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Dr. Tim Schaeffer
is the state director of Audubon PA, the state program of the National
Audubon Society. Prior to joining Audubon, Tim served as the regional
director for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Central Pennsylvania
Office. Before joining PEC, Dr. Schaeffer served as Science and
Policy Director for the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds
and Rivers.
As the new director for Audubon PA, what are your top organizational
priorities in the upcoming year?
My top priority within Audubon will be to reach out to our 22 chapters
and nearly 30,000 Pennsylvania members to learn more about their
local interests and to find out how Audubon PA could help them achieve
their conservation goals. I am particularly interested in engaging
our chapters in the implementation of conservation plans for our
growing network of Important Bird Areas.
What makes Audubon so effective?
One of the things that attracted me to this job is our network of
chapters and members. Audubon’s focus on “place-based” education
and resource management captures the reason I went into this field.
We are more likely to conserve that which we know and understand.
What types of programs does Audubon offer for Pennsylvanians to
get outdoors and take in our natural environment?
This year, our annual Birdathon took place from May 1–15. Participants
are encouraged to count as many bird species as possible throughout
the Commonwealth during this peak migration and nesting time. Birdathon
is a statewide team effort, which culminated with a public finale
at our new Mill Grove Audubon Center in Montgomery County on May
15. Mill Grove—John James Audubon’s first home in America—is a unique
Audubon Center in that it combines the study of both art and nature,
utilizing the works of the famous painter and naturalist.
What do you think are the most pressing environmental issues
affecting Pennsylvania, and how do we fix them?
Habitat loss and fragmentation pose the greatest threats to Pennsylvania’s
birds and other wildlife. Two primary culprits are sprawling, unplanned
land use and overabundant deer.
I ascribe to the belief that Audubon’s staff, members and volunteers
need to redouble our efforts to make stewardship and conservation
relevant to private individuals, businesses, landowners and government
officials whose decisions influence the quality and sustainability
of the habitat upon which birds and other wildlife depend.
On the deer issue, Audubon PA will continue to call for a science-based
approach to deer management that brings the herd into balance with
its habitat. We encourage the Game Commission to maintain a long-term,
habitat-based approach to deer management to improve the health
of entire forest ecosystems.
You have spent a lot of time working on conservation funding issues
in recent years. Why is this issue important to PA?
Increased conservation funding is needed to reclaim and revitalize
our scarred lands, waters and communities and to help conserve the
places that make Pennsylvania special. Whether it is abandoned mine
reclamation, open space conservation, or any other program, no one
level of government, industry or private funding source can be expected
to shoulder the entire investment. Programs like Growing Greener
leverage government investments with significant private resources
and volunteer energy to accomplish conservation goals.
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