Can We Save Birds? A Very Personal Photo Essay.

On a blustery Thursday afternoon, I left work early and drove the 25 minutes from my house to look out on this scene: the Washington County Grasslands (also known as the Fort Edward Grasslands). For miles around, this area is agricultural land. The complex of grasslands themselves are believed to be the largest intact such habitat in the northeastern United States.

For good reason, the area was designated in New York State as an "Important Bird Area," or "IBA." In winter it supports a population of Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) and Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), and in breeding season one can find Boblink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), and other grassland-obligate species. American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) are found year-round. Short-eared Owl has been declared an endangered species in the state; Northern Harrier is threatened. As I stood there and looked, a beautiful adult female harrier cruised over the fields. The owls have probably left to go further north to breed.

I use the scientific names of species for a specific reason -- to be transparent to international readers of this blog. That's because the "IBA Program" originated in Europe. I know this because during a 20-year career at the National Audubon Society, I helped to adapt the program to, and establish it in, the U.S. I was involved in one of our first state-level efforts in New York, which resulted in the IBA designation of the Washington County Grasslands.

Fast forward to 2026. What you may be able to see toward the back (at about the vertical midline of the photo) are fenced-in rows of solar energy generating panels. These are encroaching on the habitat and visible from one of the two main viewing areas. Being farmland mainly in the hand of private owners and farmers, this area is also seen as prime real estate by solar energy developers. They are propsing to expand these "solar farms" -- which, as one critic says, are really solar industrial sites -- across hundreds if not thousands of acres in and around the grassland complex. Worse yet, the state government of New York seems determined to ram this project through. Ironically enough, the corporation behind the plan is a Canadian firm, Boralex, which, you may remember, owns the Glens Falls (mentioned in an earlier post). 

Some locals are fighting the project. One person in particular has done brilliant work to expose the backroom wheeling-and-dealing that is so prevalent in American politics today. (I will not give their name to protect them; they have already been threatened and harrassed.) I don't see the "Big Green" groups, not even Audubon, doing a whole lot to stop this, unless it's behind the scenes, too, and not visible to me. 

I drove to the second viewing area, which looks out on a different section of the complex and is more off the main road. This area is owned by New York State as a Wildlife Management Area, presumably (hopefully?) not threatened with solar development. Ironically, the anti-solar sign was outside the parking lot for this section.

There were vultures circling (I tried to get a photo and failed), an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) flycatching, and Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) singing. And then this man came down the path with his dog.

Meet Kurt (and Leo). He seemed agreeable enough and we started chatting and telling me how often he visits this site -- every afternoon. After a bit, I asked him flat out what he thought about the threatened solar development. I quickly learned two things: one, he is originally from Granville, and two, he is very against the solar project. He's lived right next to the grasslands for many years, although he is a carpenter, not a farmer, and remembers a time when there were many more owls, and wildlife officers used to net them from a roost behind his house and sometimes bring them inside his house to tag them. I told him my own connection to the site, having been involved in obtaining the Important Bird Area designation. 

Like Kurt, I am not against solar energy. Quite the contrary, I believe in the urgency of mitigating however much we can the effects of climate change and reducing -- someday eliminating, hopefully -- the use of fossil fuels. Birds and wildlife are also impacted by climate change, not only by habitat loss.

But this is not an either-or choice. We must have solar. And we must have habitat for birds and open land for humans. Only we must not have solar industrial complexes on habitats this rare and critical for wildlife and the greater ecosystem, not to mention in a place where people still live close to the land and actively farm. The Washington County Grasslands are the jewel of the Washington County, and the agricultural land is precious. (Many Amish live and farm in this region, too.) Both are irreplaceable. 

I have thought often about why we -- why I -- bothered to spend a wonderful part of my professional life working to establish "IBAs." And the reason is simple: We did it not for the sake of "designation," like handing out an Oscar trophy or a green-and-white sign, but to motivate members of Audubon and the general public to stand up and protect such places from threat and loss. 

If we can't save this truly Important Bird Area, then I might as well have wasted my career for nothing.

Sign at the Washington County Grasslands IBA.

(Note: This is my post for 2026-04-24. I will probably be unable to post tomorrow.)