Nature Forward is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation and education. The organization holds two properties in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area as wildlife sanctuaries, one in Virginia along with its headquarters in Maryland. Until 1959, the organization was known as the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia. In October 2022. the membership voted to change the name of the organization from Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States, choosing the new name Nature Forward.

Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey was an American ornithologist, birdwatcher, and nature writer. Between 1890 and 1939, she published a series of field guides on North American bird life. These guides were often written with amateur birdwatchers in mind, leading to the popularity of the birding movement.