MEMPHIS, Tenn. - March 6, 2017 - The North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) recognized two of its founding members in February. Dr. Scott Yaich, retiring chief scientist at Ducks Unlimited, and Dr. David Pashley, the American Bird Conservancy's vice president of conservation partnerships were recognized at the NABCI meeting in Washington, D.C.

"We wanted to recognize Scott and David, not just because both have been such strong supporters of NABCI over the years, but also because they are the only two remaining NABCI Committee members involved in its founding, and they have been on the Committee since its formation in 1999," said NABCI Co-Chair and Director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Gordon Myers.

The formation of the NABCI, which joined game and non-game, wetland and terrestrial bird conservation under one umbrella partnership was a groundbreaking idea. Despite being "a duck guy" the broader bird community had immense respect for Dr. Yaich's expertise and dedication to habitat conservation which benefited many bird species beyond waterfowl.

"If visionaries like Scott hadn't encouraged such a tremendous collaborative effort, I don't know that NABCI would exist today," Myers said.

More than 17 years later, NABCI brings together landbird, shorebird, waterbird and waterfowl communities to identify and address the most pressing issues in bird conservation.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13.8 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org.