The National Audubon Society (NAS) is one of the largest and oldest conservation organizations in the world. Founded in New York City in February 1886, its original purpose was to protect American birds from destruction for the millinery trade. Many species of birds were being killed and sold as adornments to women's hat and bonnets, as well as other clothing. The first preservation battle taken on by the NAS was the snowy egret—a white, wading marshland bird—whose long plumes were in high demand. The group was instrumental in securing passage of the New York Bird Law in 1886, an act for the preservation of the state's avifauna.

The NAS was named after John James Audubon, the nineteenth-century artist and naturalist. Audubon was not a conservationist; he often killed dozens of birds to get a single individual that was right for his paintings. But he...