Annual Members Meeting

Jason Bigler

I have been a neighbor to NJ Audubon since moving to Harding in 2010 and I’ve been a birder since childhood when I set up my very first bird feeder. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania surrounded by farmland and green space, and have also lived in Colorado, California, and the United Kingdom. In addition to birds, I have a special interest in forest stewardship given we have such problems with invasive species here in NJ. On weekends you’ll find me systematically trying to eliminate Japanese Barberry, Wineberries, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Stiltgrass, and Oriental Bittersweet…amongst others…and replacing them with native species that are beneficial to birds, bees, and butterflies. We have been very deliberate with our landscaping efforts to benefit the local fauna.

I got to know NJ Audubon over the years as a neighbor and having partnered with the organization to help combat the continued pressure of invasive species within the Scherman-Hoffman property. I am deeply committed to furthering the mission of NJ Audubon’s core values while serving on its Board.

Gordon Keen

My grandfather gave me my first bird book when I was 11 years old. Tramping after birds keeps me in touch with him and with the rest of humanity for whom the outdoors is essential.

Since my retirement as a corporate lawyer in 2006, I have been able to do a lot more birding and developed a love of Cape May, where I have met some great birders—Pete Dunne, Michael O’Brien, Kevin Karlson, and many others–all devoted to preserving that special place. Cape May Bird Observatory (CMBO) was my doorway to NJ Audubon.  I hope my legal skills and business background will be of practical benefit to the NJ Audubon Board—I consider myself more of a pragmatist than an idealist — as NJ Audubon grapples with real-life issues. I look forward to reaching a greater understanding of the bigger picture: how the many facets of the environment inter-relate and the ways individuals and institutions affect, and can promote, the well-being of our natural world.

A great example of New Jersey Audubon’s commitment to conservation, a subject more vital today than ever before, is the work of NJA’s David Mizrahi, shorebird researcher working the Atlantic coast down to the birds’ winter homes in South America. I have watched David and his team catching and banding Semipalmated Sandpipers. Researching these birds for over 20 years has led to a growing understanding of the reasons for the decline of shorebirds worldwide. David and New Jersey Audubon are working hard to reverse that trend, and I am proud to be part of that effort as a member of the NJA board.

Dorothy Clair

My years with New Jersey Audubon began in 1986, when my husband and I moved into a house just around the corner from the Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary. Having a life-long love of nature and wanting to meet people in the area, I began my volunteer years with New Jersey Audubon sitting at the welcome desk in the bookstore/reception room of the sanctuary building. When Pete Dunne moved his office to SH from CMBO, he asked me to assist him as a manuscript editor of New Jersey Audubon magazine, because of my years of experience as a book editor. So, for the next ten years my volunteer work consisted of editing and proofing the magazine as well as several books that the organization published during this time, including the atlas Birds of New Jersey in 1999; the history, One Hundred Years and Still Counting 1897-1997; and the supplement to the history, And Still Counting 1997-2003.

Much to my delight I was invited to join the board in 2017. It has been my privilege as a board member to participate in the organization from yet another perspective: as a member of the Conservation Committee which oversees the work of the Education, Stewardship, Research and Government Relations departments; as a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee which researches and approves new board nominees and confirms the organization’s adherence to the Bylaws; as a member of the Land and Facilities Committee which supports the staff in evaluating new properties and conditions of existing ones; and recently as part of the Task Force for Diversity, Equity, Justice and Inclusion to assist the organization in focusing on our mission — to connect all people with nature and steward the nature of today for all people of tomorrow.

Due to my advancing age and the resulting decline in energy needed to be an active participant of the board, I have decided not to run for a third term. However, I intend to continue to serve as a volunteer participating at a less intensive level in the ever-expanding programs of this vigorous organization that has been an important part of my life for thirty-seven years.