The Shorebird Recovery Project Team

Charles Duncan
Shorebird Recovery Project Director

Dr. Charles Duncan directs the Executive Office of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, a coalition of 69 sites in ten nations. Recently he accepted additional responsibilities as Director of Shorebird Recovery Project, an ambitious hemispheric-scale program of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.

Prior to joining Manomet in 2003, he worked for The Nature Conservancy’s Migratory Bird Program after a long career in academia. At the University of Maine at Machias [USA], where he founded and ran the Institute for Field Ornithology, now operated by the American Birding Association. From 1998-2000, he was President of the Association of Field Ornithologists. In 2002, the American Birding Association honored him with their “Chandler Robbins Award for Education and Conservation.” Charles has a B.A. from Rice University (chemistry), a PhD from Yale University (organic chemistry), and held a postdoctoral fellowship in theoretical organic chemistry at the University of Virginia. He lives in Portland, Maine [USA], with his wife, Laura Blutstein, a physician specializing in family medicine.

Stephen Brown
Director of Shorebird Science

As Manomet’s Director of Shorebird Science, Stephen Brown works on a wide variety of science and policy issues related to protecting this imperiled group of birds. Stephen was the lead author of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, which brought together wildlife managers and policy makers from all 50 states to develop a coordinated strategy for restoring the declining populations of shorebirds. Stephen has an active research program in the Arctic, where his work helps to determine potential impacts of oil development on nesting shorebirds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. He helps coordinate a program to study and manage American Oystercatchers throughout the Atlantic Coast. He also helps organize the Shorebird Research Group of the Americas, which aims to determine the underlying causes of shorebird population declines.

Stephen received his doctorate from Cornell University, where he studied restoration of wetland bird habitats. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles on shorebirds and wetland management, and recently edited Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan Council, and is a member of the Society for Conservation Biology, the Society of Wetland Scientists, and the Waterbird Society.

Meredith Gutowski
Conservation Specialist

Meredith Gutowski joined Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in June 2007. Her primary areas of responsibility include Species Conservation Plans, the WHSRN Site Assessment Tool, and both Web- and print-based outreach and communication about the Plans, Tool, Network, and WHSRN Sites. Prior to this new post, Meredith worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Bird Habitat Conservation (Division) since 1998 in Arlington, Virginia [USA]. She was a coordinator for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA)’s Mexico Program, administered by the Division (where she got to know “grantee” Xico Vega, now WHSRN Deputy Director!). In later years, Meredith served as Communications Coordinator for all of the Division’s international, migratory bird conservation programs.

Meredith is proficient in Spanish, has a Bachelor of Science in International Environmental Studies from Rutgers University’s Douglass College, and a Master of Environmental Management in Resource Ecology (Conservation Biology track) from Duke University ’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Her love of birds, nature, other cultures, and photography has led her either as a student or volunteer to Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nepal, Thailand, and most recently India – with a brief but “birdable” (and memorable) layover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Xicoténcatl “Xico” Vega
Deputy Director, WHSRN

Xico joined the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) in May 2007 as Deputy Director, where his responsibilities include the promotion and management of conservation projects, especially those in Latin America, and the designation of new WHSRN sites.

Prior to his current position, Xico was the Director of Conservation for Pronatura Noroeste [Mexico] in the State of Sinaloa. His conservation activities in northwest Mexico involved several WHSRN sites, including Bahía de Santa María, Ensenada de Pabellones, and Bahía de Ceuta—all in Sinaloa. Other WHSRN sites in his region included Marismas Nacionales in both Nayarit and Sinaloa, and Guerrero Negro in Baja California Sur. Xico promoted the designation of Bahía de Santa María and Bahía de Ceuta as WHSRN sites. With Pronatura, he led a variety of conservation projects that involved conservation easements, land acquisitions, environmental education, bird monitoring, habitat restoration, TV programs, and more.

Xico will defend his PhD dissertation in May 2008. He has two Masters degrees: Wildlife Management and Ecological Planning. His many conservation activities have been recognized with several conservation awards, including the 2004 Pablo Canevari Memorial Award.