5 Themes That Defined Audubon’s Conservation Coverage, Then and Now

Conservation advances in fits and starts. Some bird populations decline, others bounce back through the hard work of people who protect them. Sometimes, society learns from its mistakes—other times, not so much.

In honor of Audubon’s 125th anniversary of continuous publication, we compared the magazine’s historic and current coverage of five core themes, during key snapshots in time. We hope that in another 125 years, humanity has solved it all. But more realistically, we hope in the year 2150, we’ll still be producing journalism that matters to the future of birds, people, and our planet. 

Bedrock Protections

1918: The Migratory Bird Treaty Act—among the oldest wildlife conservation laws—prohibits harming or killing protected avian species without prior authorization. Bold women founded the earliest Audubon societies to push for the law, and in the year it passed, Bird-Lore editor Frank Chapman’s joy was palpable: “The National Association is now relieved of the necessity of watching the legislation of every state and of combatting the numberless attempts to legalize the destruction of birds for private gain.” If only it were that simple.

Fast-Forward: Our reporting since then has tracked many attacks the MBTA has weathered, including congressional efforts in 2015 to shield offenders and a 2021 rule seen as the Trump administration’s attempt to give industry a free pass to cause avoidable avian deaths. (As our headline put it, “Trump to Birds: Drop Dead.”) We have also written about the law’s success at holding violators accountable: After the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill killed an estimated 1 million birds, for example, BP’s $100 million fine helped pay for unprecedented conservation work on the Gulf Coast. And we’ve closely followed the progress of recent complementary legislation that strengthens the act against political assaults and funds bird conservation across the Americas.

Habitat Safeguards 

1932:  With habitat loss and hunting causing rapid waterbird declines, Bird-Lore updated readers on what Audubon and affiliated local groups were doing about it: establishing new nature sanctuaries, hiring wardens to patrol them, and advocating for wildlife refuges. With the proposed Everglades National Park before Congress, 15,000 Audubon members urged legislators to protect the East’s “largest primitive wilderness.” As the Great Depression created funding shortfalls, Audubon called for cooperation with hunters and farmers to save more birds. “It is not too late, if we begin now,” 10-year-old Thomas Peters wrote in a 1938 essay. 

Fast-Forward:  Thanks to 1934’s Duck Stamp Act and other wetland protections, waterbird populations are surging, offering “proof that conservation efforts work.” But our 2020 investigation found that strapped budgets are testing an “overwhelmed and understaffed” refuge system. And even as the nation aims to hit ambitious habitat conservation goals by 2030, legislation to pay for state and tribal wildlife protection remains in limbo. Our coverage of these issues, the (now decades-long) restoration of the Everglades, and Audubon’s growing collaborations to better support all birds throughout their migratory ranges offer a clear message: Declaring an area protected is only the beginning.

Ecological Awakening

1945: After scientists discovered DDT’s power to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes during World War II, Audubon was among the earliest to warn of the dangers of the pesticide’s “indiscriminate” use to fight all kinds of farm and forest pests. “The insect world is a very ancient one and a highly complex one,” wrote entomologist Herbert F. Schwarz. He feared that the loss of our insect “allies” would lead to a “songless and inanimate woodland,” while Audubon’s president urged careful before-and-after studies on the effects of spraying the chemical.

Thus began the magazine’s drumbeat of coverage as the data became clearer and then undeniable: DDT was poisoning entire ecosystems and moving up the food chain. By the time The New Yorker and Audubon published early excerpts from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a landmark 1962 book that spurred the mainstream environmental movement, the biggest question left was: What would society do about it? 

Fast-Forward: In the time since the newly formed EPA largely banned DDT in 1972, we’ve reported on the remarkable comeback of eagles, falcons, pelicans, and other species. But Audubon’s most recent coverage points to a bigger lesson missed: Despite complex regulations that exist today, chemicals are still put into widespread use before their full societal cost is clear. Plastics and PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) are polluting habitats and drinking-water supplies. Widely used insecticides are again killing pollinating insects and accumulating up the food chain, this time in the form of neonicotinoids. Weed killers like dicamba are poisoning rural landscapes. And even after dangerous substances are banned or restricted, loopholes or online markets may allow for their continued use. A common thread? When birds suffer, we do too.

Energy Future

1970: Oil companies had just struck “black gold” in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay and were plowing ahead with building an unprecedented pipeline across the tundra. They expected officials to rubber-stamp a permit—until environmentalists used the new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to challenge such hubris. In “Kiss the North Slope Goodbye,” George Laycock described efforts to force one of the first environmental impact reviews and called for better safeguarding the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: “Time is short,” he wrote.

Many other headlines keyed in on America’s insatiable energy appetite, including “The Murder of the Southwest” (strip mining for coal), “The Last Great Dam” (flooding the scenic Hells Canyon), and “Tempest in a Nuclear Teapot” (building dozens of new reactors). In “Live Better Electrically?” Hal Borland laid out a forking path: Solar and wind energy were “there for the taking” but so far untapped. 

Fast-Forward:  An urgent energy transition is finally underway. Audubon now reports on efforts to ensure the safety of wildlife is a priority for renewable energy projects, including through NEPA reviews, proactive siting, and technology and design solutions. Yet as the world runs down the clock on fossil fuels, oil and gas development continues to threaten local communities, sensitive ecosystems, and myriad birds. Our coverage of the decades-long push to drill in the Arctic refuge—and its unwavering defense by Indigenous Gwich’in activists and conservation groups—points to why vigilance is necessary: In 2021 officials held the first-ever auction of oil rights there. (Thankfully, we wrote, it was a “flop.”) 

Warming Planet

1990:  While the magazine mentioned carbon emissions in the 1970s, we brought the threat to the forefront with our 1990 cover story, which sought solutions to the by-then apparent global warming trend. In it, we explored the promise and potential perils of wind farms, nuclear plants, and algae and corn biofuels. While our early climate coverage focused largely on energy and international agreements, such as Bill McKibben’s dispatch on the Kyoto Protocol, by the 2000s we’d begun wrestling with the far-reaching effects of the worsening crisis.

Fast-Forward: Today most stories we publish reflect that climate change and conservation are inextricably linked. We’ve devoted entire issues to the topic, informed by Audubon’s science on how birds will fare in a warming world. We delve into related problems like rising seas, fiercer wildfires, and deadlier storms and also innovative, nature-based solutions. Even as we grapple with the scale of potential loss, stories of resilience and adaptability infuse our pages with hope.