Audubon Advocacy
National and Regional
Conservation Advocacy
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Audubon Advocacy |
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Audubon advocacy is the driving force through which we focus our unique combina-tion of grassroots and professional firepower. Our national and regional conservation programs result from a dialogue we maintain with our chapters and state programs, a disciplined dialogue that seeks out conservation opportunities on which our special mix of volunteer advocacy and staff expertise can make the greatest impact. Audubon advocacy is based on sound science, and each of our national and regional programs commits us to stay the course until our goals are met.What follows is an accounting of the year's many successes in our current programs including Living Oceans, Forest Conservation, Upper Mississippi Conservation, National Wildlife Refuges, Population and Habitat, Endangered Species, and National Wetlands Conservation. We are proud to say that these successes are a tribute to our chapters and volunteers who make Audubon a major force.
Poor fisheries management and habitat destruction have reduced populations of many marine animals to perilous levels. As the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations warned not long ago, “Overfishing in general, and overcapacity of industrial fishing fleets in particular, threaten the sustainability of the world’s fisheries resources for present and future generations.” For these reasons, since 1993, Audubon’s Living Oceans program has worked to create a shift in cultural values and public attitudes, nurturing a new ethic of stewardship for the world’s oceans — because fish are wildlife, too. We are working to realize a vision of oceans and coastal habitats thriving with wildlife, and enriching people’s lives.The Year’s Achievements
• Responded to widespread public demand by publishing an updated version of Audubon’s Guide to Seafood, including a quick reference wallet card — with a goal of putting a card in every wallet.
• Won the prestigious Bronze Apple Award at the National Educational Media Networks Competition for our educational video, ’Footsteps in the Sea: Growing up in the Fisheries Crisis‘.
s Successfully championed several key provisions in the National Marine Fisheries Service’s final Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species — including schedules for re-building populations of large coastal sharks and swordfish.
• Advised the U.S. delegation at the Central and Western Pacific Fisheries Conference in Tokyo, where a new treaty was negotiated, governing highly migratory stocks (tuna, billfish, sharks) in most of the world’s largest oceans.
• Dr. Carl Safina, Audubon’s Vice President for Marine Conservation and founder of Living Oceans, received the Sully Award from the American Fisheries Society.Goal: To restore abundant wildlife in our oceans and along our coasts by focusing on fish and fishing.
Strategy: To provide the scientific and strategic analysis and the political legwork needed to bring about change in fisheries policy and management.
One-third of federally listed endangered species depend on forests as their primary habitat - as do hundreds of bird species. This is why, over the past two decades, Audubon has become a leading force in forest conservation - especially for the publicly owned National Forests.
More than half of the National Forests have been opened to logging and other development — only 30% remain unlogged, unroaded, and, unfortunately, unprotected. These are the nation’s Heritage Forests. They encompass some of the most important bird and wildlife habitat left on the continent. Yet the pristine and ecologically rich Heritage Forests remain vulnerable to development, and are, as a consequence, a special focus of our efforts.The Year’s Victories
• Launched the Heritage Forest Campaign in which Audubon is leading a coalition of 15 groups in a concerted effort to convince the Clinton-Gore Administration to institute permanent protection of roadless National Forest habitat of 1,000 acres or more. To date, we have generated over 200,000 supportive public contacts to the Administration, including 700 contacts by scientists; we have also commissioned an independent public opinion poll in which 70% of those polled supported saving Heritage Forests; 200 members of Congress have also come out in support of protecting the Heritage Forests.
• Collaborated with other groups to persuade federal and state agencies to study the environmental and economic impacts of logging for chip mills in National Forests in the Southeast.
• Supported U.S. Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck’s plan to reform the current policy by which local counties receive at least 25% of all timber sale revenues — a policy that increases local pressure to log National Forests.
• Joined with four Audubon chapters in a suit that led to a halt in Forest Service’s plans for three timber sales in southern Oregon — logging these stands would have severely impacted surrounding roadless forests.Goal: To build broad public support to restore and sustain the nation's forest ecosystems, with particular attention on gaining permanent protection of the nation's roadless Heritage Forests; to support reform of the U.S. Forest Service that reflects a commitment to conservation; to encourage better management of all the nation's forests, public and private.
Strategy: To educate our grassroots constituency and decision-makers in the Administration, Congress, and Forest Service about the economic and environmental benefits of wise forest management; to marshal our constituents in support of wise forest policy.
President Clinton Moves to Protect Heritage Forest Center As this Annual Report was going to press, President Clinton took a bold step toward establishing an im-portant conservation legacy. On October 13, 1999, he issued a formal directive to the Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service “to develop and propose regulations to provide appropriate long-term protection” for 40 million acres of roadless areas in the National Forests. This dramatic development was the direct result of the Heritage Forest Campaign which Audubon has managed with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The President specified protection of roadless parcels generally of 5,000 acres or more, referring to them as “vital havens for wildlife” and “some of the last, best, unprotected wildlands in America.” In the coming months, the Forest Service will deliver its proposals for fulfilling the President's directive.
