Welcome to...

... Beth Huning, new state director of Education for NAS-California. Formerly the director of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center in Marin Co. (CA), Beth's new mission will be to establish and improve Audubon-California's educational products, focusing primarily on strengthening the education work taking place at school and community levels in the state.

... Dan McGuiness, new director for our new Upper Mississippi River Campaign. Dan was the unanimous pick of a group of chapter leaders and was lured away from the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Commission by the chance to help restore the important Mississippi River Flyway. Dan is a life-long conservationist, a self-described "river rat" and a respected leader in the region. He will lead the first chapter-initiated, place-based campaign launched since the Strategic Plan. The Campaign is a fine example of cooperation between state offices, councils, chapters and the rest of the organization. (see related article)

... Kelly Meinhart, new office manager and Communications Specialist (new position) in the Pennsylvania State Office, and editor of the new state office newsletter. Kelly currently also serves her local chapter, Appalachian Audubon (southcentral PA), as Conservation Co-chair, and is an activist with the NAS Population and Habitat Campaign. She graduated from Kutztown U. (PA) with a B.S. in Communications.

... Lea Mitchell, new Organizer in the Olympia, Washington, Wetlands Campaign office. Lea will focus on helping chapters, volunteer leaders, and state field offices to save wetlands in their communities, all leading toward the Campaign's goal to protect and restore one million acres of wetlands. In the next several months, she will contact many field staff and chapter leaders to discuss how the Campaign can most effectively assist their efforts to protect and restore wetlands. Lea can be reached at: ph: 360/709-9695; e-mail: lmitchell@audubon.org.

... Julie Sibbing, new assistant director of Wetlands & Wildlife Refuge Policy. Julie joined us in April as Wetlands/Wildlife Refuge Lobbyist in the Washington, D.C. Office. She hales from the NAS Great Lakes Office and will now split her time between the Wetlands and Wildlife Refuge Campaigns, providing synergistic overlap where appropriate. In her few years at the Great Lakes Office, Julie was responsible for some outstanding accomplishments in the areas of wetlands education and advocacy, including: the recent series of Ohio-specific Audubon Adventures supplements; a successful bid to combat NP-26 in Ohio; the production/distribution of nearly 25,000 copies of the highly informative booklet, Ohio Wetlands; and Audubon's leadership in shaping the new wetlands water quality standards for Ohio.

... Kristen Stram, new Field Coordinator/Audubon Adventures (replacing Terry Canela, in the position formerly known as Audubon Adventures Registrar). Kristen will collaborate with chapters and field offices to develop new Audubon Adventures projects such as teacher training, local editions of the program, and implementation of other programs, such as Birds for a Purpose. Kristen recently completed her Masters in Environmental Science at Miami U. (Ohio), which included a one-year internship in NAS Education as a teacher/program coordinator for Birds for a Purpose. Previously she was on staff at Connecticut Audubon as a naturalist/environmental educator.

...Paul Zeph, new director of the new Iowa State Audubon Office (to open in July; specifics to be announced in next Networker). Paul rejoins the NAS staff after a 10-year absence. He worked at the Aullwood Audubon Center in Dayton, OH from 1981-'86 as an Environmental Ed. Specialist and then in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office from 1986-'87. After leaving NAS, he worked for the PA Dept. of Environmental Resources on citizen and environmental ed. projects. Four years ago Paul joined the staff of Earth Force and created activities and materials for community environmental problem-solving. He has served on the board of directors of the North American Association for Environmental Ed. for over a decade and is currently their president. Paul remains an active Audubon volunteer and is also currently president of Fairfax AS in Virginia (4,200 members).

Farewell & Best Wishes to...

... Mac Blewer, former NAS Wetlands Campaign Organizer. Mac worked with chapter wetlands advocates. He reports that graduate school, Yellowstone wolf recovery, Audubon advocacy and resource conservation will all be part of his new challenges.

... Terry Canela, former NAS Audubon Adventures Registrar. Terry worked with many chapter education leaders around the nation helping to organize local "Adventures" programs. Terry and his new wife Ann have relocated from New York to Chicago, where Terry is beginning law school at DePaul U.

... Rich Feldman, former NAS Human Resources (HR) Coordinator. Networker readers knew Rich best as the source of all those great Bird Puzzlers. Rich has left NAS for a technical position as an "HR Implementation Consultant" with a company that provides Human Resources software.

... Connie Isbell, former assistant editor for AUDUBON magazine. During her six years with NAS, Connie rose through the ranks to become the editor of Inside Audubon, and recently began editing features and our new Backyard department, and inaugurated the expanded Earth Calendar. Connie left us to work with a publisher near her new home in Long Branch, NJ, editing books about gardening, birds and animals.