I doubt that many or, more probably, any Madison Audubon member is an overt, conscious racist. Probably most of us have the best of intentions with regard to race and our hopes for a just and fair society.

So my question: Where does the road paved with good intentions run?

Here are some more: How many black people serve on the Madison Audubon Board? How many black members of our staff? How many young black conservationists on our intern crews? How many black people have any of us worked with on any of our work days? How many black neighbors at any of our events? How many black residents of Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Marquette, Richland, and Sauk Counties are members of Madison Audubon?

What has our organization done so that any of the questions can be answered with an affirmative reply, at least in the near future?

Absolutely, these questions should be extended to folks of every ethic group experiencing injustice, oppression, and discrimination in our communities. But we should focus on what is today the most egregious and deadly manifestation of racism, that directed against black people by institutions that should serve them.

Most of us have now read the account of Christian Cooper, the black birder in Central Park accosted by the scared(?), angry(?), racist(?), clueless(?) white woman. It's so easy to identify with the black Audubon member and not the white fool. But here's the deal: if we don't know, socialize with, value, and bird with our black neighbors, it'd be way too easy to act as the woman did in an unguarded moment.

Why should we care? If we ask that question, we probably have a bigger problem than we might think. Here are a couple of partial answers. Our birds need all the friends they can get. Everyone should be able to enjoy birds. Safely. Without fear of harassment or worse. Without being considered suspicious, dangerous, or even surprising.

Madison Audubon has done at least one thing to move in the right direction. Our education team, led by Carolyn Byers and supported by her interns and awesome fellow staff members, have focused our educational efforts for several years on Madison public schools and community organizations with large populations of underserved, underrepresented black and brown children. We have learned from this experience that these kids are fabulous. They love birds, they love being outside, they are fun to be with, they learn super fast, they really enjoy doing neat things for birds and other creatures, they love to plant native trees and plants. As I noted in an earlier blog, some of my best days outside have been with these kids.

These kids did not drop from the sky or spring from the ground. They have parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and neighbors. If the kids are so eager and willing to learn about birds and the outdoors, it's a safe bet that lots of them got that inclination from some of those adults in their lives. And there's the wonderful Central Park birder, Christian Cooper — a New York Audubon board member and activist in the black birding community. This past week has been the first #BlackBirdersWeek, which is an incredible display of diversity, intelligence, and passion among the many black birders who dedicate their lives to bird research and conservation. We have every reason to believe that many other black folks would like to learn more about birds, how to help them, how to have more around the neighborhood, how to visit our sanctuaries and band kestrels, or sow seeds, or see some cool birds… if Madison Audubon’s staff, board, and members learn how to really reach out to, welcome, and engage with these folks.

Madison Audubon board members and staff have to address our weaknesses and unconscious biases as well as act on our good intentions in a focused and systemic way now. Board members and staff will have good ideas and the energy to do this but our current record suggests we could use some help. We would love to hear from you with your suggestions for authentically making this conversation about race, racism, and conservation a deep and actionable one — please contact our executive director Matt Reetz (mreetz@madisonaudubon.org) to share your thoughtful ideas on this front. Or start with his wonderful letter he shared with our membership on June 5.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking back to last year’s monarch tagging and two young black women who came out to Goose Pond from Madison. They seemed to have a great time and certainly caught and tagged more monarchs than me. I was friendly — I think. But why didn't I reach out more? Have they always loved monarchs? Did they raise them in elementary school? How did they find out about the event? Anything else they'd enjoy doing with us? What other interests do they have as outdoors-women? Maybe those weren't the exactly right questions but as a board member charged with welcoming folks to Madison Audubon and providing some leadership, I should have done a much better job of reaching out and welcoming them.

I hope I get another chance.

Written by Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board member and advocacy committee chair