The Upper Mississippi River and its watershed — spreading across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri — is home to 322 bird species, 241 fish species, and nearly 100 species of amphibians and reptiles, as well as critical habitat to millions of migrating waterfowl. The great river is also the nation’s central navigation artery. One hundred and fifty years of modification for navigation have taken a terrible toll on the river’s once rich and varied ecosystems, which include flood plains, woodland, and wetlands.
In its first year, Audubon’s new Upper Mississippi River Conservation Program began the ground-up task of building a constituency of River Stewards and a public consensus for the ecological value of the Mississippi, with the ultimate aim of restoring the nation’s pre-eminent “living river.”
The Year’s Progress
• Conducted the 1999 River Inspection Tour aboard the Audubon Ark, garnering high-profile media coverage for river conservation and hosting public education events, while visiting 38 communities along 325 miles of the Mississippi.
• Played a key role in Congressional reauthorization of the Environmental Management Program section of the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, which
will facilitate restoration and conservation projects
on the Mississippi.
• Organized Audubon chapters and other community groups to develop The Great River Birding Trail, in activities that included mapping, inventories of habitat and species, and community organizing, with the goal of creating a trail that will run from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
• Forged a partnership with the city of Wabasha, Minnesota, the Minnesota Audubon Council, and Eagle Watch, Inc to design and build the National Eagle Center at the upstream boundary of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge.
• Conducted 12 public workshops in conjunction with the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, attended by 360 River Stewards.
• Initiated work with the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee to develop an Atlas of Habitat Restoration and Protection Opportunities.Goal: To achieve a balance on the Upper Mississippi between its historic role as a “working river” and its ecological
heritage as a “living river.”Strategy: To educate the public and policymakers about the ecological significance of the river and its watershed; to take direct action to save habitat; to advocate for sound public policy.
The ecological importance of wetlands cannot be overstated. Marshes, bogs, swamps, glades, sloughs — wetlands in their many forms provide critical habitat to hundreds of species of birds and a wide variety of fish, amphibians, and mammals. And yet, the nation continues to lose thousands of wetland acres each year.
The tide is beginning to turn, however, as Audubon’s National Wetlands Conservation Program enlists thousands of volunteers who are protecting and restoring wetlands in a coordinated effort of community-based wetlands projects. In the past year, the number of chapters involved in Audubon at Work on Wetlands more than doubled to include 250 chapters working on more than 300 local wetlands rescue projects.
The Year’s Victories
• Led the way in mobilizing thousands of grassroots advocates to insist that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers significantly increase protections for wetlands in its new so-called “quick permits” for development projects.
• Helped secure funding for the President’s Clean Water Action Plan which includes important enhancements for wetlands protection and restoration, with a goal of a net gain of 1 million wetland acres by the year 2005.
• Worked to block a mitigation-banking bill in Congress that would have allowed development of wetlands without sufficient assurances of mitigation to offset wetland losses.
• Published and distributed workbook, Citizen Action for Wetlands: Strategies and Resources for Community-based Wetlands Conservation.
• Helped more than 30 Audubon chapters to obtain grants for local wetland acquisition, restoration, or stewardship projects.
• Actively supported Vice President Gore’s “Better America Bonds” initiative which would provide funding for community open-space bonds that could be used for wetlands protection and restoration.
Goal: To protect and restore the nation's wetlands, including a commitment through community-based work to save one million wetland acres.
Strategy: To empower community-based wetlands conservation and restoration; to create a national constituency and network of wetlands advocates; to implement flagship conservation projects for key wetlands systems.
To date, Audubon chapters and volunteers have protected 429,518 wetland acres involving more than 93,000 people in hundreds of wetlands projects...
National Wetlands Award to Audubon Volunteer The Environmental Law Institute gave its prestigious National Wetland Award this year to Dee Arntz of Seattle for her volunteer work in Audubon’s National Wetlands program. For two years, Dee has been the program’s “circuit rider,” traveling to 15 states and meeting with 50 Audubon chapters to assist with their wetlands projects and link them to the program network. Dee also co-founded Washington Wetlands Network at Seattle Audubon, which has grown into a statewide program.
In the U.S. and worldwide, rapid growth in human population is at the root of destruction and loss of wildlife habitat. If unchecked, the current and projected momentum of population growth will increase pressure on the world’s vital life support systems of air, water, and land, further imperiling habitat and species. Audubon’s Population and Habitat Progam occupies a unique and critically important niche in articulating population as an environmental issue, and in building a community-based network of advocates who speak out for local, national, and international policies to stabilize population.
