I loved the chance to talk with Martha Jordan about migratory Trumpeter swans and other migratory wildfowl. I met Martha twenty years ago at one of her education talks. As a swan enthusiast, I have so much more to learn from her. In fact, there was so much to discuss, I turned my interview with her into two episodes.
Part 1 focuses on Martha’s work with swans, Trumpeter swan distribution and populations in North America, and a look at the history of swan monitoring and conservation in the northwest.
Part 2 will be out on November 28th!
“That’s what the birds were telling us.”
About Martha:
Martha Jordan is the founder and Executive Director of the NWSCA. She received her wildlife science degree from Oregon State University, Corvallis. Her interest in swans began in the late 1970s while working with collared snow geese in the Skagit Valley near Mt. Vernon, Washington. Martha has been a major contributor to state and federal agencies, documenting the status of Trumpeter Swans in the state of Washington, helping to protect key habitats and reduce mortality from lead poisoning and powerline collisions, and helping in development of the first Washington State section of the Pacific Flyway Trumpeter Swan Management Plan.
In the early 1980s she established the Washington Swan Working Group (later known as the Washington Swan Stewards), affiliated with The Trumpeter Swan Society. She chaired this group from its’ beginning until 2015 when she founded Northwest Swan Conservation Association. Martha served as a Board member of The Trumpeter Swan Society from 1985-2009. She left TTSS in 2015 to found NWSCA and brings her many decades of expertise to build strong partnerships that will promote the welfare and vitality of both Trumpeter and Tundra swans in Washington and throughout the northwest region.
