Don and Lillian Stokes

Known as “ America ’s First Family of Birding”, Don and Lillian Stokes have been among the most trusted authorities and educators of birding information for more than 25 years. This husband and wife team are leading television personalities as well as best-selling birding authors. Their mission has always been to promote an appreciation, understanding, and desire to conserve birds by reaching a wide public audience.

The Stokes created and hosted the first bird watching television series to appear on national television. More than 40 million viewers have tuned in to “Stokes Birds at Home”, their PBS television series on birds and conservation. Their newest series, "Bird Watching Workshop," aired on DIY and HGTV.

Don and Lillian’s 32 field guides and nature books, including the best-selling Stokes Field Guide to Birds, have sold more than 4.5 million copies. Ever popular columnists and speakers, Don and Lillian travel throughout the United States educating audiences through speaking events, book signings, environmental events, and more. They have written for all major birding publications and have a regular column in Birder’s World Magazine.

The couple makes generous contributions to bird habitat conservation projects by donating part of the proceeds of their “Stokes Select” line of licensed bird feeders and seed and “Stokes Birding Series” line of binoculars. 

The Stokes have taken a leadership role in land conservation at the local and regional level in their home state of New Hampshire and participate in national and international bird conservation whenever they can. They have placed their 45 acre NH property, “Bobolink Farm” (which last year produced 70 Bobolinks) under permanent conservation easement.

Deborah Finch, Ph.D.

Deborah Finch received her Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University , Arcata , CA , her Master’s in Zoology and Physiology from Arizona State University , Phoenix , and her Ph.D. in Zoology and Range Science from University of Wyoming , Laramie . 

Deborah has been a research wildlife biologist employed by the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) since 1978.  Her research interests include ecosystem restoration using prescribed fire, biosolids, and grazing adjustments; riparian and grassland ecology and health; avian reproductive ecology and habitat relationships; invasive and exotic plants; community ecology; threatened, endangered and sensitive species; and technology transfer.  During her career, she has worked on research projects in Colorado , Wyoming , Arizona , Oklahoma , Texas , Oregon , New Mexico , California , and Mexico .  She assumed the position of Project Leader for two RMRS Research Work Units in Albuquerque , NM in 1993 and 1994.  She currently leads two interdisciplinary programs of research known as “Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem Management” Unit, and “Southwestern Grasslands and Riparian Ecosystems” Unit. These units focus on wildlife habitat relationships, biological diversity, and ecosystem sustainability, evaluating plant and animal responses to fire, invasive species, and restoration management, habitat alteration, and drought.  She supervises and coordinates a team of scientists who conduct research on restoration methods, fire ecology, wildlife ecology, sensitive species, and habitat use in temperate and tropical environments. 

Cecilia Riley

A native Texan, biologist and avid bird watcher, Cecilia has committed her life's work to avian research and natural history in both North America and Latin America . Cecilia's educational background includes a B.S. in Ecology from the University of Texas at Arlington and a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Arkansas . Prior to her position as Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, she spent 2 years as the state coordinator for Texas Partners in Flight and 8 years as a Research Associate of Marine Studies at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.

Currently, Cecilia's professional efforts focus on the conservation issues associated with the protection of migratory landbirds and stopover habitat in the ecologically important Gulf of Mexico region. In addition to her GCBO duties, Cecilia serves on the Board of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture and is Vice President of the Association of Field Ornithologists.

Kenneth F. Ribbeck

Kenny works as a Biologist Programs Manager for the Wildlife Division/Forestry Section of the Louisiana Department of Fish and Wildlife (LDFW).   He received both his B.S. and M.S. from Louisiana State University .  As leader of the forestry division of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), Kenny has been at the forefront of transforming forest management from a detriment to wildlife to a mechanism for enhancement of avian habitat.  He has taken a leadership role in developing and implementing new and innovate techniques of forest restoration and management throughout the state, with responsibility for management of the forest/wildlife resources on approximately 462,000 acres of Department owned properties (Wildlife Management Areas and some Refuges).

Current and previous committees he has been involved with include the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Forest Resources Technical Committee (past Chairman), Black Bear Conservation Committee (charter member), Louisiana Forestry Association’s Wildlife and Endangered Species Committees, Southeast Forestry and Wildlife Farm Bill Working Group, LMVJV Carbon Sequestration Working Group, LMVJV Forest Resources Conservation Working Group (co-chair), Governor’s Advisory Panel on Coastal Forest Conservation and Use, and The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Team (co-chair of the Habitat Working Group).

Carol Beidleman

Carol has been involved with Partners in Flight since the early 1990’s, attending Colorado Working Group meetings and then her first Western Regional Working Group meeting in 1993.  During this time she worked for The Nature Conservancy as the Phantom Canyon Preserve Manager and Northeast Colorado Program Manager; before that, from 1976-1990, she worked for the National Park Service at Rocky Mountain National Park.  In 1995 she took over as the State Chair of Colorado Partners in Flight, a volunteer position she held for 7 years.  During 1998-1999, as an employee of the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (then Colorado Bird Observatory), she became the Colorado Bird Conservation Plan Facilitator, producing Version 1.0 of the Partners in Flight Land Bird Conservation Plan for Colorado in January 2000. 

