Abrupt layoffs at Portland’s Bird Alliance signal upheaval in beloved programs, volunteers say
The group, formerly known as Portland Audubon, laid off the ambassador animal program coordinator and the rehab center manager. Director says layoffs were tied to the organization’s financial health.
Volunteers at the Bird Alliance of Oregon, the storied Portland conservation and education group, say recent leadership decisions have put essential and popular animal programs in jeopardy.Several volunteers told The Oregonian/OregonLive that sudden layoffs this summer at the organization, known until recently as Portland Audubon, have left an animal program beloved by children and funders alike at risk of closure and led to a brief shutdown of its wildlife rehabilitation center.The moves have placed increased strain on volunteers and remaining staff and led to a loss of trust in a group that usually enjoys widespread community support, they say.“We all are outraged and appalled by the ramifications of recent decisions. The Bird Alliance has tried to sweep everything under the carpet and move on, but a lot of us are worried. They haven’t given the public any warning,” said volunteer Valerie Dickie.At the end of June, at the height of bird breeding season when the wildlife care center is swamped with baby birds and other injured or orphaned animals, the Bird Alliance laid off two essential employees without notice.They were Stephanie Herman, the manager of the wildlife rehabilitation center, and Katie Newton, part-time coordinator of the Ambassador Animals program, which has taught generations of children about the importance of wildlife conservation.The layoffs came as the Bird Alliance is finalizing the purchase of a new property where it plans to build a larger, state-of-the-art wildlife rehabilitation hospital to replace the 37-year-old center that’s beyond repair, opening a new chapter for expansion.Stuart Wells, Bird Alliance executive director, said the layoffs occurred to prevent an operating budget deficit. The budget cycle dictated when staff would be let go, he said.While revenue has grown, the organization needs to maintain a reserve fund to ensure it can function in the event of a challenging, unpredictable situation such as the pandemic, he added.“Had we not done layoffs and other cost-cutting measures,” Wells said, “we would have depleted our reserves to a level which could put the larger organization at risk.”The Bird Alliance also laid off two other employees, a social media and marketing worker and a development manager.The layoffs weren’t linked to the Bird Alliance’s efforts to buy property in outer Northeast Portland, Wells said, because the capital campaign for a new rehabilitation center and the organization’s regular operating budget – which includes salaries -- are separate.The Bird Alliance currently employs about 45 people. It reported $8.35 million in revenue last year – the bulk of it coming from contributions and grants – and $5.9 million in expenses. Its latest tax return shows the nonprofit brought in $1 million more in revenue than the year before and held $16 million in net assets, roughly $3 million more than the previous year. Its assets included savings, investments, pledges and grants and its land and buildings. Some of those funds are restricted by donors to specific purposes such as perpetual endowments or capital campaigns and cannot be used for the operating budget.The group, more than 120 years old, has about 12,500 paid members and relies heavily on volunteers. Over 700 people donate their time during the year to assist with animal care, youth and adult education and habitat restoration at the group’s wildlife rehabilitation center and 172-acre wildlife sanctuary in Portland’s Forest Park and at two other sanctuaries on the central coast and in the foothills of Mount Hood.The ambassador animals live at the nonprofit’s Forest Park headquarters. Many of them have spent decades there; they cannot be released into the wild because they were raised in captivity or have an injury and won’t survive on their own.Current ambassadors include Julio, a great horned owl who has lived at the rehabilitation center for 20 years; Xena, an American kestrel, and Bybee, an endangered native western painted turtle. They are housed in shaded enclosures at the top of a popular sanctuary trail where tens of thousands of hikers pass by, including summer camps and other youth groups organized by the Bird Alliance.Newton oversaw the daily care of the animals, managed a public interpretive program, including sessions with camps and school field trips and oversaw volunteers working with the animals.Her layoff has shifted the work onto volunteers and left the program’s future up in the air.“Many of us remember visiting these animals as children. We are their home, friends and sanctuary. To not give the public a say in the relocation and cessation of the Ambassador program and its animals is a big mistake,” Dickie said.Newton couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. Several other volunteers echoed Dickie’s concerns but asked not to be named because they feared they would lose their volunteer positions.The ambassador program has been in transition in recent years. Two of the animal ambassadors – raven Aristophanes and turkey vulture Ruby – were relocated in 2022 after the pandemic to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. The Bird Alliance at the time said standards of care for the birds had evolved and it no longer had the staff capacity to care for such highly intelligent birds with complex social and training needs. The organization also said it was rebuilding the ambassador animal program post-COVID-19.Wells acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of people have met the ambassador animals and many have forged a special connection with them. But, he said, the leadership team is still figuring out whether the program will continue. He didn’t comment on why that’s the case.