The Center for Conservation Biology was awarded the 2014 Conservation Partner Award by the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. The award was presented by chapter director Michael Lipford during the spring dinner of the board of directors in Suffolk, Virginia. On hand to receive the award were Mitchell Byrd and Bryan Watts.
Bryan Watts displays 2014 conservation partner award. Photo by Marian Watts.
The Nature Conservancy and The Center for Conservation Biology share a conservation mission and have worked together on dozens of projects for decades. As one of the great land-based conservation organizations throughout the world, The Nature Conservancy is tremendously effective in taking research provided by groups like CCB and converting it into conservation results. We are very proud to be working alongside the staff of the Virginia Chapter.
Artwork showing a red-cockaded woodpecker at cavity by Michael Lipford (Director of the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy).
The award included artwork done by Lipford himself that depicted the red-cockaded woodpecker. The species is the most endangered bird in Virginia and a symbol of an enduring conservation partnership. Heroic efforts by The Nature Conservancy, The Center for Conservation Biology, the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the past decade are turning the tide and demonstrating what may be achieved when conservation groups rally around a conservation cause.
May 20, 2014
A bald eagle nest just off the Poropotank River in Virginia in 2003. A nest with two equal young and ample food was a normal scene during this time period. This reflects a golden period during the late 1990s and early 2000s when males had more leisure time to hunt and provide for broods. Photo by Catherine Markham.
Breeding female on the Eltham Bridge. This female was hatched on Elkins Marsh along the seaside of the Delmarva in 2010 and has held the territory on the Eltham Bridge since 2013 with three successive males. She has been very aggressive and protective of the nest site and has held the territory together. She was found with a wing injury from a collision in December and could not be rehabilitated. She is one of a number of falcons that have been documented to go down in 2022. Photo by Bryan Watts.