Audubon expert to discuss how flyways fit conservation strategies

The Lake County Audubon Society welcomes Chris Canfield, vice president of the Mississippi Flyway and director of National Audubon Society’s response to the Gulf oil spill disaster, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at the Libertyville village hall, 118 W. Cook Ave.

Canfield will discuss Audubon’s Mississippi Flyway, the role it plays in Audubon’s integrated conservation model, and the essential role chapters play in advancing Audubon’s conservation priorities and success stories for birds. Conservation strategies will include putting lands to work for birds and people; sharing seas and shores; saving Important Bird Areas; shaping a healthy climate and clean energy future; and creating bird-friendly communities.

Canfield said he is proud to have played a role in the restoration plan that followed the Gulf oil spill, as well as “working on the diverse team that helped make the RESTORE Act a reality.”

That funding, predicted to be in the billions of dollars, will help revive vital wetlands that have been mismanaged for years, as well as supporting a “river of birds” since about half of North American species use the Mississippi Flyway at one time or another, he added.

“I look forward to sharing how, from a bird’s perspective, the Gulf Coast and our fourth coast, the Great Lakes, are so interconnected,” Canfield said.

He did his undergraduate work at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama and graduate work at the University of Oxford in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Until September 2010, he was executive director of Audubon North Carolina, a National Audubon Society program he led for more than a decade.

Seating is open but limited, and attendees are asked to arrive before 7:30 p.m. Contact (847) 362-5134.

The mission of the Lake County Audubon Society is education, conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.