National Audubon Society

[December 31st, 2002] Look, we know times are hard for nonprofits, but there's no excusing the behavior of this week's rogue, the National Audubon Society , which is engaged in a bizarre quest to push the Audubon Society of Portland out of its roost.

With 9,600 members, a staff of 24, and an annual budget of $1.5 million, the Audubon Society of Portland (ASoP to its friends) is the biggest and arguably the most successful chapter of the Audubon movement in the United States. Under a local board of directors, it does its own fundraising, runs a bookstore and is fiercely independent.

But this beloved institution is under attack from its own parent, the National Audubon Society, which has embarked on a strategic plan to establish local state offices. Originally, National Audubon simply wanted to absorb ASoP, Borglike, into its own machinery, dismantling the local operation and taking over its assets. When ASoP objected, National declared it would then come to town and set up a separate chapter, duplicating ASoP's functions. ASoP protested: Surely there was some way to find coexistence. In August, National said it would put off the decision for a year.

On Wednesday, Dec. 18, ASoP president Jim Rapp got a phone call from National Audubon's California director, Dan Taylor. NAS was coming to town--immediately. Two days later, it put an ad for Oregon state director on its website.

Local birdwatchers are fuming about the confusion that having two Audubons competing against each other will cause.

"It'd be a conflict," says birder Harry Nehls, a member for 50 years. "They'd be fighting over the same resources."

National insists that there is no conflict with Portland. Horsefeathers. Stripped of its PR plumage, this is a naked power-grab.