“At this stage we are assessing all options – including rehoming our three ambassadors – with our animal ambassadors’ well-being, and staff capacity to oversee and manage this program, given the highest consideration,” Wells said. “We will keep the public informed and will act with care and deliberation as we make this important decision.”Wells said the Bird Alliance would continue to invest in the wildlife care center. The center is one of the few places that cares for sick, injured and orphaned animals in northwest Oregon. Several other area rescues transport animals there for treatment. Last year, the center treated more than 3,100 injured or orphaned native birds and other native wildlife, including nearly 100 different bird species.A baby American Robin was sent via Uber to the Bird Alliance's wildlife care center. The center is one of the few places that cares for sick, injured and orphaned birds, mammals and reptiles in northwest Oregon. It treated more than 3,100 animals last year. Herman’s layoff came at the height of the busiest season, as the center triaged and fed several hundred birds and other animals, including baby hummingbirds, baby cowbirds, baby crows, baby jays, great horned owls, swallows, squirrels, ducklings, bats and a baby kestrel, volunteers said.Herman was the center’s sole holder of a permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and also fulfilled several requirements that made the program eligible for another permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, both of which allow the center to operate.Her abrupt layoff meant the Bird Alliance was out of compliance for several days and was forced to shutter its care center for 24 hours as another staffer scrambled to secure a new permit, volunteers said.Although staff and volunteers continued to feed and treat the animals during the closure, the center couldn’t accept new animals, leading to several dying, volunteers said.Herman told The Oregonian/OregonLive that despite constant reassurances from the leadership team and the organization’s board that they were working to improve conditions at the center, including by undertaking the land purchase to build a new facility, animal and staff well-being didn’t seem to be a top priority.“I experienced constant pressure to make the program less than it is and to continue to temporarily patch or ignore facilities issues that have been on the verge of catastrophic failure for decades,” she said. “Add to that frequent suggestions from board members and leadership that we should simply turn away people and animals or only take care of endangered species to save money, and a pattern of general promises of support followed by asking us what we needed, and then telling us we were asking for too much.”Wells said staffing at the center had doubled in the past few years. Currently, three full-time staff members, two part-time veterinarians, two seasonal workers and about 100 volunteers take care of the animals there.In a letter to the volunteers shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Wells acknowledged the permit snafu.“I want to express my sincerest apologies for the way that we rolled out layoffs during our organization’s incredibly difficult budget cycle,” he wrote. “I want to recognize how deeply the loss of Steph Herman and Katie Newton impacted the Wildlife Care Center community. I also acknowledge that removing their positions increased the workload for everyone else during the busiest time of year.”Wells promised to improve the transparency and timing of communications and said the Bird Alliance would work hard to regain trust and raise more money to ensure adequate staffing levels at the rehabilitation center.To that end, it has added a full-time grant writer and increased staffing to deepen relationships with existing donors and develop relationships with new donors, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive. In the meantime, it has increased the hours and terms for existing seasonal staff at the center.Regaining volunteers’ trust is key as the alliance plans to build a larger animal rehabilitation center to replace the existing one, which is too old and too small to handle the increasing onslaught of animal patients, the organization has said. Two years ago, the current center was further damaged during an ice storm and had to temporarily close for repairs.The Bird Alliance is in the process of purchasing a 12.5-acre site on Northeast 82nd Avenue across from McDaniel High School, the group’s spokesperson Ali Berman confirmed. The property, a former landfill and quarry owned by Mike Hashem, is one of the city’s largest undeveloped tracks and has sat vacant for years.Last week, the state filed a document as part of a court-approved consent order, the final step before the Bird Alliance can close on the property. The document specifies that the organization will be responsible for monitoring and remediating methane emissions at the site.Berman said methane levels at the property have been close to zero for at least a decade, but a monitoring system will be in place. The monitoring doesn’t pose a financial burden, she said.“Bird Alliance of Oregon has long advocated for restoring and redeveloping brownfields,” Berman said. “And now, we have an opportunity to put that in action while providing a valuable community asset and green space that will be accessible to the public.”— Gosia Wozniacka covers environmental justice, climate change, the clean energy transition and other environmental issues. Reach her at gwozniacka@oregonian.com or 971-421-3154.Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com
