(editor'snote)

"Spring would not be spring without bird songs, any more than it would be spring without buds and flowers, and I only wish that besides protecting the songsters, the birds of the grove, the orchard, the garden, and the meadow, we could also protect the birds of the seashore and of the wilderness," wrote Theodore Roosevelt. The patron saint of the modern conservation movement could have pretty much picked any platform from which to prick the nation's conscience with these lofty sentiments. His choice: the March-April 1899 issue of Audubon, then known as Bird-Lore.

Over the past century, virtually every luminary in bird conservation has been featured in Audubon, has written for Audubon, or has worked for Audubon. Think of Roger Tory Peterson, who served as an art director, adviser, and contributor from the mid-1930s until his death in 1996; Rachel Carson, whose Silent Spring was excerpted here in 1962; or Peter Matthiessen, who wrote about endangered cranes in these pages in 1996. Today two of the birding world's titans, Kenn Kaufman and David Allen Sibley, are on our masthead. Kenn, a field editor, vets our bird stories and ideas. Bird paintings by David, a contributing editor, sometimes grace our features, including the birding trails pullout in our most recent issue.

As the nation's magazine of record in all bird-conservation matters, we take our responsibility very seriously. So when it came time to cover one of the Audubon Society's signature science efforts, the Important Bird Areas program, our staff pulled out all the stops. On the print side, senior editor Keith Kloor ventured out before dawn to follow citizen scientists in the Pennsylvania woods. Field editor Frank Graham Jr., a 35-year Audubon veteran, teamed up with managing editor Jerry Goodbody to showcase IBAs in our special pullout section. Once again, David Sibley helps make the magazine soar.

Identifying ecosystems of critical importance to birds is the first step toward saving them. Audubon's Washington, D.C., office has resolved to use IBAs as a guidepost for setting national policy. If history is made, you can count on Audubon to record it.

Postcript: Just as we went to press, Audubon's July 2001 Everglades issue was named the Gold Medal winner in Folio's 2002 Editorial Excellence Awards in the science category.