Partners in Flight (PIF) Awards recognize exceptional contributions to the field of landbird conservation in the Americas in the categories of Leadership, Investigations, Public Awareness, Stewardship, and the David N. Pashley Lifetime Achievement Award.
2020 AWARDEES
LEADERSHIP AWARDS
Honors an individual or group that demonstrates outstanding guidance and direction that contributes, or has contributed to, advancing PIF conservation efforts.
WENDELL GILGERT
WENDELL GILGERT, United States, has been selected to receive an Individual PIF Leadership Award for his lifelong work in integrating PIF bird and habitat conservation into the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) programs and ensuring birds and wildlife remain a high priority natural resource. He increased the biological capacity of NRCS through the use of Farm Bill dollars to improve habitat for birds and other wildlife and the development of Partner Biologist programs. This innovative approach where non-governmental organizations place cost-shared biologist positions in NRCS field offices was a significant breakthrough for bird and wildlife conservation. In California, he was instrumental to the success of Point Blue’s Working Lands Program, integrating PIF focal species and mentoring and training over 23 Partner Biologists.
MICHAEL GREEN
MICHAEL GREEN, United States, has been selected to receive an Individual PIF Leadership Award for his two decades of leadership and collective impact of PIF-related landbird and nongame bird conservation initiatives and partnerships throughout the western United States. Throughout his history of working passionately for the conservation of migratory birds, his contributions have included a multitude of projects spanning scales from his regional focus in the Pacific Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands to the entire North American continent, including his vibrant leadership in the PIF Oregon-Washington Chapter, PIF Western Working Group, Pacific Flyway Council Nongame Technical Committee, and USFWS Pacific Northwest Migratory Birds and Habitat Program. Significant impact is measured only partly by what is done; many would argue that significance resides far more importantly in how the work is done. It is in this realm—the quality of his leadership—that Mike Green stands head and shoulders above others.
CLAUDIA MACIAS CABALLERO
CLAUDIA MACIAS CABALLERO, Mexico, has been selected to receive an Individual PIF Leadership Award for her 27 years in pioneering the development and implementation of bird conservation investment strategies through science and activism. She has been a leader in the study and conservation of birds in Chiapas, southern México, and Mesoamerica, including for 19 years as Subdirector of Conservation with Pronatura Sur, AC, and prior to that with Pronatura Chiapas. As a leader in the Mesoamerican Pine-Oak Alliance, her work has increased the knowledge of the status of the Golden-cheeked Warbler and benefitted the winter habitat of this and many other migratory and resident species from the pine-oak forest ecoregion. She has inspired and motivated lasting partnerships that drive bird and habitat conservation at regional and international scales.
INVESTIGATIONS AWARD
Honors an individual or group that conducts outstanding research and/or contributes scientific data and interpretations that improve our understanding of avian ecology, habitat management, or other scientific factors important to the PIF initiative.
PETER PYLE
PETER PYLE, United States, has been selected to receive an Individual PIF Investigations Award for his advancing our understanding of avian molt and pioneering its application in avian systematics, demography, and conservation. His lifelong work led to he and coauthors publishing the Identification Guide to North American Passerines in 1987, and some 10 and 20 years later he would author the 2-volume Identification Guide to North American Birds which has become the foremost authority on ageing and sexing of North American birds. Another of Pyle’s important contributions was his many bird-bander training workshops in Mexico and Central America in conjunction with the MoSI program, which inspired and educated next-generation bird biologists and conservationists working in the critical overwintering areas for priority PIF landbird species.
STEWARDSHIP AWARD
Honors an individual or group that contributes significantly to the management, conservation, or restoration of landbird habitat or priority species.
AMY AND RUTH ANN GRISSOM
AMY AND RUTH ANN GRISSOM, United States, have been selected to receive an Individual PIF Stewardship Award for their dedication over 20 years to managing early succession and forest habitats on private property to enhance landbird populations in the Piedmont of North Carolina and allowing access for long-term bird research and education. Their efforts to benefit landbirds included: converting and maintaining native/early succession vegetation, managing for mixed hardwood forests and declining forest types, and protecting habitats; allowing access to their private land for a bird banding project, and for outreach and education activities for teachers, natural resource professionals, other private landowners, and the general public; their many collaborative partnerships with conservation agencies and entities; and their broader contributions to conservation at the local and state level.
See more 2020 PIF Awards content in our Conservation Resource Library:
2020 Partners in Flight Awards Presentation
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