SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, December 5, 2017 – The National Audubon Society is pleased to welcome Jonathan Hayes as the new Executive Director of Audubon New Mexico. Hayes brings to Audubon a strong conservation expertise through his professional experience at multiple levels in public service. Over the last decade, Hayes has built strong partnerships between public and private organizations to provide scalable conservation outcomes across multiple types of ecosystems. He has specifically focused on meaningful programs that conserve native bird species and the habitats they rely on, making him an ideal leader for Audubon New Mexico.

Hayes will lead the state office, now in its twenty-second year of operation, in advancing Audubon’s conservation initiatives to restore and protect the state’s rich biodiversity with a focus on rivers, grasslands, and forests. Hayes will oversee key programs that build more naturally resilient communities, including freshwater restoration, grassland enhancement, on-the-ground community science, partnerships, education and outreach, environmental adaptation initiatives, and more. 

Jon will guide the management of the Historic Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Santa Fe, one of the oldest sites in Audubon’s network of education centers, listed on the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Register of Historic Places as established in 1847.

“I am extremely excited to be part of the National Audubon Society, an organization whose reputation and conservation outcomes in protecting birds, wildlife and the natural world is highly recognizable,” said Hayes. “It’s a huge honor to be leading an incredible team of skilled individuals who all share a passion for conservation innovation in the state. I look forward to building on the team’s successes and connecting with our partners and exceptional network of members, to further expand our conservation and education reach to protect the state’s rich biodiversity for the benefit of both people and birds.”

Prior to joining Audubon, Hayes served with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative where he was responsible for guiding multi-organizational development and implementation of applied research projects. In this capacity, he coordinated

landscape-level cooperative projects in a six-state region amongst federal agencies, state wildlife agencies, and multiple non-profit organizations focused on improving conservation effectiveness in western grassland and riparian ecosystems. Additionally, he has served with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Oaks and Prairies Joint Venture (OPJV), working at a programmatic level to implement regional conservation efforts aimed at restoring declining grassland bird populations. Among his achievements in this role was the development of the OPJV Grassland Restoration Incentive Program, which was responsible for the improvement of grassland habitat quality on over 60,000 acres of private working lands in Texas.

“We are thrilled Jon is assuming the helm of Audubon New Mexico,” said Brian Trusty, Audubon’s Vice President of the Central Flyway. “He is passionate and well-versed in the science of effective conservation, while also extremely innovative and entrepreneurial in his approach to achieve results.  Jon has the energy and creativity to build strong partnerships among all sorts of players to make things happen we can all be proud of.”

Hayes earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Population and Organismic Biology from the University of Colorado and a Master’s of Science in Natural Resource Conservation from the University of Montana. 

To learn more about Audubon New Mexico’s conservation efforts, please visit http://nm.audubon.org/.

About Audubon

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more how to help at www.audubon.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @audubonsociety.

Audubon New Mexico: As the state office of the National Audubon Society, Audubon New Mexico’s mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.