Catching Up with Erin Katzner, Executive Director at the Carolina Raptor Center

Founded in 1981, the Carolina Raptor Center has grown from a rehabilitation services provider for injured birds of prey to a one-of-a-kind educational and conservation resource. Home to more than 70 ambassador birds, and hundreds more that are treated in its animal hospital, the Center hosts tens of thousands of visitors each year. That number is sure to bloom thanks to a partnership with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation to build a new, state-of-the-art nature center called Quest.

The Center recently named Erin Katzner as its new executive director. Katnzer has a literal lifetime of experience in the nonprofit animal welfare space, most recently as Vice President of Education and Outreach at The Peregrine Fund. Katzner was gracious enough to spend a few moments with us fresh off her move from Idaho to North Carolina.

Partners for Parks: Welcome to North Carolina and thank you for taking the time with us today! So how’s the adjustment back to East Coast from being out there in Boise?

Erin Katzner, Executive Director, Carolina Raptor Center: It is fantastic. So I’m so happy to be back here on this side of the country. I grew up in Ohio and I spent some time in Pittsburgh, then West Virginia. So being back in what I consider my home, near the Appalachians, it’s really nice to be back here. I’ve always loved the state of North Carolina. Growing up, I went to the Outer Banks almost every other year with my family, so I’ve always had a really warm spot in my heart for North Carolina. And I always thought this is the place that I’d want to live. So I just feel really lucky that that dream is coming true. And here I am!

P4P: You’ve spent many years in the animal welfare and education space. How did that happen, and what inspired you to do so?

Erin Katzner: I was really lucky when I was 12 years old, my mom signed me up to be a teenage volunteer at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. Oh, wow. I fell in love with connecting people to nature and conservation issues and helping inspire people to protect wildlife and wild places. And so I’ve been hooked ever since. So I’ve been doing this since I was 12, which I think makes it about 32 years now that I’ve been working with animals or conservation organizations.

I just love it. Especially with birds and birds of prey, in particular, you know. They’re a type of animal that people see in their backyards, that they see when they’re driving down the highway. But you can work with them and earn their trust and develop a relationship with them where they’ll actually let you get close to them and they’ll let you connect them to audiences.

And I see people’s attitudes towards wildlife change when they have that kind of personal connection. And that’s why I’ve devoted my life to this. It’s really 100% my passion for connecting people with raptors.

P4P: And going back to what you said about being 12 years old… you’re at the Columbus Zoo. Every little kid, unless they’ve had some sort of traumatic experience with an animal, loves animals. How did you know this was going to be your path?

Erin Katzner: It was the first time I ever held a bird of prey, and it was just a little American Kestrel, which was the smallest member of the Falcon family here in the US, and one of the trainers let me hold one, and it was life-changing for me. It’s what we call a defining moment.

Yeah, it’s a moment in time that changes your perspective. And I just knew from that moment on that this is what I wanted to do. And fortunately, I had a lot of really great mentors at both the Columbus Zoo and, you know, moving along it throughout my career path. I was lucky enough to get to work with Jack Hanna and the very first time I was ever on television it was with Jack Hanna.

And, you know, I had a lot of really great role models and mentors to look up to and to learn from. And so I went on and did a Bachelors Degree in Wildlife Management at the Ohio State University. And then, later on, I moved into managing people more because if you’re really training animals, they’ll move you up into a management position. (laughs)

But that’s not the same thing. So I went back to school and did a master’s degree in nonprofit administration at the University of Pittsburgh. And it was a really great opportunity for me to become a leader within the organizations where I worked. And so that’s how I ended up coming to this point where I’m leading an organization, which is never something that I really had anticipated I would do.

I have always liked being in a support role and helping an organization grow but the Carolina Raptor Center has such a great reputation across the country. And I knew a number of good staff here from working with them in professional organizations, and I knew how passionate they are and how motivated they are, and I just couldn’t turn down the possibility of working with this team.

P4P: So how did you know that you’d be a good fit?

