At the August meeting of the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI), Brad Andres received the 2020 Individual Gary T. Myers Bird Conservation Award. Gary Myers was a long-time director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and a recognized champion of bird conservation that inspired a generation of conservationists. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals or groups who have shown exceptional accomplishments and/or leadership in bird conservation in furtherance of the principles of the NABCI and the national/international bird initiatives (in this case, the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Partnership). Recognized accomplishments advance the vision of protecting and restoring the populations and habitats of North American birds by 1) initiating and broadening bird conservation partnerships, 2) increasing financial resources available for bird conservation in the U.S. and range-wide, 3) enhancing the effectiveness of those resources and partnerships through integrated bird conservation, 4) facilitating integrated bird conservation through monitoring, research, modeling, habitat management, or conservation programs, 5) facilitating conservation through communication, education, outreach or policy advancements, and 6) working at a the national and continental levels.
Since 2001, Brad has been the national coordinator of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Partnership (https://www.shorebirdplan.org/). In addition to the national work on shorebirds, Brad is on the steering committees of the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative (AFSI), the Pacific Americas Shorebird Initiative and Midcontinent Shorebird Conservation Initiative. He is co-chair of the AFSI Shorebird Harvest Working Group and is the U.S. Government’s Point of Contact for the Convention on Migratory Species Flyways Working Group and CMS/UNEP Americas Flyway Task Force. Brad is also actively involved with NABCI’s Human Dimensions Working Group and has been a proposal reviewer for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act since 2002. Over his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical papers and reports.