The Illinois Ornithological Society (IOS) has been going strong for more than 25 years, long before I first raised my binoculars in the prairie state. IOS was founded by a group of like minded individuals who shared a common goal of wanting to document the status and distribution of our birds. At the time of its inception, IOS filled a niche, creating a statewide organization that could galvanize a broader birding community. The medium, which they chose to document bird life, we know now as the venerable, Meadowlark, a scientific journal that has provided engaging content, beautiful locally sourced artwork and photos, thorough seasonal field notes from contributors across the state, as well as avian research articles from IOS grants recipients.
The effort it takes to produce one issue of Meadowlark is vast. Countless hours are spent by a few dedicated volunteers chasing articles and photos, compiling seasonal data, and laying out the publication. Because of a limited number of resources and the substantial amount of time it takes to produce seasonal field notes from an explosion of data in recent years, we have fallen well behind our desired publishing schedule. On top of this, we recently accepted the resignation of our talented editor, Sheryl DeVore, along with field notes editors, David Johnson and Steve Bailey. All of them are long time volunteers with IOS and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their considerable efforts. We thank them for their service and will miss them greatly.
I would be lying if I said the future of the magazine were anything but uncertain at this time. Have you ever heard of the saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it?” Well, that has been the case for many years with IOS. We have continued to rely on a small pool of dedicated volunteers to produce this journal that are now no longer available. If we’d like to see the journal continue in its current form, we need to assemble a new staff of invigorated volunteers. IOS needs you to help us fill that void now. Until we have the right people on staff and a plan to go forward, I regret to tell you that MEADOWLARK PUBLISHING WILL BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
The IOS Board is hard at work evaluating all of our programs including Meadowlark and putting together plans to take this organization forward. Everything is on the table and we would love your input on how best to proceed. After all, this is a membership organization and every voice counts. To that end, we implore you to COMPLETE OUR MEMBERSHIP SURVEY. It will only take 5-10 minutes of your time and will provide us valuable insight.
In my next communication to you, I hope to have some resolution to this issue. In the meantime, if you have an interest in joining our team, contact us and get involved today. I promise that you won’t regret it.
Matthew Cvetas
IOS President