Noel J. Cutright | Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame

1943 – 2013
Inducted 2016

“In a state recognized for its conservation leadership, Noel worked tirelessly both professionally and in his private life on restoring, improving and protecting our ecosystem at both a global and local level.” — Wisconsin Society for Ornithology

Noel J. Cutright was a well-known and beloved Wisconsin ornithologist who devoted his life to bird conservation and citizen science. In a State recognized for its conservation leadership, Dr Cutright worked tirelessly both professionally and in his private life to help restore, improve and protect our ecosystems at both a global and local level.

He was born and grew up in southern Ohio on Fort Hill State Memorial, an Ohio State Historical Society property near Sinking Spring. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and was awarded Masters and PhD degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Noel lived for 36 years in rural Ozaukee County near the Cedarburg Bog with wife Kate.

Cutright worked for We Energies as a senior terrestrial ecologist for 29 years until he retired in 2006, and then as emeritus staffer until his death. According to executives at We Energies, throughout his career, Noel was the environmental conscience of the organization.

He was a stalwart supporter and critical thinker in the development of state management plans to restore populations of osprey, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, trumpeter swans and bluebirds. He was instrumental in moving restoration programs forward, often urging program leaders to think “outside the box” in eliciting private and public support. He was a vocal supporter of the State Natural Areas Program because he recognized that it offered high-quality refuges for migratory and breeding songbirds, as well as a direct link for people of Wisconsin to their natural heritage.

As a long-time advisor to WDNR and USFW on the breeding birds, Dr Cutright was one of the leaders in establishing the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative to address the full spectrum of bird conservation in Wisconsin. He helped promote the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, served on the Steering Committee, and was senior editor of the landmark Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin published in 2006. He also served on the Steering Committee for the second Atlas. He tirelessly promoted and participated in the Federal Breeding Bird Survey for 30+ years.

Twice president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, he founded Riveredge Bird Club in Newburg, Wisconsin and the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory in Belgium, Wisconsin. He was instrumental in creating Bird City Wisconsin which has recognized over 100 communities statewide.

Noel helped launch the Milwaukee County Avian Migration Monitoring Partnership. In his final years, he successfully led the first effort in the nation to convert a former golf course into a neotropical migratory bird preserve.

Best known for his extensive work in ornithology, he was involved in other environmental efforts throughout the energy industry as well as state and local conservation. Perhaps most importantly, he leaves a legacy as an educator, with a conservation ethic that was always up-front and conveyed through his vast knowledge and deep love of the natural world. He was well-known to State residents as one of the voices on “The Larry Meiller Show” on Wisconsin Public Radio in a holiday call-in program about birds.

According to Jim Reinartz, Director of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Field Station in Saukville, “Noel’s was consistently the voice to remind the organizations that their primary mission was to preserve their natural assets.”

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