The Year’s Victories
• Led the way in successfully advocating passage of the House foreign assistance bill, which included $25 million in U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund — reversing last year’s Congressional exclusion of UNFPA funds. Representative Carolyn Maloney timed introduction of the UNFPA bill with the Audubon Population and Habitat Progam’s ”Advocacy Days“ training for grassroots leaders, making it clear that she considered Audubon her strongest grassroots supporter.
• Played a key role in winning House approval of $385 million for international population assistance as part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
• Led U.S. delegation of NGOs at the International Conference on Population and Development’s 5-year or Cairo+5 review process. Worked to include linkage between population and the environment in the Cairo+5 report.
• Organized satellite television broadcast from a special Cairo+5 forum, which included participants from 8 countries — the broadcast was downlinked to 10 town meetings across the U.S.
• Produced and distributed ’People Pressure! A Toolkit for Population and Habitat Education and Advocacy‘.
• Conducted leadership training for 200 grassroots leaders in Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.
Goal: To conserve wildlife and habitat by bringing about sensible government policies on human population growth.
Strategy: To build a well-informed and articulate constituency of community-based leaders to support population policies from a conservation point of view; to educate the public and policy makers about the essential connections between human population growth and
habitat loss.
Audubon and conservationists everywhere celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act this year, cheered by the de-listing of the Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle, and the impending de- or down- listing of 22 other species. For a quarter century, the ESA has provided the world's strongest statutory protection of endangered wildlife. Indeed, with populations of nearly 60 percent of listed species either stable or growing, the ESA can boast numerous successes.
Unfortunately, nearly a third of the more than 1,100 listed species continue to decline, due in large part to a lack of Congressional support for funding an enforcement of the Act.The Year's Progress
• Released report, Ark to the Future, celebrating ESA's successes and outlining hopes for the future — distributed to campaign constituents and policy makers.
• Launched ‘On the Brink’ newsletter which is distributed to 5,000 campaign members and supporters.
• Established two internet campaign websites: ESA-News provides information and updates; ESA-Leader serves as the setting for discussion and exchange of information among campaign staff and volunteer leaders.Goal: To build support among citizens and policy makers for a stronger Endangered Species Act for the protection and recovery of species, coupled with on-the-ground efforts to aid listed and declining species by protecting key habitat.
Strategy: To build and mobilize a constituency for reauthorization of the ESA.
Audubon’s Wildlife Refuge Program exemplifies the power of people participating in conservation. In its second year, the Audubon Refuge Keepers program grew to a total of 75 ARK groups in 27 states, supporting 66 refuges.
Whether in constructing an observation tower overlooking habitat favored by Bald Eagles and waterfowl at Presquile NWR in Virginia, or in removing exotic vegetation from sensitive habitat at the Tijuana Slough NWR near San Diego, or in recruiting and training docents at the Buenos Aires NWR outside Tucson, ARK volunteers donated thousands of hours of on-the-ground support work for their local refuges. They also formed the core constituency of advocates for urgently needed funding and enhanced conservation policies, enabling the NWR system to better fulfill its mission of protecting wildlife and habitat.
In the past year, with an eye to sustaining community support for refuges well into the future, Audubon’s Refuge Program partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in building Earth Stewards. This new program makes use of refuges as “natural classrooms” for local schools, while also supporting schools in refuge stewardship projects.
The Year’s Victories
• Fostered enactment of NWR Volunteer and Community Partnership Act which encourages the establishment of support groups for refuges, including ARK groups.
• Helped ARK groups and Audubon chapters secure more than $25 million in funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for 19 refuges in 15 states.
• Led successful effort to gain an $18 million funding increase for NWR operations and maintenance projects.
• Blocked legislation that would carve a 30-mile gravel road through an officially designated Wilderness Area in the heart of Izembeck NWR.
• Helped pass legislation to clean-up severely polluted Salton Sea NWR.
• Negotiated commitments from private landowners adjacent to Red Rocks Lakes NWR, to develop conservation strategies for their lands.
• Expanded “Earth Stewards” in partnership with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and local schools, empowering neighborhood schools and their communities to become refuge stewards and to use refuges as “natural classrooms.”
• Created in concert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service an educational poster celebrating Refuge Week, which was distributed to 90,000 classrooms across the nation.
• Reached millions of Americans through public service ads in prominent magazines, which encouraged citizens to support refuges and learn more about them.Goal: To build a constituency of citizens and policy makers who will speak out on behalf of the National Wildlife Refuge System and work for stewardship and protection of its birds, wildlife, and habitat.
Strategy: Through the Audubon Refuge Keepers (ARK) program and Earth Stewards to build local constituencies of refuge supporters and advocates. To foster legislation and policies that enable the refuges to truly fulfill their mission.
“I was skeptic at first, but I have seen Earth Stewards convert kids from not caring about science and the environment, to making them enthusiastic participants in real-world issues.”
Jan Manganiello, teacher, Smithville Elementary School, Smithville NJ
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