A publication of The Orianne Society 2018 Orianne Society Annual Report STAFF Christopher Jenkins Chief Executive Officer Gary Baldaeus Chief Financial Officer Heidi Hall Development Director Houston Chandler Director, Longleaf Savannas Initiative Brannon Knight Stewardship Coordinator 3 Message From Chris Ben Stegenga Research Assistant Mission 4 Jacob Barrett 5 Approach Field Operations Coordinator Kiley Briggs 6 History of Orianne Northeast Turtle Conservation Coordinator William Rodriguez 8 Longleaf Savannas Initiative Communications Coordinator Charli Palmer 14 Great Northern Forests Initiative Program Manager Patty Li 18 Appalachian Highlands Initiative Accountant 22 More to Come BOARD of 24 Who We Are 27 Financials Directors Dr. Bob Beard 28 Thank You Mr. Ross Caphton Mrs. Jane Fraser 30 How You Can Help Dr. Thomas Kaplan Dr. Thomas McKee Mr. William Natbony Dr. Lloyd Newberry Mr. Vance Serchuk Mr. Jack Whalen Dr. Chris Jenkins – CEO Mr. Gary Baldaeus – Treasurer Mrs. Heidi Hall - Secretary The Orianne Society Annual Report is produced, designed, and edited by the staff of The Orianne Society. The Orianne Society 11 Old Fruit Stand Lane,@OrianneSociety Tiger, GA 30576 706-224-1359 [email protected] www.OrianneSociety.org @OrianneSociety Wood Turtle with shell damage from a mower. Photo: Megan Jolly 2 ANNUAL REPORT Message from the CEO As I sit at my desk thinking about writing this letter there better managers I have worked with. Ben runs many of our is so much choose from. Should I write about the ten-year field crews and does a great deal of education outreach. He anniversary, the inspiring story of a young girl who’s desires works long hard days in the field, I have seen many people changed snake conservation forever, or the story of working with the ability to do this but where he excels is that he is one through a difficult, some say almost impossible task, of taking of the most inspiring educators. He has a skill and a passion a family foundation to a functioning public charity. All of those for teaching people about reptiles and amphibians that is have crossed my mind but I keep coming back to the people unmatched. in particular our staff. I am known to be a straight forward Charli Palmer is quiet but she is one of the most dependable, person and one who does not say much about the good job hard-working, and thoughtful people I have worked with. someone has done, instead always trying to get people to work Charli started working as a program manager focused primarily harder on those areas where they need improvement. So let on administration but she has never stopped advancing taking me take a few minutes and tell you about what really makes the on more and more accounting responsibilities. Without her Orianne Society great, our people. working behind the scenes Orianne would be in trouble. She There is no one who has given more to the success of Orianne works hard and always puts a smile on my face. than Heidi Hall. Heidi is educated as a wildlife biologist and Brannon Knight and Jacob Barrett live in South Georgia was working in Idaho when she helped me found the Orianne and form the backbone of our land management efforts in Society. In some ways, she gave up so much and that is not lost the Longleaf Savannas. Brannon is a big strong guy but also on me. She left her job as a biologist to become our Program has a very soft smile. He is currently away serving our country Manager, which is a position that focuses on the operations of in the Middle East. I cannot begin to express the level of the organization. She has generously changed her focus among respect and thanks I have for what Brannon is doing. Without administration, communications, fundraising, programs, him standing on the front lines none of us would have the education… whenever it was needed. She has and continues to opportunity to work on conservation. Jacob Barrett has come be one of the most critical things leading to Orianne’s success; into his own while Brannon has been away. Overnight, he she is a friend and a leader that despite being behind the scenes, needed to step into a difficult situation managing our land drives the organization forward. management efforts. Land management in the South is full Dirk Stevenson no longer works for the Orianne Society of forestry and fire, one wrong move and there can be serious but helped form the organization 11 years ago. I was a snake consequences. Jacob has shown the ability to lead and manage, ecologist that had a strong interest in nonprofit management he has a bright future. but Dirk was the expert in Indigo Snakes and sandhill I have known Kiley Briggs for almost 10 years. He is ecosystems. Dirk added a great deal of comic relief to our days a Vermonter through and through. Growing up in New and was