What Do We Do Now That the First Century is Over?

 Sep 2009 Presidents Address in The Crest

Well, Hartford Audubon made it through its first century. Congratulations, but what do we do now? A first thought might be whatever the Board and President want to do, but I believe there are more fundamental forces at work. After I became vice president I spent some time in Wood Memorial reading Board and monthly meeting minutes trying to understand what Hartford Audubon did before I joined in November 2002.  I learned that we have always been focused on birding trips and meetings. HAS cannot exist without trips and meetings although it could exist with only trips and meetings. Why do we do more? We do more in response to a member who first becomes passionate about some activity and then becomes a committed leader taking us to new places.  These people are not created by the Board. They just seem to happen.

Things work in reverse as well when we lose these leaders. Some of the things they put into place may persist for quite a while. Other things will disappear or become less important. This is just fine. There is no reason that HAS will have to do something 20 years from now just because we chose to do it today.

 Examples of recent leader activity may help illustrate this point. Adrian Nichols continues to push us to do new birding club activities such as the calendar, the Naked Birding Walk and the October 25, 2009 Mystery Birding Rally. Jon Smalley has assembled a group of Thursday morning regulars that will do nearly anything for him at Lewis Farm. Frank Haviland created relationships with Wood Memorial, our neighbors at Station 43 and Lewis Farm, the DEP, the state foresters and the Coverts Project.

 Perhaps the strongest example I can give is the conservation effort that occurred after World War II. HAS seriously considered becoming the statewide conservation organization for Connecticut, being the state chapter for National Audubon, hiring an executive director, lobbying and buying land for sanctuaries. During this period we acquired Station 43 and Lewis Farm which laid the foundation for acquiring Idlenot Farm and the properties in East Granby and Windsor.

Over time the conservation leaders moved on and our interest in being a conservation organization diminished. Nevertheless, we still own the five properties. These are the same properties that became a hot topic at the May banquet and the June meeting at Northwest Park. We now have Land Team to study the merits of the properties and the Board has a revitalized interest in the house at Idlenot Farm in South Windsor. We have several options for the house. It can be rented, sold or demolished.

 Selling the house is gaining supporters but this is not a simple task. The deed says the house must be used in a “manner consistent with the purposes, goals and by-laws of HAS”. Much more troubling are the ethical considerations surrounding the donation. For instance, what did Frank Niederwerfer intend when he gave us the property and what did we promise or imply we would do?

We need to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of selling the house before we make any long term decisions. I am afraid that a typical HAS committee would study and study the situation, never making a recommendation. What we need is a leader committed to finding all the facts, weighing the information and making a recommendation. Committed leaders got us the house.  Now, we need a committed leader to come forward and tell what us do next. Are you the one?

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