Public Policy

Connect. Convey. Conserve.

Action. It is the natural outgrowth of our passion to conserve and protect the environment. Working together with Audubon's scientists and state leaders, the Public Policy Division seeks out conservation opportunities where our special mix of volunteer advocacy and staff expertise can make the greatest impact. The year 2000 was a year of many triumphs, thanks to Audubon staff and volunteers who worked to protect birds, other wildlife, and their habitats.

National Wildlife Refuges

Our national wildlife refuges are in a state of crisis. They face a backlog of more than $2 billion in operations and maintenance needs. Refuge managers are struggling to protect wildlife populations, restore endangered or declining species, and control threats such as water pollution and habitat loss. Audubon's policy staff fought tirelessly to reverse these trends through community outreach, education, and public policy advocacy.

Year 2000 Triumphs

• Expanded the Audubon Refuge Keepers Program (ARK) to a total of 78 ARK groups in 32 states, supporting 82 wildlife refuges.
• Launched an initiative to establish a National Wildlife Refuge Service in the Department of the Interior, to bring focused leadership and increased funding to the refuge system.
• Produced America's Hidden Lands, a report on the National Wildlife Refuge Service that has transformed the national debate surrounding the refuge system.
• Helped citizen groups and Audubon chapters secure $17 million to purchase wildlife habitat for 10 refuges in seven states.

Bird Conservation

Audubon is a proven, effective voice in the halls of government, educating lawmakers on the importance of protecting birds, other wildlife, and their habitats.

Year 2000 Triumphs

• Led a campaign to establish an 1,800-square-mile sanctuary in federal waters for horseshoe crabs and reduced the catch of horseshoe crabs, whose eggs are an important food source for migrating birds in Atlantic coast states.
• Worked to secure enactment of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, a law that allows federal dollars to match or leverage nonfederal dollars to fund partnership programs that will conserve bird habitat.
• Blocked the poisoning of two million blackbirds in North and South Dakota by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• Waged a successful effort on Capitol Hill to prevent the construction of a wind farm in prime California Condor habitat, protecting one of America's most endangered birds.

Population and Habitat

Population growth is arguably the most important environmental issue of our time. This year Audubon demonstrated leadership in this arena by partnering in an innovative new project called PLANet, a bold initiative to raise public awareness about the importance of international family planning and its contribution to the health and well-being of all life on earth.

Audubon strives to conserve wildlife and habitat by strengthening government policy and funding related to international family planning assistance programs. Our primary approach is to work with community-based leaders who understand the link between population growth and environment.

Year 2000 Triumphs

• Conducted leadership training for over 300 grassroots leaders in California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Washington, D.C.
• Produced and distributed a new Legislative Primer to 22,000 Audubon Population and Habitat Program network participants.
• Developed a new educational website for activists and other interested citizens (http://www.audubonpopulation.org/).
• Organized Youth Summits across the country to mark the Day of Six Billion. These events reached more than 3,000 students and teachers with information on population and environment.
• Developed educational materials on population, Sharing the Earth, for distribution to more than 400,000 students.

Upper Mississippi River

Audubon's Upper Mississippi River Program is building a constituency to protect and restore the ecological health of the river, from its headwaters in northern Minnesota down through Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. Our three-point action plan is to: (1) inform people of the river's ecological significance; (2) work with local communities and others to identify and protect habitat; and (3) influence public policy decisions that affect the health of the river and its watershed.

Environmental Education Advocacy Initiative Take action through education! That is the goal of Audubon's recently launched Environmental Education Advocacy Initiative. We are working with partner organizations to build a line of defense against increasing threats to environmental education on the state and national level. The initiative will also focus on improving environmental education, helping to ensure that students develop both better critical thinking skills and a more complete understanding of the natural world.

Year 2000 Triumphs

• Published A River That Works and a Working River, a full-color report that documents the river's ecological changes and outlines a plan for restoring the health of the river and its watershed.
• Educated an international audience about the plight of the river and the program's mission with a telecast of Audubon ARK's 1999 river tour on Discovery's Travel Channel.
• Inventoried, mapped, and prepared The Great River Birding Trail, a guide to the river's best birding sites from the headwaters of the Mississippi River down to Cairo, Illinois.
• Distributed grants (through the Environmental Protection Agency), scholarships, and technical assistance awards to 41 local organizations taking direct action to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff into the Upper Mississippi.

Heritage Forests

The Heritage Forests Campaign, a project initiated by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, is working to end new road construction, logging, and other habitat-destroying practices in 60 million acres of roadless national forest lands across the United States.

Year 2000 Triumphs

• Generated more than 350,000 e-mails, letters, postcards, and faxes urging the President to impose and extend a moratorium on the construction of new logging roads in our national forests. President Clinton praised this project.
• Elicited a record-breaking 1,500,000 e-mails, letters, postcards, and faxes urging the US Forest Service to end all road construction, logging, and mining in wild forest areas.
• Conducted more than 15 state and national polls revealing widespread support for roadless forest protection among every major demographic group.
• Built coalitions of scientists, clergy, and political leaders to advocate for wild forest protection