̽»¨¾«Ñ¡

Jeff Wells is ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡'s Vice President for Boreal Conservation, leading our work to protect North America’s Boreal Forest. Spanning from interior Alaska across Canada all the way to Newfoundland, the Boreal includes over one billion acres of northern forests, wetlands, lakes, and rivers that support billions of nesting birds. Jeff leads his team’s efforts on boreal-focused applied science and strategic communications to leverage public support for Indigenous-led conservation in Canada including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and Indigenous Guardians programs. Through this work, some of the largest new land protections in modern history are taking place across this globally important biome that is rich in biodiversity and stores 30–40% of all land-based carbon in the world. Jeff's current role is a return to ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, where he previously served as National Bird Conservation Director and, before that, Director of Bird Conservation for ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ New York. For nearly 20 years, Jeff led science and policy for the Boreal Songbird Initiative and the International Boreal Conservation Campaign. He has also served as Senior Conservation Scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Jeff received his PhD from Cornell University. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, articles, papers, and reports including Important Bird Areas in New York State (̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ 1998), Birder’s Conservation Handbook (Princeton 2007), Boreal Birds of North America (University of California 2011), Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (Cornell 2017), and most recently, Birds of Maine (Princeton 2020). Jeff is an avid birder and was part of winning teams from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on the World Series of Birding in 2001 and 2002.

Casey Arndt is the Center Director at Richardson Bay ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Center and Sanctuary. Casey has been with ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ since 2014. Her responsibilities include managing a 10.5 acre center property as well as overseeing the stewardship of a 900-acre subtidal waterbird sanctuary. Casey oversees community-led restoration projects throughout the Bay Area; property, trail, and facility improvements at the center; and manages a small team that leads community outreach, youth engagement, volunteer programming, and habitat restoration work. She also manages a staff of summer employees, fellows, interns and youth to deliver ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Adventure Summer Camp and other place-based programming. Before coming to ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, Casey spent 10 years working with youth in formal and informal environmental education settings, taught in special education classrooms, and was a volunteer firefighter for the Seward Volunteer Fire Department in Alaska. Prior to her professional work, she received her B.A. in poetry and creative writing at a small liberal arts college and is originally from an Athabascan village of 300 people in rural Alaska. Casey grew up mushing a sled dog team, driving snowmachines, and immersing herself in the Alaskan wilderness. When she's not working, Casey loves birdwatching, being in nature, and writing.

Trina Bayard is the Director of Bird Conservation at ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Washington. In addition to her formative experiences exploring Puget Sound tide-pools and Cascade mountain meadows, Trina’s path to ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ includes more than ten years of experience on a broad range of plant and wildlife studies in eastern Oregon, coastal California and coastal Connecticut including her doctoral research on Saltmarsh Sparrows. Trina’s perspective is shaped by her experience working in the public and private sectors and her studies and travel in East Africa and Southeast Asia. She brings to ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ a dedication to advancing bird conservation in a way that is scientifically relevant, inclusive of the diverse constituencies making up our state and flyway, and mindful of how future generations may connect with and be inspired by birds. 

Andrea Jones is the Director of Bird Conservation at ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ California. For the past 15 years, she has led conservation programs and worked with staff and the network of ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ chapters across California to implement conservation projects at high-priority Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Her focus areas have been on coastal shorebird outreach and conservation, estuary restoration, and saline lakes conservation and protection. She oversees ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡â€™s efforts in priority bird species and serves as the spokeswoman for bird conservation across the state. Prior to ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ California, Andrea worked at Massachusetts ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ where she served as the Director of the Coastal Waterbird and Grassland Bird Conservation Programs. Andrea received her M.S. in Wildlife Conservation/Ornithology and her B.S. in Wildlife Biology and Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a past board member of Morro Coast ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ and currently resides in southern California.

David Krause is the Interim Executive Director and Director of Conservation at ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ Alaska. David has extensive experience living and working throughout Alaska. Much of his professional experience has focused on developing solutions that simultaneously achieve public health, community development, and conservation objectives. Prior to joining ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡, he worked on federal land management and energy policy for The Wilderness Society. David has also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on remote Yukon River tributaries and for the Wild Salmon Center in Oregon and Alaska. From 2017 - 2020, he served as an appointed member of the BLM Alaska Resource Advisory Council. David earned his undergraduate degree at Cornell University and holds a Master of Environmental Management and a Master of Public Health from Yale University. When not working to protect birds and their habitats, David enjoys angling and gardening.