For those who have worked alongside Shorebird Conservation Manager River Gates, it’s difficult to imagine Audubon without her unwavering commitment to conserving shorebirds. Since joining Audubon in 2017, River has helped shape conservation efforts that span continents, connecting people, science, and communities across the Pacific Americas Flyway through her work with Audubon Alaska and Audubon Americas.
River brought to Audubon more than two decades of experience studying and conserving migratory birds. Her career has taken her from Alaska’s Arctic tundra and the Copper River Delta to Taiwan and throughout Central and South America, always with the understanding that migratory birds depend on healthy habitats across the hemisphere.
At Audubon, River coordinated the Pacific Shorebird Conservation Initiative, helping bring together scientists, Indigenous leaders, land managers, government agencies, and nonprofit partners around a shared goal: ensuring shorebirds have the habitats they need throughout their extraordinary annual migrations. She also helped co-create the Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy, strengthening international collaboration at a time when migratory birds face mounting challenges from habitat loss and climate change. She’s also served on the board of the Alaska Shorebird Group.
Her work has never been confined to meeting rooms or spreadsheets. River has spent countless seasons in the field, studying breeding shorebirds in some of Alaska’s most remote landscapes, including Cape Krusenstern, Utqiaġvik, and the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. Whether deploying GPS transmitters on American Golden-Plovers, conducting long-term population surveys, or helping partners better understand migration routes, she has advanced the science that informs conservation across the hemisphere.
Many Alaskans have also come to know River through her gift for sharing science with the public. She has inspired birders at festivals, led educational bird walks, judged local elementary school science fairs, and reminded all of us that shorebirds are more than remarkable migrants—they are indicators of the health of ecosystems stretching from Alaska to South America.
Perhaps River’s greatest legacy, however, is the network of relationships she helped build. Conservation succeeds because people work together, and River has long been known for bringing people to the table with generosity, humility, and a collaborative spirit. Her leadership on the executive councils of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Partnership, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and other international partnerships has strengthened conservation efforts far beyond Alaska. That’s proven in the fourth and final episode of Audubon’s Birds on the Move, which focuses on the Andean Valleys and stars River! (Bonus: Here’s the photo essay that goes with it.)
While we will miss seeing River in Audubon Alaska’s Anchorage office, on the tundra, and at shorebird festivals around the state, we know her influence will continue through the partnerships she nurtured, the science she advanced, and the many people she mentored along the way.
River, thank you for your years of dedication to Alaska’s birds and the places they need. On behalf of everyone at Audubon Alaska, we wish you a joyful next chapter filled with new adventures, time with family, and—of course—plenty of opportunities to enjoy the shorebirds you have spent years protecting.