critical in developing and implementing the inventory England as well, Kiley and I always connected around reptiles and monitoring programs we still run today. and amphibians in northern New England. Kiley first came Javan Bauder is perhaps the hardest working person I have to us as a technician tracking rattlesnakes. After a stint in ever met. I first met Javan when he was a freshman at the Texas getting his master’s degree he came back to us…and University of Idaho. It may sound strange but I almost think now being in the field was not his only strength, he learned of him as family, a family member that I have been able to help statistics, GIS, and improved his communications skills. Kiley mentor through his masters, doctorate, and as an employee. is now our Turtle Conservation Coordinator in the northeast. Javan has moved on now and the world is going to be much We have been through a great deal together and I have a ton better for it. He has a bright future and is going to make of confidence in his ability to do this job and respect for his significant contributions to wildlife conservation. passion to conserve reptiles and amphibians in a place most I have known Steve Spear for over 15 years. Steve started with people do not think about. Orianne as a postdoc and later became an employee playing a Over the years I have worked with so many great people but critical role in helping Orianne broaden our scope as we began it is those that I have worked with at the Orianne Society that transitioning to a public charity. The amazing thing is that he I will always remember most. We are a group of people who did all of that with very few resources. We would not have are fighting so hard against the odds to achieve the impossible, Appalachian Highlands or Great Northern Forests Initiatives conserving the animals everyone else has forgotten by building if it was not for Steve. Steve has moved on and is working as a an organization that is on their side. 2018 was a great year, our wildlife ecologist in Ohio, I have a great deal of respect for him ten year anniversary, but it is the people that made it happen and the work he is doing. that are important. Thank you to all of them. Houston Chandler and Ben Stegenga are the odd couple. They function so differently but I could not imagine them functioning apart. I say this jokingly but both are critical to the growth we have experienced in our Longleaf Savannas Initiative. Houston is very organized and a great research scientist. When Dirk left he took over the reins in our Longleaf Savannas Initiative. With almost no experience in management, Dr. Chris Jenkins in a very short amount of time he has become one of the CEO, The Orianne Society Dr. Christopher Jenkins. Photo: Heidi Hall ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG ANNUAL REPORT 3 The Orianne Society works to conserve MISSION critical ecosystems for imperiled reptiles and amphibians using science, applied conservation and education. Our programs are designed using a customized, science-based approach. Specifically, we work on multiple conservation targets within a series of landscapes. We first examine the threats to each conservation target and then determine the research and applied programs required to achieve conservation for each. There are many themes that are often used across our work. Our primary theme is that we conduct science that informs conservation and we use science to inform on-the-ground conservation actions. However, to maintain our scientific credibility, we do not engage in advocacy or policy, though our work may be used by other organizations to influence policy. 4 ANNUAL REPORT Spotted Salamander. Photo: Pete Oxford APPROACH Our efforts are divided into three initiatives that focus on declining landscapes and species. Longleaf Savannas Altamaha River Corridor Sandhill Snakes Freshwater Turtles Great Northern Forests Northeast Kingdom Freshwater Turtles Vernal Pools Appalachian Highlands Greater Smoky Mountains Hellbenders Timber Rattlesnakes ORIANNESOCIETY.ORG ANNUAL REPORT 5 Appalachian Highlands. Photo: Chris Jenkins History of Orianne The Orianne Society started as a request from a breeding center in Florida called the Orianne Center young girl to her father ten years ago. Dr. Thomas for Indigo Conservation. The facility is still run today Kaplan and his daughter, Orianne, were visiting a as a partnership between The Orianne Society and zoo, where Orianne had the opportunity to hold an Central Florida Zoo and is producing Indigo Snakes Eastern Indigo Snake. She asked her father if she that are being reintroduced in Alabama and Florida. could have one as a pet but he had to tell her that it Finally, Project Orianne launched range-wide research, was not possible because it was an endangered species.