At the annual member meeting on May 18 during the WSO convention, members heard about WSO accomplishments and activities during the previous year. The annual report slides are now posted here. They include reports on the 2023 financials, conservation highlights, board committees, membership, events and other WSO activities.
The annual report also includes a summary of the strategic framework adopted by the board. WSO will continue developing more specific objectives aligned with this framework and its broad goals and priorities.
While WSO’s mission remains the same, it has a stated vision of “A world in which people share an appreciation for birds and advocate on their behalf.” This continues WSO’s emphasis on being a community for birders and a leader in bird conservation. As a conservation as well as membership group, we should look beyond ourselves to support what we value.
WSO’s stated goal is: “By 2030, those who engage with the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology will reflect people of diverse ages and experiences who enjoy coming together to experience birds and share a sense of responsibility to advocate on behalf of birds for their preservation.” Belonging to WSO is not just about enjoying what birds bring to us. We are also working to provide what those birds need to survive and thrive, and to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy them as well. To achieve this goal, we need to reach beyond WSO’s typical members to recruit from more diverse communities and build a greater appreciation and love of Wisconsin’s birds.
Towards that goal, you will be hearing about WSO efforts to plan and create more specific feasible objectives about building its future and creating or rebuilding programs and projects to reach these objectives over the next few years. We look forward to inspiring more people to do more for birds!