Erin Katzner: A lot of what the hiring team was looking for were things that I had had the fortune of doing in the past. I’ve run a couple of capital campaign loans and managed construction projects at multiple organizations, and that’s going to be a big part of what we’re doing here. I also have a lot of background in creating visitor experiences and engaging people with raptors and new ways, so looking at all the opportunities that are here and all the potential for growth, I saw that I could make an impact.

P4P: Regarding impact, why is it important for kids, or for that matter for people of all ages, to learn more about nature and their natural world? And for that matter, how important is it for a community to have a resource like the Raptor Center?

Erin Katzner: The Raptor Center really is a one-of-a-kind place. And there are a few other places where you can go to see birds of prey around the country, but none quite to the standard that the Carolina Raptor Center is on. And so having this here in Charlotte’s backyard, having this be part of the community is really unique and really something that I hope people in the area feel proud of.

To have this resource and to have this opportunity to connect with nature in this way, and to have the partnership with Mecklenburg County Parks, really takes it to the next level, because when you come to visit the Carolina Raptor Center, you’re not just seeing birds of prey, but you’re actually out walking a trail in the woods discovering birds of prey. You can hear wild raptors occasionally calling from trees above.

You know, there’s lots of wildlife around and the rehabilitation side of the center is really it’s a state-of-the-art facility. The staff that are here are experts in their field. People come from all over to be trained by our rehabilitation staff. So that’s something that is unique that I hope the community takes pride in.

P4P: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing facilities like this?

Erin Katzner: Well, you know, I think that one of the things that is sort of prevalent among humanity right now, especially here in the United States, is sort of this connection with nature. A lot of people don’t get to spend time outside. You know, I grew up playing outside and catching crawdads and tadpoles and stuff like that. And I don’t think as many kids get those experiences today.

And so, yeah, I hope that we can be a resource for that. We also are looking to really help children understand how they can get involved in STEM learning through the lens of raptor ecology. There are few things in the world that get kids as excited as birds of prey, and once we can help them understand that they can have jobs in the real world when they grow up that have positive impacts not just on birds of prey, but on all wildlife and all wild places, and that these connections that they can make through a job and engineering or technology or arts can really have a significant impact on our environment and can help make the world a better place and help them feel more fulfilled in their work. And so I hope that the Raptors on our can become a real center for STEM learning as we move forward.

P4P: So what are your goals in your first year here?

Erin Katzner: One of the things that is really important to me moving forward in the first year is just to really get the word out about how great of a facility this is. You know, in a perfect world, everybody in Charlotte would have visited the Carolina Raptor Center sometime in the past year. So really building up the organization to be a place that is a hub of activity for Charlotte and providing fun, engaging events that people want to come to and learn more about birds of prey, engage with nature, and feel inspired to go home and do something in their daily lives to help wildlife and wild places right here in their own home.

P4P: And what do you hope your legacy will be, not just here, but over your life’s work?

Erin Katzner: I really hope that I have an impact on the conservation of birds of prey in our world. And I think that there are multiple ways to achieve that goal. You know, boots on the ground for conservation is one way, to me. The critical component is education and connecting with people in the communities that share the same resources as birds of prey.

If we can do that, which, as you know, the Raptor Center is poised to do and do as well, if not better than anywhere else, then we can succeed in protecting wildlife. I think that so often people feel like conservation is hopeless. Or that, you know, you think about climate change and how are we going to overcome something so huge. But the reality is that we have saved species in the past and we have saved habitats, and we do know how to do that. And if it’s a problem that we have created, the great thing about that is that we have the power to change it. We have the power to solve that problem. We just need more people to think from that perspective.

We need to be engaging with industry, with governments, and with nonprofits. All of us need to be working together to achieve those goals. And when we do work together, we are successful. We’ve seen it time and time again. The Carolina Raptor Center is a great place to achieve some of those goals, and I hope that we can be a leader in our community in helping to make it a better place to live.

P4P: Thank you so much for your time! And again, welcome to Charlotte and we look forward to seeing you soon at the Carolina Raptor Center.

Erin Katzner: My pleasure! I hope everyone takes this article as an invitation to come out and visit us. We would love to show you around and knock your socks off when they see how cool raptors are.

Learn more about the Carolina Raptor Center at http://www.carolinaraptorcenter.org