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Feature - Two Pennsylvanians Among 40 Receiving National Audubon Together Green Fellowships
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Two Pennsylvanians were among 40 of the nation’s most promising conservationists will advance their environmental vision and conservation leadership skills as recipients of the first TogetherGreen Fellowships-- Dan Kunkle,Lehigh Gap Nature Center and Keith Russel, Audubon PA Fairmount Park.
Awarded by the new conservation alliance of the National Audubon Society and Toyota, Fellows were selected from scores of applicants across the country by an advisory board of environmental leaders.
TogetherGreen Fellows were chosen for leadership potential, skills and commitment to engaging communities in conservation action. Each receives a $10,000 stipend and assistance in launching local projects to educate a wide range of communities about the environment and engage them in efforts to conserve land, water and/or energy.
Fellows also receive specialized training in conservation planning and execution, the chance to work with experienced environmental professionals, and assistance with project outreach and evaluation.
“Each of our TogetherGreen Fellows demonstrates exceptional environmental understanding and commitment, combined with tremendous potential to inspire and lead others. They are the talented leadership the environmental community will need to tackle the huge challenges and opportunities confronting us now and in the years to come,” said Audubon President John Flicker. “These are amazing people who can help us all shape a better future.”
Recipients include professors and Ph.D. candidates, an artist, ecologists, professional conservation practitioners and representatives of wide-ranging community organizations. Half the Fellows were selected from within Audubon’s network of nearly 500 local Chapters, Centers and State organizations. The rest earned their credentials with other groups that help to broaden the reach of TogetherGreen conservation efforts.
One of the goals of TogetherGreen is to foster diverse leaders and serve communities who have not previously been engaged in conservation activities. The first year of TogetherGreen Fellowship projects include mentoring youth in Los Angeles Latino neighborhoods; an urban forestry program for African Americans in Gainesville, Florida; and a conflict management workshop in conservation networks in Appalachia.
Other projects range from helping urban students save energy by installing solar panels in their school to mobilizing rural ranchers to protect water quality. In all, efforts will aid people and wildlife around 39 cities in 24 different states.
Along the way, the TogetherGreen Fellows will develop new and expanded abilities to forge conservation progress in the future.
“Toyota believes in the power of grassroots efforts to develop the environmental leaders of tomorrow,” added Patricia Salas Pineda, Group Vice President, Toyota Motor North America. “These 40 TogetherGreen Fellows will receive invaluable training for the future while immediately making a difference today with on-the-ground community projects.”
Dan Kunkle: Bringing A Nature Center To The Lehigh Gap Community When Dan Kunkle talks about conservation, he is thinking broadly and working locally. Dan feels a strong sense of responsibility to the environment and to the future, and has devoted his life to responding to this call in the Lehigh Valley.
At the Wildlife Information Center, and through his work as a high school science teacher, Dan has been involved with almost every sort of environmental education program imaginable, from summer camps to library programs, from workshops for adults to talks for young volunteers.
After completing 28 years as a biology and environmental science teacher, Dan has taken on a new project full-time: he led the Wildlife Information Center’s restoration of the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge and is now the sole staff member of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.
This nature center will give Dan one more opportunity to live out his commitment to “giving the earth to the next generation in better shape than we received it.”
If there is someone who doubts that this sort of stewardship is possible, Dan Kunkle invites them to visit Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge on the Kittatinny Ridge in Pennsylvania. Much of this 750-acre site was devastated by industrial pollution; photos of the once rock-strewn hills look like they might have been taken on the moon.
But in 2002, the Wildlife Information Center raised nearly a million dollars to purchase the land, and in the past six years the site, with a lot of love, remediation and restoration, has begun to transform from moonscape to living grassland.
Increased wildlife and a vibrant landscape indicate that the restoration has been a success, and the Wildlife Information Center is bringing its community into the celebration by developing its refuge into the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.
Dan will use his TogetherGreen Conservation Fellowship to continue the development of the center, complete with hiking trails and interpretive signs, which will serve as a place for the people of the Lehigh Valley to come together to learn about their environment.
Dan is building partnerships with colleges and universities, K-12 schools, government agencies, and other environmental groups such as Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Audubon. Dan is well on his way to seeing his conservation vision come to life in his community – the Lehigh Gap Nature Center will be a treasure for generations to come.
Turning People On to Conservation By Turning Out The Lights In Philadelphia
Keith Russell believes in his fellow Philadelphians. Through first-hand experience, he knows that an informed and active citizenry can protect the birds and other wildlife that are their neighbors in one of the country’s largest cities.
Through the annual Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census that Keith started in 1987, hundreds of volunteers have revealed many excellent birding locations in the city – including a reservoir in Fairmount Park that acts as a haven for waterfowl.
That reservoir was slated for demolition in 1997, but thanks to the hard work of Keith and other nature-lovers, not only does it still exist today, but it will soon be the site of a new Audubon Center – a place where more Philadelphians can learn about, enjoy and work to protect the nature around them.
Thousands of Philadelphians have had the privilege of learning from Keith, benefiting from his tremendous knowledge, gentle manner, passionate love of nature – and uncannily accurate birdsong imitations!
High rise buildings, glass covered buildings, and towers pose a serious threat to migrating birds, especially when building or tower lights are kept on at night during migration seasons. Philadelphia lies along a major migration route for hundreds of thousands of birds flying up and down the east coast.
While scientists agree that building lights and glass exteriors pose a threat to these birds and many casualties have been documented, a comprehensive study as to how many birds are affected in Philadelphia has not yet occurred.
As part of his TogetherGreen Conservation Fellowship, and in partnership with the Philadelphia Zoo and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Keith will organize a volunteer monitoring effort to collect data during the 2008 and 2009 migrations. Keith’s study will help reveal how building lights affect birds that depend on the city.
From there, he and others can work to get lights turned off at night during migration seasons in Philadelphia’s taller, most collision prone, buildings and pursue other remedies to reduce collisions – helping to protect the city’s birds. |
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12/19/2008 |
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