Cofrin Center for Biodiversity’s Erin Giese earns recognition for Snowy Owl Airport Rescue

Since the winter of 2017-2018, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity’s Erin Giese has helped co-lead Project SOAR (Snowy Owl Airport Rescue) whose mission is to capture and relocate Snowy Owls and other raptors from local airports where they pose as hazards. Giese co-leads the project with Janet Wissink (Winnebago Audubon) and Frank Ujazdowski (Wisconsin Falconers Association). In 2020 they earned the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology’s (WSO) Special Recognition Award, which recognizes the collective efforts of a far-reaching project or partnership that increases the public’s awareness and appreciation for birds, their habitats, or the need for conservation.

WSO Awards Chair Wendy Schultz met up with Project SOAR and gave them their awards at an outdoor pavilion while social distancing (in a non-pandemic year, awards would have been given at the WSO Convention). Erin and her collaborators Janet and Frank each gave acceptance speeches, which can be viewed at the very bottom of this page.

You can follow Project SOAR’s efforts on Facebook.

Photo courtesy of Wendy Schultz. Left to right: Erin Giese, Janet Wissink and Frank Ujazdowski.