Stuart Wells, the executive director of the group formerly known as Portland Audubon, takes a look at construction at the nonprofit's animal hospital on March 1, 2023. It was extensively damaged in a flood this winter.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
For many, the name Audubon conjures up images of birds or birdwatchers venturing into nature with a pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse of a beloved warbler or bird of prey. But for some, the name can evoke a painful reminder of the legacy of John James Audubon — an artist, self-taught ornithologist and naturalist who owned slaves, opposed abolition and stole human remains from Native American graves. Acknowledging that painful history, the Portland chapter of the National Audubon Society recently changed its name to Bird Alliance of Oregon. The group joins other chapters in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere that have either adopted a new name or committed to doing so, despite the national organization’s decision to stick with the Audubon name. We hear from Stuart Wells, the executive director of Bird Alliance of Oregon, about the significance of its new name, especially for people of color and other marginalized groups who continue to face barriers to recreate in nature.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller. For some people, the name Audubon Society conjures up images of birds or bird lovers, maybe watercolors or binoculars or life lists. But for others, the name evokes a painful reminder of John James Audubon himself, an artist and naturalist who owned slaves, opposed abolition, and stole human remains from Native American graves. It’s this history that led the Portland chapter of the National Audubon Society to announce last year that it was going to change its name. It recently unveiled its new one, it’s now Bird Alliance of Oregon. Stuart Wells is the executive director of this old group with a new name. He joins us now. It’s great to have you on the show.
Stuart Wells: It’s great to be here, and thank you for inviting me Dave.
Miller: The process to remove Audubon’s name from your organization started before you became the executive director. But my understanding is that this is something you were fully on board with. Why?
Wells: Well, for me, it’s really something that I had thought about. And as you mentioned in the lead up, John James Audubon, for folks that work in birding, is known for his artistic work with birds of North America. But also, his legacy of being pretty much unrepentant about holding slaves, he was totally against any abolitionist viewpoints, and his egregious devastation of Native American gravesites, those are problematic.
Miller: To say the least.
Wells: And some might argue “well, that was happening at a time, there was a lot of views that were consistent with that.” But one of my kind of barometers for things like that as we’re assessing name changes and things of that nature is, do those philosophies, do those thoughts, still impact people today? And in this case, as an organization, we’re wrestling with this. We recognize that that is a barrier, as much a barrier as a sign that says “whites only.” Especially for Communities of Color that, as our core mission, our goal is to reach out to and include all communities.
Miller: How did you go about choosing a new name?
Wells: We reached out to our community. And we received nearly 2,000 survey responses. We had listening sessions in Communities of Color throughout the city, throughout the state.
Miller: If I may just interrupt because, I wanna just make sure I understand this: the question for these 2,000 people wasn’t “should we change the name?” Because the organization had already decided that was not up for public debate. It was “we are going to change it, give us some guidance about how we should do this and what you want in a new name?” Is that right?
Wells: That’s right, Dave, thank you. We felt it was important that we change the name. What we wanted to know is what our community wanted our new name to express.
Miller: It’s a big deal on some level, and others it’s just a name. I sort of go back and forth in my mind about what’s in a name? What were your guiding principles? And what did you hear from people? What did you want the name, a handful of words, to accomplish?
Wells: As most people are aware, changing a name is a big deal, as you said. And this organization has been in existence since 1902.
Miller: Portland Audubon was.
Wells: With Audubon in its name. It hasn’t always been Portland Audubon. It’s been Oregon Audubon Society, and a number of other things. But Audubon has been part of this name for all this time.
Miller: It’s one of the oldest societies in the country?
Wells: That’s correct.
Miller: A surprise for a relatively young city.
Wells: It is. And our work has been very consistent throughout that time, and conservation, which I’m sure we’ll talk a little bit more about that. But that’s one of the things that started coming out in the surveys. Folks wanted us to reference birds somehow in our name.
Miller: For the first time, as opposed to Audubon being a stand in for birds.
Wells: And the folks in the know that do birding know Audubon for that reason. But outside of that, in other communities, that name might actually represent a barrier. That’s definitely problematic. And it’s also not something that says birds really, outside of that core group of folks that do birding.
In fact, anecdotally, when I asked about what folks thought of Audubon, they thought “oh, it’s great to be able to drive as fast as you want on that freeway.”
Miller: So not “I don’t like this man, this enslaver. But I don’t even know that you’re talking about birds. I think you’re talking about a German highway with no speed limit.”
Wells: Yes. It wasn’t the main thing that folks came up with, but it was interesting that that was in there. So we recognize there might be a disconnect for folks that we’re trying to reach. And that actually started coming back.
Miller: What about adding “Oregon” to this? Is this a reflection of a broadening of your mission, or an acknowledgement that you’ve always been more than just about Portland?
Wells: It’s an acknowledgment that we’ve always been more than just about Portland. In fact, our first name under the Audubon was the Oregon Audubon Society of Oregon. So we did move away from that. But these are some of the other feedback that we were getting, folks wanted our name to convey our presence geographically, what we do. And so we really wanted “Oregon,” or some way to represent working throughout the state to come out in that.
Miller: We asked listeners what they thought of the new name. Scott Dunn said, “Smart people and organizations change their mind with new valid information, good change.”
Jason in Shady Creek said, “Good call. Boring new name, but still the right decision.”
Larry Macavina wrote, “I liked Avian Advocates, but Bird Alliance is fine.”
