This year the National Wildlife Refuge Association celebrated Black Birders Week at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County, Maryland. Black Birders Week, which runs from May 29 to June 4 in 2022, is an annual celebration aimed at highlighting Black nature enthusiasts and increasing the visibility of Black birders, who face unique challenges and dangers when engaging in outdoor activities.
The event was hosted in collaboration with Harriet Tubman Tours, Delmarva Birding Weekends, and the Freedom Birders project and explored Harriet Tubman’s formative years paired with ecological interpretation along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway and in Blackwater NWR.
During the event the National Wildlife Refuge Associations’s Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy, Libby Marking, spoke with Tykee James, a cofounder of Black Birders Week and Government Affairs Coordinator at the National Audubon Society.
