Photo: Glossy Ibis, Peter Brannon/Audubon Photography Awards
Libby Lyons
I have several times written how fortunate ASNV is to benefit from the dedication, knowledge, and generosity of our volunteers. The importance and lasting impact of volunteer service was driven home when I learned of the recent death of Dr. William R. Stott, known to his friends as Bill.
For those who may not have known Bill, he was an expert birdwatcher and student of nature. He was one of the founders of Fairfax Audubon Society, ASNV’s predecessor organization, as well as Fairfax Audubon’s adult education program. The LEAPP program, which stands for Learn, Enjoy, Appreciate, Preserve and Protect, began with Bill’s 12-week, college-level ornithology class. LEAPP expanded from there to classes in botany, biology, geology, and other subjects. A long-time friend, Carol Hadlock, who along with her husband Walter received her LEAPP Master Naturalist Certificate in 2003, writes that his course taught what “makes a bird a bird and what a bird needs to survive,” including “how all aspects of nature are interconnected.”
Bill Stott had the vision to understand that the LEAPP program addressed an important need, to have trained naturalists among the citizenry. Jim Waggener, former President of Fairfax Audubon and ASNV, recalled that the impact of LEAPP was fantastic because its many graduates provided expertise dedicated to local conservation. The same need was recognized by others across the state, resulting in 2005 in the Virginia Master Naturalist program, a program that eventually replaced LEAPP.
Bombay Hook field trip in 2001, Laura McDonald
Laura McDonald remembers Bill as a “passionate educator” and philanthropist who taught two ornithology classes for the LEAPP program and, with his late wife Peggy, founded the Deo Gratias Foundation, supporting medical and education programs in the Philippines, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Laura writes that his courses were “poetry,” and that in two hours a week “he was able to transport students through space and time.” He led field trips to Huntley Meadows, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and Horsehead Wetland Center. On a memorable, sunup-to-sundown field trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, he put the group on a breathtaking flock of Glossy Ibis in full breeding plumage, and rounded out the day with a tally of 101 species. Everyone looks very satisfied in the group photo. Laura also writes that of all the lessons she learned from Bill, “the most important was to be an ethical birder and the importance of volunteerism.” He accepted no payment for the courses he taught, so all fees benefited Fairfax Audubon.
Greg Fleming recalls Bill as “an advisor, mentor and a great friend,” who will be missed by many. He worked with Bill on several projects for ASNV, including revising his original Checklist of Birds of the Mid-Atlantic Area, the ornithology class, “A Way of Knowing,” and a class on how to become a field trip leader. Bill excelled as a field trip leader but also made sure ASNV had a new crop of trip leaders. Greg recalls that Bill was “passionate about not missing anything and getting it right,” and “making sure people had opportunities to get involved and learn about birds and other wildlife and their habitat.” Greg also writes, “Bill was always interested in what I was doing and encouraged me to keep working with birds and educating people about them, and I have.” And, if all those contributions were not enough, Greg recalls that Bill also was an artist who designed our first Pileated Woodpecker logo.
Bill Stott was just one of the many generous volunteers that ASNV has relied on for its continuing work to educate and engage northern Virginians in the love of and respect for birds and the world they inhabit. His vision and dedication set a high bar, and the impact of his teaching and mentoring are evident as his students, and his students’ students, continue to help ASNV in its mission.