Jeffrey D. Brawn is an avian ecologist, Emeritus Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Professor of Sustainability at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a research associate with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Erica Fleishman is director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. She is a past editor-in-chief of the journal Conservation Biology. Curt Meine is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer. He serves as a senior fellow with the Aldo Leopold and the Center for Humans and Nature; as research associate with the International Crane Foundation; and associate adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.