As you mentioned, the new name is intended to remove barriers and increase the sense of belonging for various groups who may have not felt that, when it comes to birding or maybe even access to outdoor spaces more broadly. Did you feel those barriers when you were growing up?
Wells: Well, it’s interesting. As a child, I wasn’t aware of barriers per se. But I did start to recognize that there were these kinds of expectations. For example, when I was going into high school, I wanted to be a scientist. I talked to my counselor and I said “I’m really interested in insects, entomology.” And they suggested “well, perhaps you want to go be an exterminator.” So it was a kind of a disconnect with what I thought I was capable of doing and what the expectation was.
Miller: I should note, this is obvious to me but maybe not to our listeners, that you’re a Black man. When you were told that in high school, did you assume that you were told “if you like bugs, I have a job for you, you can kill them,” that that was tied to your race?
Wells: I didn’t put that together at the time. I really didn’t understand why what I was presenting as a goal for me in my career was turned into, “this is an expectation that you will probably be able to obtain, and not being a scientist.” So it’s one of those things that I collectively call a drizzle of racism. Folks’ expectations of my abilities or People of Color, especially Black people are, is predicated on the presentation, the color of their skin. And that’s not one that’s not the only place that it impacts People of Color. It’s are you successful, how you dress, the way you speak, all kinds of other things that come into play. And there some of them are implicit biases. Some are more explicit.
Miller: A name change is just one act. In terms of branding and press releases and logos. There’s organizational stuff you have to do. But it’s not a complete set of actions. Where else do you see barriers today, in terms of being the kind of organization you’d like to be? And how do you intend to address them?
Wells: Well, another important component of our name is “Alliance.” And that was something that came back from folks, they wanted a sense of unity and belonging to be in the name somehow. So Bird, Alliance, Oregon, all of those components of the name address each of them. And Alliance is a reference to people of like minds working together for nature and ideas, and expressing a sense of unity and affinity, for example. We think that that does a good job of saying what our promise is going forward. To be consistent with our involvement with bird conservation, to create a welcoming place for folks, an affinity, an alliance, and to talk about how we do work throughout the state.
Miller: The National Audubon Society announced that it would stick with its name right around the same time that you and other chapters said you were going to change yours. They wrote this as part of their explanation: “Based on the critical threats to birds that National Audubon Society must urgently address and the need to remain a nonpartisan force for conservation, the board determined that retaining the name would enable NAS to direct key resources and focus towards enacting the organization’s missions.”
In other words, as I read that paragraph, they worried that changing their name would be seen as partisan, and they want to focus their resources on birds, not on a political fight. What do you think of that reasoning?
Wells: Well, I can’t speak for how they ended up on that decision. For our organization, it was very clear that the name represented a barrier for the communities that we set a goal to reach, and to provide access to nature for all. And this topic of environmental issues and climate change needs everyone at the table. We need all of the voices, especially groups that have been historically marginalized and not involved and have less access to nature. And in some cases, environmental injustices place them in neighborhoods that have no trees, heat islands, a lot of concrete. And we now know that access to nature and being in nature is a healthy environment for folks.
So for us, we recognize this is what we need to do. We need to drop that name. Because sometimes, a barrier is invisible to folks who are not impacted by that barrier.
Miller: They also implied that their funding might be imperiled if they changed their name. Has that been an issue for you?
Wells: No. We haven’t seen any of that become a reality. And again, if there’s a barrier represented by the name, it’s removed now. And we welcome folks to join this organization, and become part of what we’re trying to do, which is to provide access to nature for all, and continue our work in conservation and environmental justice.
Miller: What’s the connection for you between an organizational focus on birds - they are central to your name now, but they’ve always been central to your organization’s existence - and the larger ecosystem or set of ecosystems that they are a part of?
Wells: We wrestled with this, because we’re trying to find a way of talking about the conservation work that we do. And birds, it turns out, are indicator species. How they’re doing is telling us how the habitat is doing, how the environment is functioning. So when birds aren’t doing well, they’re not robust, we know that there’s something else going on in this habitat. So even though our names just says birds, we do so much more with protecting environment and protecting old growth forests.
Miller: You’ve had a really varied career working with cheetahs and reptiles and black-footed ferrets, leopard frogs, pygmy owls. So I mentioned owls there, but a lot of the animals you’ve worked with over the course of your very career in conservation biology and wildlife biology, it doesn’t seem to have a bird focus. Do you consider yourself a birder?
Wells: I’ve worked with a number of bird species. I really love birds. I’m really good at looking at details and recognizing birds. But throughout my graduate work, often my professors would say “that’s a little brown bird.” So one of the things that I love about this role that I’m in now is I’m learning the very specific details. We have such an amazing professional group of folks that know every aspect about birds and birding. Not only our team that works, but our volunteers, our board members.
Miller: Has that been humbling? You bring this deep organizational knowledge and deep conservation biology knowledge, but it seems like you’re around people who have a super deep knowledge of birds themselves.
Wells: It’s humbling, but it’s also really exciting. You get to points in your life where you’re looking for ways to learn and continue to learn. I think that’s really an important thing. And that’s one of the really great benefits of working at this organization, being able to lead this organization now, is that there’s so many opportunities to learn so much more.
Miller: Stuart Wells, thanks very much for coming in. It was a pleasure talking with you.
Wells: Thank you, Dave.
Miller: Stuart Wells is the executive director of the organization that is now called Bird Alliance of Oregon.
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