Bird Conservation Leader to Share Stories
Glenn Olson, a national leader in wildlife conservation and habitat restoration, speaks about “Adventures in Stewardship and Conserving Creation” in a free, public lecture Thursday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge in Kerrwood Hall.
“We’re excited to have him with us because he combines his own Christian commitment with having contributed at the highest level to shaping policy of one of the world’s most effective conservation organizations,” says Jeff Schloss, Westmont professor of biology who has the T.B. Walker Chair in the Natural and Behavioral Sciences.
Olson, the National Audubon Society’s Donal O’Brien chair in bird conservation through advocacy and public policy, has served with Audubon for 33 years. He’s directed the society’s field operations, where he was responsible for the establishment of a network of 27 state programs across the country. Most recently, he served as executive director of Audubon California.
Olson leads Audubon’s efforts to conserve birds and their habitats throughout their flyways, catalyzing work across Audubon’s national network of state programs and Important Bird Areas. He has spearheaded critical conservation initiatives necessary to conserve more than 800 species of native birds and the landscapes they depend on.
He played a key role in the comeback of the California condor and helped Audubon gain protection of nearly a quarter million acres of California’s largest and most biologically diverse undeveloped parcel, Tejon Ranch. He galvanized the grassroots fight for a ban on lead ammunition and guided Audubon’s identification and mapping of 145 Important Bird Areas.
He earned a master’s degree in public health from UCLA and a bachelor of science degree in zoology from UC Santa Barbara. He studied in the Galapagos on a scholarship from the Charles Darwin Research Institute and inventoried Southern California Golden Eagle nesting populations as a research assistant at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. In 2002, Olson received Audubon’s Charles H. Callison Award in recognition of his conservation achievements.