound public policy, with an emphasis on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats.

The National Audubon Society
The mission of the National Audubon Society is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity. The Society has more than 1,000,000 members in more than 500 chapters throughout the country, and it operates more than 70 nature centers and sanctuaries. Increasingly the work of Audubon is being carried out by state organizations such as Audubon Minnesota. Its staff includes conservation advocates; environmental educators; scientists; and land managers.

The Minnesota River Valley Birding Trail is a project of Audubon Minnesota