Date: 3/26/26 7:26 am From: Edge Wade <1edgewade...> Subject: Ann Johnson left a legacy all Missouri birders should know of
All, Ann Johnson died March 23.
Many of you didn't know Ann "aj", but you all benefited from her work. Ann designed and implemented the ASM, now MBS website. She tweaked and updated it, added features, and educated webmasters and befuddled frequent users who requested new website features or help with use.
And she did so promptly and with humor, without criticism of ineptitude. Over, and over and over.
Ann developed the CACHE/SPARKS data online input for MDC and MO State Parks bird occurrence that was hosted on the ASM website. *That major effort was* *the first statewide bird occurrence database--and it predated eBird! * Then, when we finally convinced the folks at Cornell that the C/S data could be transferred into eBird, Ann, with minimal help from me, identified and connected all C/S contributors to the sites, converted entries to eBird format, and transferred the data into the eBird dataset. This effort put Missouri among the top states for eBird data.
And she didn't stop there. She got the privately developed Birding Hotspots website connected to the MBS website, and with Kevin Wehner and me, served as editor, as she did for her home state, Iowa.
She was a long-term solid presence in the Iowa Ornithologists Union (IOU), serving in many roles.
Ann's contributions to birding include website design and support for several state organizations and other NGOs such as the Missouri River Bird Observatory.
Feeling much at sea, mourning a friend and mentor, Edge Wade Columbia <1edgewade...>
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