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Monday, October 16, 2017

Be good to our birds

Former Department of Interior official to speak at URI about protecting coastal birds, Oct. 18

 animals nature flight seagulls GIFKaren Hyun, director of water and coastal policy at the National Audubon Society, will discuss “Audubon’s Coast Strategy: Saving Marine and Coastal Birds and the Places They Need” in a lecture at the University of Rhode Island on Oct. 18.

The program, free and open to the public, will take place at the URI Coastal Institute, room 100, in Kingston beginning at 1:30 p.m.

A former deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Hyun leads Audubon’s efforts to advance policies at the state and federal level in support of the organization’s water and coasts conservation strategies.


“I remember that Karen completed an extremely well-written term paper for my class, and she appeared in my office later when it had been published,” recalled URI Marine Affairs Professor Richard Burroughs, who organized the lecture. 

“In retrospect I should have known at that moment that Karen was destined to make very important contributions in marine affairs through her work in Washington.”

While at Interior, Hyun implemented new landscape-scale approaches to conservation, increased youth engagement in the outdoors, and helped ensure a successful centennial celebration for the National Park Service. 

She also served in leadership positions at the Department of Commerce and on the staff of the House Natural Resources Committee, where she focused on fisheries management and endangered species protection.

She earned a doctorate in marine affairs at URI in 2008 after writing a dissertation on ecosystem-based management in the Colorado River delta.

For more information about the lecture, contact Richard Burroughs at 401-874-4045 or rburroughs@uri.edu.