Since 2000, Carol has been the Park Flight Migratory Bird Program Coordinator for the National Park Service (NPS), through the University of Arizona Southwest Desert Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.   Park Flight is a partnership initiative to conserve shared migratory bird species in national parks and protected areas in the U.S. , Latin America, and the Caribbean .  As program coordinator, Carol received the 2002 National Park Partnership Director’s Award from NPS Director Fran Mainella, and the 2004 Secretary’s Four C’s Award from Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.  As the NPS Partners in Flight Liaison (2001 to present), she has helped to engage the agency’s Washington Office and national parks across the country in Partners in Flight activities.  She has also served on the Partners in Flight Implementation Committee (2001 to present); as Chair (2002-2003) and Vice-Chair (2003-2005) of the Partners in Flight Federal Agency Committee; and as Co-Chair (2005 to present) of the Partners in Flight International Working Group.  Carol earned her M.S. in Renewable Natural Resources from the University of Arizona , and B.S. in Environmental Conservation from the University of Colorado , Boulder .  She lives in Estes Park , Colorado .

Jack Capp

Jack retired from the Forest Service effective July 22, 2005.  He worked for the Forest Service for 38 years. 

Jack graduated from Colorado State University in 1965 with a B.S. degree, wildlife management, and in 1967 with a M.S. degree, wildlife biology.

He began his career as a wildlife biologist/range conservationist on the Lincoln National Forest in July 1967; his was the only wildlife biologist position in the Southwest Region.   From 1969-1972 he worked as wildlife biologist for the Carson National Forest, New Mexico.  In 1973 he moved to the Pacific Northwest Region and served in the Regional Office as Regional Wildlife and Animal Damage/pesticide Use Leader. He served as Range, Wildlife, Watershed Staff Officer for the Deschutes National Forest , Bend Oregon , from 1973-1977.   He worked 1977-1979 as Wildlife Program Leader and Regional Wildlife and Fish Budget Coordinator for the California Region, stationed in San Francisco .  From 1979 to 1986 Jack worked in the Regional Office, Rocky Mountain Region, as Regional Wildlife and Fisheries Program Leader and later Regional Plan Team Leader.

From 1986 – 1988 Jack served in the Washington Office as National Resource and Planning Act Coordinator and National Appeals and Litigation Coordinator for the Wildlife, Fisheries, Rare Plant staff.  During 1989 he served in Washington DC as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Harry Reid, Nevada .  During 1990 to 1999, he served as Regional Director of Wildlife, Fisheries, Watershed, Ecology, Subsistence for the Alaska Region.  He represented the Forest Service on the Alaska Federal Subsistence Management Board and led wildlife, fisheries, and watershed oversight for revision of the Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan.  Jack returned to Washington DC in 1999 and worked as Special Assistant to Director of Forest Service International Programs until he retired. 

Jack developed many international conservation partnerships.  He won the Forest Service National Lloyd Swift Sr. Award and the Forest Service Global Stewardship Award.  He developed the Forest Service international bird conservation program and the Forest Service Wings Across the Americas Program and co-chaired the Federal Agency Subcommittee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative.  Jack was active in many conservation organizations, including President of the New Mexico , Oregon and Colorado chapters of The Wildlife Society and served on the National Science and Technology Board, Society of American Foresters.

Partners In Flight Lifetime Achievement Award - Chandler S. Robbins

Few scientists have had such a profound influence on natural resource conservation as Dr. Chandler S. Robbins has had on conservation of migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere .  Known by friends and colleagues as simply “Chan,” he retired from the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center on December 30, 2005, after an amazing 60 years as a research biologist with the Federal government. 

Chan’s prolific accomplishments as both an ornithologist and a liaison with the amateur birding community were fueled by a fierce passion for birds and a fascination with patterns of change in populations and distributions of bird species.  He designed and implemented the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), a unique protocol for sampling populations of bird species detectable from roads.  By engaging the talents of volunteer birders, he built the BBS into a continent-wide program capable of tracking long-term population changes in over 400 species with statistical reliability.  In the 1980s his analyses of population trends from BBS data revealed a troubling pattern of long-term declines in grassland songbirds and eastern neotropical migrants.  Meanwhile, Chan’s intensive field studies of breeding bird populations in eastern forests from the 1960s through the 1990s were beginning to show that many of the small forest patches remaining after urban and agricultural expansion were incapable of sustaining breeding populations of many bird species, especially neotropical migrants.  Largely on the basis of this body of work, the concept of forest fragmentation as an extension of island biogeography theory was born, spurring on the rapidly emerging field of conservation biology.  These are but a few of many notable and influential contributions to ornithology made by Chan Robbins throughout his distinguished career.

The dual impact of documented population declines of neotropical migrants from the BBS and expanding scientific evidence for forest fragmentation impacts provided a conceptual framework that finally enabled non-game bird conservation to attain a solid footing alongside game bird management on the agendas of Federal and State conservation agencies.  In short, it is what enabled the mobilization of Federal, State, and private interests into the “Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Program,” an entity very quickly to be renamed, “Partners in Flight.” 

It is with deep gratitude for his pivotal role in making Partners in Flight possible that the first Partners in Flight Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Dr. Chandler S. Robbins.

Last updated: 05/16/2008