Image: Tundra Swan, John James Audubon

Our Board’s Decision

Over the past six months, ASNV has been exploring whether we should change our chapter's name, removing its reference to John James Audubon. We surveyed our members and people who participate in our activities to learn their views. We reached out to a dozen or so Audubon chapters that are considering a name change or that have already changed their name to gain their perspectives.

Throughout, we have been impressed by the passionate commitment to conserving birds and nature shown by ASNV members and other survey participants. Thank you to all who took the survey for caring and for helping the Board decide this complex issue. 

A total of 481 of you responded to our survey. We learned that our community is evenly split on the question of whether to change ASNV’s name. Younger respondents had a much stronger preference for name change than older ones. Respondents from racial or ethnic minorities also tended to prefer a name change. We were gratified to learn that the plurality of respondents said their involvement in ASNV would not be affected one way or the other by a change in name.

We found the reasons respondents gave for favoring or opposing a name change to be heartfelt, thoughtful, and compelling. Many important concerns were raised by both supporters and opponents of a name change. These include the need for the organization to be inclusive and welcoming to all northern Virginians, the potential loss of name recognition and connection with the National Audubon Society and other Audubon chapters, and not erasing the many positive contributions that John James Audubon made to American ornithology, while also not honoring Audubon’s ownership of enslaved people, collaboration with eugenics research, and scientific dishonesty. While some respondents saw changing the name as a distraction, many saw it as an opportunity to look forward, redouble our conservation efforts, undertake new outreach, and build intergenerational and intercultural bridges to increase our impact and advance our mission.

The Board of Directors held a special meeting on January 21, 2024 to decide whether or not to move forward with changing our organization’s name. The organization’s mission to engage all northern Virginia communities in enjoying, conserving, and restoring nature for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people was paramount to all our deliberations. The question we came back to repeatedly was, “What action will most help us achieve our conservation mission, in the short term and in the long term?” Because conservation is by its nature a forward-looking endeavor and fighting the threats of development and climate change will require as many supporters as possible from all northern Virginia communities for many years to come, the Board was particularly moved by the strong support for name change voiced by younger and other underrepresented groups of survey respondents.

After discussing all that we learned and considering the implications of either action, the Board of Directors approved a measure to move forward with changing the name of the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia. 

We recognize that as we move forward with this decision we must address the concerns raised by survey respondents. While our focus remains steadfastly on conservation of birds and nature, we also need to strengthen our efforts to bring younger and more diverse groups into our activities. We must, in a very visible way on our website, recognize Audubon’s many contributions to ornithology. We must find a new name and undertake a public awareness effort to build recognition of that name. We must find a way to convert our community’s resounding support and passion for conservation into greater protection of nature in northern Virginia. 

What are the next steps? We must first identify a new name. More than 100 survey respondents made suggestions and gave us helpful guidance on this effort:

• don’t name your organization after a person (which is also consistent with the American Ornithological Society’s decision to remove all human names from North American birds);

• choose a name that makes our mission clearer, and include the word “bird”;

• don’t use the word “society,” which seems elitist or old-fashioned to many; and

• for increased brand recognition, adopt a name that is being used by other Audubon chapters (especially nearby ones) that are changing their names.

The Board will decide on a name, recommend that name to our members, and convene a meeting in which members vote on the adoption of that name. If you want to offer your idea for a new name, please leave your suggestion (and a brief explanation) here. We will consider all suggestions we receive.

We welcome your help in the days, months and years ahead – as we choose a new name, as we engage our communities with this name, and as we move forward with renewed enthusiasm to conserve birds and nature in northern Virginia.