At the beginning of November, longtime Shorebird Recovery Project Director Charles Duncan will step down and will be succeeded by Director of Shorebird Science Stephen Brown.

 

Duncan has led the SRP for a decade and said that he wants to step back and “reconfigure” his career.

 

Manomet President John Hagan praised Duncan’s work, especially in extending the geographic reach of the program and collaborating with local partners.

 

“As director of the Executive Office of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, he helped add 32 new sites, more than 7.5 million acres,” Hagan said. “WHSRN has become a global model of how to engage people on a voluntary basis to do big things. All of that is a testament to Charles’ innovation and dedication.”

 

Under Duncan’s leadership, Manomet worked on campaigns in several South American cities and in the Delaware Bay region of New Jersey and Delaware to generate local pride in migratory shorebirds and their habitat.

 

“I will forever be grateful for the opportunity Manomet has given me to work with and become friends with some of the greatest conservationists and warmest people imaginable, across the entirety of the Hemisphere,” Duncan said.

 

Brown oversees all of Manomet’s shorebird research. Working with colleagues from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Kansas State University, he founded and leads the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network. Brown 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. He was also one of the lead authors of the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Conservation Business Strategy. After Hurricane Sandy hit the Atlantic Coast of the United States, Brown worked with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to lead a rapid assessment of the impact on coastal bird habitat.

 

“Manomet is truly fortunate to have such a capable and respected leader in Stephen, ready to go,” Hagan said. “This ensures that our shorebird program will not miss a beat.”

 

Duncan echoed those sentiments and said that the SRP leadership transition would be seamless.

 

“I have had the personal and professional good fortune to work with Stephen even before I ever imagined working for Manomet,” Duncan said. “His scientific skills, his warmth, his integrity, his ability to turn a difficult human interaction into a successful outcome, and above all, his dedication are unmatched.”

 

– Dave McGlinchey