In a 1940 issue of Audubon magazine, Ira N. Gabrielson—the first director of the newly formed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—marveled for 10 long pages at the great concentrations of birdlife in Alaska. Three years and several trips later, his byline appeared again, this time pondering a question: What effect would new roads, airstrips, and encroaching development have on Alaska’s wildlife, and on the people who depend upon the land for their existence?
Gabrielson oversaw an expansion of the National Wildlife Refuge System across the United States, but it would be many more decades—and many more Audubon stories—before Alaska saw robust protections through a combination of national refuges, forests, parks, and other designations. And yet here we are in 2025, once again examining the question he posed—only with more urgency. As Alisa Opar and Andy McGlashen report in this issue, proposals to develop Alaska’s irreplaceable ecosystems are gaining momentum, including roads that would open key migratory bird habitats to development.
If history has shown us anything, it’s that progress takes vigilance to maintain.
Early Audubon members pressed for the first national wildlife refuge, Florida’s Pelican Island, in 1903, and even paid the salary of the first manager (it was $7 a month). Over its 120-year history, the national organization secured many more conservation wins, but if history has shown us anything, it’s that progress takes vigilance to maintain. The vibrant seabird colonies making Johnston Atoll home, as Tristan Spinski and Jenny McKee illustrate in this issue’s opening photo essay, reflect dogged efforts to rid the island of invasive ants. And the Great Lakes’ small but mighty Piping Plovers are rebounding thanks to tireless crews who band, monitor, and rear baby birds.
The staff who provide key services for the nation’s public lands—biologists, park rangers, land managers, and others—play an integral role in these and other efforts. And so it’s with concern that we also share Maddie Burakoff’s story on how the deep cuts to the federal workforce are now compromising agencies’ ability to fulfill their missions. The careful reader will see these cuts playing out across multiple stories in this issue.
Gabrielson once wrote that “persistency in the conservation movement is essential,” and that preserving its successes will require education and public pressure “for all time to come.” Thankfully, the scientists, birders, local leaders, and others who care enough to speak out for our natural resources show no signs of letting up.
This piece originally ran in the Summer 2025 issue. To receive our print magazine, become a member by making a donation today.
