Louis Bacon, an environmental philanthropist and avid outdoor sportsman, who has advocated for more than twenty years for conservation and protection of natural resources in the United States and abroad, last night received the Audubon Medal at the National Audubon Society Gala Dinner in New York. The National Audubon Society’s prestigious award recognizes outstanding conservation achievements. Mr. Bacon is only the 52nd person in the National Audubon Society’s 108-year history to receive the honor.
“It is a wonderful honor to receive the Audubon Medal from the National Audubon Society, which for more than a century has fought tirelessly to protect and preserve our natural resources and environment for future generations,” Mr. Bacon said. “Much like the conservationists who previously have received the Audubon Medal, including Stewart Udall, Rachel Carson and Ted Turner, I realize that this recognition cannot be a cause to rest, but a spur to continue our work. To protect natural habitat forever is a privilege I have been lucky to take part in, a privilege unlike any other.”
Left to right: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mayor Bloomberg, Louis Bacon
“My favorite memories growing up in North Carolina were hunting and fishing with my father and brothers. There, I developed a deep appreciation for protecting land and waterways. There, I learned outdoorsmanship,” Mr. Bacon added. “My namesake, Louis T. Moore, believed strongly in conservation. From him, I learned how important it was to protect and preserve those physical things that truly defined a community –– however tough the fight. I believe I inherited my passion, much as we inherit this land, from the generations of good stewards who came before me. As a nation, we owe a great deal to the National Audubon Society, one of our most distinguished and important environmental organizations, and all those who work to protect America’s open land and waterways.”
In awarding Mr. Bacon this Medal, the National Audubon Society recognized his decades of support for a multitude of environmental organizations that work to conserve land, water and wildlife across the nation and the globe. He was the founding sponsor of Waterkeeper Alliance, which replicated the successful Hudson Riverkeeper model, propelling a movement of over 200 collaborative organizations defending waterbodies across the world.
In the Bahamas, Mr. Bacon has led a campaign to preserve Clifton Point and create the Bahamas Clifton Heritage Park. Today, as a result of his work, Clifton Cay is a national park, protected forever on behalf of the people of the Bahamas as well as the birds and the wildlife.
On Long Island, he donated a conservation easement and developed a habitat restoration and management plan on Robins Island that will preserve the island as a haven for endangered shorebirds, including Least terns and Piping plover.
In North Carolina, he restored an extensive habitat of rice fields, marshes and long leaf pine forest at Orton Plantation, which in the early 20th century was home to the only known colony of the Great Egret, the Audubon’s iconic symbol. This effort increased the populations of egrets, herons and the endangered Red-cockaded woodpecker to the area.
In Colorado, he led an effort to stop the construction of industrial transmission lines across the San Luis Valley. There he partnered with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to create the longest protected wildlife corridor in the Lower 48 states by donating the 167,000-acre easement that launched Salazar’s Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area. His 260 square miles of Colorado landscape — an area 8 times larger than the island of Manhattan — is the largest conservation easement ever donated to the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service.
He supported the Nature Conservancy’s creation of a 50-acre safe haven for three protected bird species on Tern Island, New York, and he backed a campaign to protect the Everglades, key to wading birds like the Roseate spoonbill. He is a leading supporter of the National Audubon Society, its state field operations and numerous chapters.
In 1992, Mr. Bacon created the Moore Charitable Foundation to provide financial support to nonprofit organizations that work to preserve and protect wildlife habitat and improve water systems. Since then, the foundation has provided significant funding to local and national conservation and environmental protection agencies. Mr. Bacon is the founder and CEO of Moore Capital Management, LP and received his B.A. in American Literature from Middlebury College and his M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School.
