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For the birds
Mary Elfner heads Georgia’s efforts to protect natural bird habitats
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by Kelly Simmons
Can you identify a Bobwhite? A Red Knot? A Loggerhead Shrike?
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| Mary Elfner, special photo |
Mary Elfner can and she’s making it part of her mission to make sure Georgians will be able to spot these birds and others for generations to come.Elfner (MS ’91), a self-employed environmental consultant, is the coordinator for Georgia’s Important Bird Area (IBA) program, which identifies and preserves natural habitats for birds. Georgia’s IBA, which operates through the Atlanta Audubon, began in 2000. There are 49 recognized IBAs in Georgia—more than 1,100 throughout the United States.
The job came to Elfner after years of working in environmental management and water conservation. She already had been working with the Georgia IBA and its original director, Jim Wilson, who retired last year.
“I thought, ‘It would really be good to get back to my wildlife roots,’ ” she says.
Last year she oversaw the dedication of the Ossabaw Island IBA and she plans to speak at an upcoming dedication ceremony for Whitehall Forest and The State Botanical Garden in Athens, which were recently put on the IBA roster.
In addition, Elfner is streamlining data collection on Georgia birds and seeking funding to help promote the IBA mission. Some of the money, she says, would be used to manipulate natural habitats to better protect some of the state’s declining bird populations.
“You can plant certain native grasses to draw in birds,” she explains, “and take out the exotic species they don’t use.”
Elfner, who earned her undergraduate degree from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, learned early on that she didn’t want a desk job. After graduating, she moved to Atlanta to work for a consulting firm. But a summer stint chasing sea turtles on Edisto Island for $100 convinced her she needed to be outdoors.
She enrolled in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and studied herpetology and land management with ecology professor Whitfield Gibbons, with whom she remains in contact. Since earning her degree in environmental policy and wildlife biology she has helped military bases protect their ecosystems, developed a water conservation program for Savannah and Chatham County and directed the day-to-day operations of the Coastal Georgia Land Trust.
“I didn’t intend for it to be so varied,” Elfner says.
“I like a challenge.”
To learn more about Georgia’s IBA, go to www.audubon.org/bird/iba
Top photo by ©Mary Andrews
Audubon members and volunteers collect data on birds in Georgia and send their findings to Elfner, who coordinates with the National Audubon Society to recognize critical wildlife habitats in Georgia.
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