Getting to Know our Conservation Award Recipient
Dr. Pepper Trail is a local hero in conservation, science, education, and art and was the 2024 recipient of Southern Oregon Land Conservancy’s (SOLC) Conservation Award. Below is a summary of some of his extraordinary contributions to our region and planet.
Pepper worked for over 20 years as the ornithology forensics specialist at the Clark R. Bavin National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Lab in Ashland. He is known world-wide for his expertise in bird identification and has been called “the best feather detective in the world”. He solved hundreds of black-market trafficking crimes involving the transport and killing of protected and endangered birds. He created the Feather Atlas of North American Birds as a resource for federal agents.
Pepper writes natural history and conservation articles for numerous publications such as High-Country News, Writers on the Range, Audubon Magazine, and the JPR's Jefferson Journal. His lovely poetry, often about the natural world, has been published in journals like Rattle, Atlanta Review, Kyoto Journal, and Cascadia Review. He has published poetry books including Cascade-Siskiyou Poems which was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book award. He co-wrote For the Love of Birds: Visions and Meditations with wildlife photographer Marie Read. Pepper’s biography on the Jefferson Journal website states: "His writing combines a scientist’s insights with deeply personal meditations on memory, mortality, and the human place in the natural world."
Pepper has been the long-term volunteer conservation chair for Rogue Valley Audubon Society (RVAS) and writes a monthly column for The Chat about bird conservation. He represents RVAS for the Southern Oregon Crossing Coalition and most recently was a speaker in promotional videos for a planned wildlife overcrossing over I-5 near the Siskiyou Summit. He has been a long-term advocate for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and serves on the board of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council. He also is board president of Playa and serves on the board of Rogue Advocates. Somehow, he even has time to conduct bumble bee surveys for many years as part of Bumble Bee Watch, a program of the Xerces Society.
Pepper's contributions to SOLC have been significant over the last decade from leading community hikes, presenting at pub talks, writing blogs, and sharing his photos for publications. He has collaborated with staff over the years on many topics including saving the Hedrick Middle School chimney, an important fall roost for migrating Vaux’s Swifts, advocating for the conservation of the City of Ashland Imperatrice land, and describing the importance of retaining snags and large logs during fuels reduction work.
Pepper has a Ph. D. from Cornell University, and did post-doctoral research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the California Academy of Science. Recently retired, Pepper continues to extensively volunteer, write, and leads natural history tours all around the world. One of our favorite activities Pepper does is impersonating Charles Darwin, donning a long white beard, and gives local presentations about Darwin and natural selection.
To learn more, check out this article: https://medium.com/fwslibrary/fws-scholar-pepper-trail-131714503e5c or www.audubon.org/magazine/winter-2016/behind-scenes-worlds-top-feather-detective.
