National Audubon Society history

1918 The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is ratified.

1923-24 Audubon opens its first sanctuaries: Rainey Sanctuary in Louisiana and Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Long Island.

The first 2,000 copies of A Field Guide to the Birds, published in April 1934, included only species found in the eastern United States, but the book sold within a week; 5,000 additional copies were printed and sold almost immediately.

In the summer of 1936 the Audubon Association opened a camp on Hog Island in Maine’s Muscongus Bay to educate adults about conservation of natural resources.

1943 The Greenwich Audubon Center in Connecticut opens as Audubon’s first nature center.

Baker, promoted to president in 1944, was always on the alert for land acquisition and dealt successfully on the personal level with potential financial contributors.

1945 Audubon magazine sounds the first alarm about the hazards of DDT. Audubon partners with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on the Whooping Crane Project.

1954 Audubon buys the last great stand of bald cypress trees in Florida's Corkscrew Swamp to create the crown jewel of its sanctuary system.

When Carl Buchheister succeeded Baker in 1959, NAS entered one of the most intense series of legislative struggles in the modern conservation era.

1960 The Audubon Society begins documenting the decline of bird species, including Bald Eagles, attributing this to DDT.

In 1961 NAS formed a Nature Centers Division by merging with Nature Centers for Young America, Inc.

In 1962 NAS took the lead in the defense of marine biologist Rachel Carson, whose book, Silent Spring, touched off a furious controversy by documenting how DDT and its new sister poisons were contaminating the earth.

NAS leadership passed on to Elvis T. Stahr in 1968, to Russell W. Peterson in 1979, and to Peter A.A. Berle in 1985. For example, for 11 years NAS worked with the people of Washington state for the creation in 1968 of North Cascades National Park in order to save that area of high jagged mountains, deep forests of giant trees, and rushing rivers.

Her critically acclaimed performance earned her a Tony Award for best supporting actress in 1969.

She re-created her role in the 1970 film adaptation.

1972 A campaign by the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Audubon Society ends in victory when the United States Environmental Protection Agency bans the use of the insecticide DDT.

His leadership led to the 1976 Tax Reform Act, which allowed nonprofit organizations to spend up to one million dollars annually for lobbying expenditures.

1980 The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act is passed, protecting 79.5 million acres, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

1984 Audubon starts the popular new children's educational program and publication Audubon Adventures.

On June 30, 1988, NAS had an annual budget of over $32 million in place.

To meet the need for new headquarters, in 1990 NAS bought, remodeled the interior, and restored the exterior of a century-old Romanesque Revival loft building in Manhattan.

The renovated Audubon House that opened in 1992 symbolized NAS goals for conservation of both natural resources and the urban environment: it was a model of the energy-efficient, environmentally responsible workplace.

In 1993, while appearing on Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, Alexander was nominated to become chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the federal agency that oversees public funding for the arts.

Berle was succeeded by John Flicker, who assumed the office of NAS President/CEO in 1995.

Alexander resigned as chairman of the NEA in 1997.

Isbell, Connie M., “Growing Up in the Fisheries Crises,” Audubon, May 1998.

1999 Almost 50,000 participants take part in the 100th Christmas Bird Count, now the longest-running bird survey in the world.

In her Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics (2000), Alexander described her experiences directing the NEA during a politically turbulent era.

2002 Audubon opens its first urban Audubon Center, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York; the center serves 50,000 visitors annually.

2004 Audubon's science team releases the first "State of the Birds" report, the best data available since Silent Spring to document bird health and habitat.

2008 Toyota TogetherGreen, Audubon’s most ambitious corporate partnership, begins transforming communities and bringing new diversity to conservation.

2010 Audubon signs a collaborative agreement with Birdlife International

2011 A multimillion-dollar strategic partnership between Audubon and Esri creates network-wide GIS mapping capability.

She was a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and in 2013 she joined the board of directors of the Audubon Society.

2014 Audubon releases its watershed climate report.