National Audubon Society Receives Esri Special Achievement Award for Exceptional Application of Geospatial Technology

The National Audubon Society today received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award at the Esri International User Conference (Esri UC) in San Diego, Calif. The award acknowledges vision, leadership, hard work and innovative use of Esri's geographic information system (GIS) technology “to improve our world,” Esri says.

Audubon uses Esri ArcGIS digital mapping technology to design bird conservation policies collaboratively on local, regional and national scales. For example, by combining information about bird nesting or migratory areas and current or proposed human development on a single map, Audubon scientists can advocate for solutions that meet human needs and protect birds and habitat at the same time.

“Esri has been a dream partner,” said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold. “We couldn’t do what we do without Esri’s tools and support. From winning protection of 11 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to bringing partners together to protect Pennsylvania’s Kittatinny Ridge, we rely on Esri’s tools to answer tough questions, democratize data and create a culture of collaboration. It’s a real honor to receive this award today.”

 “The SAG Awards identify the organizations and people that are using the power of geography to improve our world and drive change," says Esri President Jack Dangermond. “At Esri, we are always deeply inspired by the passion and innovation of our users. They deserve recognition for both solving their communities’ greatest challenges and for their invaluable contributions to the continued evolution of geographic science.”

With Esri’s support, Audubon is extending an enterprise-level implementation of GIS tools to its nationwide network of 22 state offices, 47 education centers and 467 local chapters. The system will allow a wide range of users across the country, from formally trained GIS analysts to volunteer bird-watchers, to access authoritative Audubon scientific information and landscape data on the Esri cloud.

Organizations from around the world honored at the Esri UC span industries including agriculture, cartography, climate change, defense and intelligence, economic development, education, government, health and human services, and telecommunications and utilities.

For more information about the 2013 Special Achievement in GIS Award winners, including project information and photos, please visit esri.com/sag.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Copyright © 2013 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, esri.com and @Esri are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

Press Contact

Agatha Szczepaniak
Senior Manager, Media Relations
Main Office
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014
212-979-3197
aszczepaniak@audubon.org