Well, I'm going to weigh in on this for the first time. I am not a member
of any bird society anymore, not because of any philosophical reasons, but
because I can't afford it. What I do have is an opinion, maybe even more
than one. The whole naming thing is somewhat confusing. I didn't realize
that Arkansas Audubon and Audubon Arkansas were 2 different entities until
a couple years ago. Still, I knew that no matter what name either group
uses, they are both on the side of birds, birders, and bird conservation.
(Please excuse my Oxford comma. I'm old, after all.) I think it would be
beneficial to do away with the confusion. I'm not even sure why there are
two separate groups. Seems like we're all in it together, but that's just
me.
Now to the stickier question; should we distance ourselves from the name
"Audubon"? Obviously, Mr Audubon was an imperfect man, as are we all, but
I don't think that, in and of itself, is reason to change. BUT, if using
the name Audubon causes pain to others, or causes people to question what
we stand for, that IS a good enough reason to change the name, in my
opinion. Instead of thinking of what we want, individually, I think we all
need to think about the end goal. We need to get more people to appreciate
birds and to care about what happens to them. The more people that care,
the more pressure we can exert on our public officials to protect critical
habitat. If a name change furthers that cause, then do it yesterday. That
is my 5 cents or no cents (sense???) worth, since those are now our choices.
Karen Garrett
Rogers
On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 9:32 PM Robert Day <rhday52...> wrote:
> All:
>
> I originally waded into these waters because the original email about this
> issue indicated that the name caused confusion because of all of the other
> Audubon-named organizations. Hence, I took the leap and suggested that here
> might be suitable alternative names. This still is my understanding.
>
> There may be some folks who want to disassociate from the name Audubon,
> but that issue has not been indicated as of importance here.
>
> Audubon was a reprehensible human being in many ways, not just because of
> slavery but because he stole a lot of information and specimens from a
> young man named Townsend, who was studying birds in Washington and Oregon.
> Townsend died in poverty as a result and was never given his due as a fine
> ornithologist. Given these issues, it is up to each individual to decide
> their own thoughts on Audubon.
>
> But, again, I have seen no reference in any of this correspondence to an
> association with Audubon’s name being the issue we all are wrangling about.
>
> My two cents (which apparently don’t exist anymore).
>
> Bob Day
> SW Bentonville
>
> Sent from my iPhone email thingie; please excuse the brevity.
>
> On Jan 27, 2026, at 6:11 PM, Sandy Berger <sndbrgr...> wrote:
>
>
> Historically of all these groups using the Audubon name, which entity was
> first to use it in Arkansas? This “confusion” really began when Audubon
> Arkansas came to town, if I recall correctly. I joined the Arkansas Audubon
> Society back in the 90’s. Became a life member of the Arkansas Audubon
> Society a couple of years ago. I’ve been proud to be a member of the
> Arkansas Audubon Society. And now, because of this “confusion”, all of a
> sudden it is felt that a change in name needs to be made. Honestly, I’m
> very disappointed.
> Are we really changing the name because of “confusion”, or does it have to
> do with the controversy surrounding Mr. Audubon?
>
> Thank you,
> Sandy Berger
>
> On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 1:02 PM Ragupathy Kannan <
> <0000013b0ad14faf-dmarc-request...> wrote:
>
>> Not really, Sandy. It is to avoid the eternal confusion between National
>> Audubon Society, Arkansas Audubon Society, Audubon Arkansas, Audubon
>> Delta, Central Arkansas Audubon Society, Northwest Arkansas Audubon
>> Society, etc etc., and everything in between!
>>
>> On Tuesday, 27 January 2026 at 12:43:21 pm GMT-6, Sandy Berger <
>> <sndbrgr...> wrote:
>>
>>
>> So basically the officers think that the Arkansas Audubon Society needs a
>> name change to get rid of the word Audubon. Is that correct?
>>
>> Sandy Berger
>>
>>
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