Glenn Olson, Donal O’Brien Chair in Bird Conservation through Advocacy & Public Policy

Dave Lauridsen

Selected by the National Audubon Society in 2009 as the Donal O’Brien Chair in Bird Conservation through Advocacy and Public Policy, Glenn Olson is a conservation dynamo who has served Audubon for 33 years. Previously, Olson directed Audubon’s field operations, where he was responsible for the establishment of a network of 27 state programs across the country. Most recently, he served as Executive Director of Audubon California.

In his new role, Olson leads Audubon’s efforts to conserve birds and their habitats throughout their flyways, catalyzing work across Audubon’s national network of state programs and Important Bird Areas as well as with our BirdLife International partners throughout the Western Hemisphere, and spearheading critical conservation initiatives necessary to conserve our more than 800 species of native birds and the landscapes they depend on. The new position is named after Donal O’Brien, who served as Audubon’s chairman for 15 years and remains a powerful force in conserving wildlife and wild places.

Among Olson’s greatest resources is the network of Audubon staff, members and volunteers in 500 community-based chapters nationwide.

“We have to take individual projects and roll them up into flyway-wide initiatives that deliver significant benefits across the hemisphere.” Olson said. Expanding our collaboration is how we can make a lasting difference. With more than 50 Audubon Centers connecting people to nature, and over 2,000 Audubon Important Bird Areas, we can engage millions of people of all ages in sustaining ecosystems vital to both people and birds.”

Olson played a key role in the comeback of the California condor and helped Audubon gain protection of nearly a quarter million acres of California’s largest and most biologically diverse undeveloped parcel, Tejon Ranch. He galvanized the grassroots fight for a ban on lead ammunition, and guided Audubon’s identification and mapping of 145 Important Bird Areas.

Olson began his Audubon career as conservation chair for the Los Angeles Audubon Chapter; he also taught at the Audubon Camp of the West in Dubois, Wyoming. In the mid-1980s, he became director of Audubon’s Western Region, spearheading major wetland restoration and protection projects throughout California.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology from UC Santa Barbara. He studied in the Galapagos on a scholarship from the Charles Darwin Research Institute, and inventoried Southern California Golden Eagle nesting populations as a research assistant at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. In 2002, Olson received Audubon’s Charles H. Callison Award in recognition of his conservation achievements.

He is based in Sacramento.

Read more about The Bird Ambassador in Audubon magazine. See video of Olson at the 2010 State of the Birds Press Conference led by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

To request an interview with Glenn Olson, contact: Delta Willis.