By Deborah Weisberg, Pennsylvania Outdoor News 8/27/25
Pittsburgh — Chris Bason regards the crabbing and fishing he did with his father while growing up in Delaware as some of the most memorable and important times in his life.
“That’s how I got into conservation – through my family,” said Bason, 48, who also took up hunting for ducks, and eventually deer.
Bason’s lifelong affinity for nature shaped a 25-year career in conservation, leading to his appointment as the new executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. He takes the helm Sept. 2, following the retirement of longtime director Jim Bonner.
“I came to Audubon for the quality of the organization,” Bason said. “I saw the mission of education and excellence they’ve had, going back to 1916. They are clearly so loved and appreciated in their community, and they’re serving such an important role.”
Prior to Audubon, Bason served 10 years in executive leadership at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays and has expertise in renewable energy through a recent role with Ørsted, a global leader in offshore wind development.
He holds a master’s degree in biology from East Carolina University and a bachelors degree in agriculture from the University of Delaware.
During his time at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, Bason worked with government, nonprofit and academic stakeholders to revise and implement the organization’s comprehensive conservation and management plan, according to an Audubon news release.
He also oversaw a $1.1 million capital campaign, implemented a public education program, managed ecological-restoration initiatives for shorelines, forests and oyster reefs, and led a community effort to establish Delaware’s shellfish farming industry, the release said.
Bason said he’ll be doing the same sort of work at Audubon “with a slightly different frame and focus.”
“I have always worked to protect and restore important bird habitats with a focus on wetlands, forests and estuaries. What’s exciting now is to continue and expand that work with a focus on birds, and to bring even more people into conservation and environmental awareness.”
Audubon has identified habitat loss, climate change and human activity as among the greatest threats to bird diversity and numbers, with conservation funding, public awareness and collaboration among stakeholders the keys to stemming declines and restoring habitat health.
Bason looks forward to building upon partnerships Audubon has long maintained within the region’s broader environmental community, he said. “We’re all working together for similar purposes.”
With different user groups increasingly sharing resources, finding creative ways they can contribute equitably is an evolving process, he said.
As an example, Delaware, although structured differently than Pennsylvania, implemented a conservation access pass in 2017 that birders, hikers and other non-consumptive users of wildlife management areas – primarily maintained for hunting – must purchase to enter by vehicle. This enables them to share in the cost of habitat management and conservation in about 68,000 acres of protected land. Hunters receive a pass with their license.
“Our fish and wildlife agency didn’t have the money to manage those lands, and this solution was successful,” Bason said.
At the same time, ensuring free access to nature and securing more land for people to enjoy is “absolutely critical,” he said, noting that Audubon, land trusts, and other conservation groups share that mission.
Audubon of Western Pennsylvania operates four free nature reserves and parks, including Beechwood Farms, its headquarters near Pittsburgh.
Bason has fished the Susquehanna River and backpacked and skied in Pennsylvania. He looks forward to exploring the state’s storied trout streams and going steelheading in Erie this fall.
It will be a departure from the saltwater fishing for flounder, striped bass, speckled trout, trigger fish and tautog he is used to, he said. “I got into kayak fishing the coastal bays, the shallow coastal lagoons, 20 years ago and never looked back.”
Until his Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever died seven years ago, Bason was a waterfowl enthusiast, hunting buffleheads, black ducks, mallards, and brants.
“It was a good run,” he said. “Tollers have this special behavior with their tail called tolling, which lures duck into shooting range,” he said. “They’re a rare breed that is becoming more popular. They can make good family pets.”
Bason and his family spend time in Alaska. His wife, Archer Larned, a conservation biologist, grew up on the Kenai River.
“When we visit, Archer’s dad takes us out for salmon – silvers and reds – and halibut fishing out of Homer. Our girls love going out,” he said.
“It’s almost indescribable how beautiful Alaska is. Tracking the salmon migration drives home how ecosystems function and how vital connectivity is throughout the life cycle of the fish.”
Bason noted that he has always integrated birding with other outdoors activities and looks forward in his new position to connecting with other birders through Audubon’s many programs.
“People gravitate to birds. They love them and want to know more about them,” he said. “There’s a growing interest in bird conservation and a demand for information about how to get involved. We want to encourage people and show them how they can do that.”
One of Audubon’s most popular initiatives is its Certified Backyard Habitat Program, which works with property owners one on one to create native plant gardens.
Bason and his family maintained a native plant garden in Delaware, and they are eager to establish one at their new home in suburban Pittsburgh, Bason said.
“In Delaware, we redesigned our whole yard with natives – I think we had one non-native tree – and it’s unbelievable the difference it made. We threw in a bunch of milkweed and would routinely see three to four Monarch butterflies.”
When there are numbers of native backyard habitats, they add up and make a real difference, he said.
