Audubon Newswire
Volume 3, Number 8
Friday, May 13, 2005

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. - Frank Lloyd Wright

In this issue:

  • America’s Forests and Wildlife Are Again In Jeopardy
  • Conservationists Worldwide Celebrate Rediscovery of Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
  • Audubon’s Centennial Site is Now Online
  • Audubon's 'Gardening for Life in Southeastern Pennsylvania' Now Available
  • Audubon of Florida Seeks Help for Roseate Spoonbill Study
  • Scholarships Are Still Available for Audubon Leadership Workshop at Hog Island Camp: August 14-20, 2005
  • Audubon Magazine Seeks Rooftop Gardens
  • Audubon At Home Needs Your Input!
  • PBS Series “Strange Days” Focus on Invasive Species

America’s Forests and Wildlife Are Again In Jeopardy

New York, NY, May 13, 2005 - Last week, the Administration announced a new rule that would strip protection from 60 million acres of America’s most pristine public forests, exposing them to logging, road building, and other development. This is in great contrast to announcements made last week regarding the Administration’s intention to protect the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a forest-dwelling bird once thought extinct that was rediscovered in a large tract of bottomland forest in Arkansas. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker and a variety of other woodpeckers require large tracts of unfragmented forest for their survival. Unwise forests practices in the past brought the Ivory-billed to the brink of extinction and now the Administration seems willing to take that risk again for many other species.

“To protect woodpeckers without protecting trees would be a neat trick,” said Bob Perciasepe, Chief Operating Officer of the National Audubon Society. “America was ready to unite around the inspiring story of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, and to support a broader conservation agenda for the nation’s birds and wildlife. Americans’ hopes have again been deflated by an Administration that consistently attacks the environment and has no intention of protecting America’s forests.”

For the entire release - http://www.audubon.org/news/press_releases/index.html.

Conservationists Worldwide Celebrate Rediscovery of Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

New York, NY, May 13, 2005 - On April 27, Audubon joined conservationists around the globe in celebrating the announcement that an Ivory-billed Woodpecker had been found in eastern Arkansas. Audubon and BirdLife International issued a joint press statement on the discovery.

In addition, numerous reporters from national and local newspapers, radio and network television interviewed Audubon Science and other staff about the significance of the discovery.

"All of us who share this planet owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the individuals and organizations, especially The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Nature Conservancy, whose tireless efforts led to the rediscovery of this bird," said John Flicker, president of the National Audubon Society. “Thanks to their dedication, we all have a second chance to save this magnificent woodpecker from extinction. As it inspires our hopes, this resilient Ivory-billed Woodpecker must also inspire our commitment to protect the habitat it needs for survival.”

For the entire release - http://www.audubon.org/news/press_releases/0405-IvoryBilledAnnouncement.html.

Audubon’s Centennial Site is Now Online

New York, NY, May 13, 2005 - Audubon's Centennial is now online, filled with informative content and images of the history, heroes, and happenings that make up our rich history over the past century. Also included is a decade-by-decade timeline, a kids art exhibit, and spotlights on accomplishments such as habitats preserved, significant species and IBAs that have put Audubon at the forefront of conservation. Visit http://www.audubon.org/centennial/intro.php for more information.

Audubon's 'Gardening for Life in Southeastern Pennsylvania' Now Available

Ivyland, PA, May 13, 2005 - National Audubon Society and the Bucks County Audubon Society are proud to announce the publication and availability of The Audubon At Home Guide to Gardening for Life in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The book represents a successful yearlong collaboration between National Audubon Society, Bucks County Audubon, an Audubon chapter, and Audubon Pennsylvania, the state office, which also contributed to the guide’s contents. It was made possible by Waste Management, whose “Think Greensm, Think Waste Management” aims to address conservation, energy, and land use issues throughout the country.

This colorful and attractive guide contains tips to assist people to deal with water issues, exotic invasive plants, geese, deer, and much more. The many plant lists provide a virtual shopping list for people who want include the best practices of native landscaping in their personal space. Unique to this guide is the Challenge/Champion format of the chapters - the “Challenge” chapters encourage readers to get active and use the guide for projects like creating healthier gardens; whereas the “Champion” chapters feature gardens that have successfully implemented practices featured in the guide.

The books are offered free to all Audubon related entities. For more information, please contact Steven Saffier at AudubonAtHome@audubon.org.

Audubon of Florida Seeks Help for Roseate Spoonbill Study

Miami, FL, May 13, 2005 - Audubon of Florida’s Tavernier Science Center and Florida Coastal Island Sanctuaries are banding roseate spoonbill chicks in Florida Bay and Tampa Bay in order to learn more about this mysterious wading bird. Scientists rely on volunteers’ reports of their sightings of these banded spoonbills to fuel what could be groundbreaking discoveries.

For the third year in a row, the Audubon Society of Florida is asking outdoor enthusiasts across the Southeast to think pink. The population of one of Florida’s most striking, rare, and unusual birds, the roseate spoonbill, is growing in numbers in Tampa Bay while sharply declining in Florida Bay, and researchers want to know why.

By banding spoonbill chicks in both Tampa and Florida Bay, Audubon hopes to answer questions not only about the causes of success and failure of the populations in these areas, but also about the basic biology of the roseate spoonbill. Public reports of banded spoonbills will help researchers learn at what age spoonbills raise their first chicks, where the birds go when not breeding and even what roseate spoonbills look like at different ages.

For more information of the roseate spoonbill banding programs and how you can become involved, visit http://www.audubonofflorida.org/science/spoonbills.htm.

Scholarships Are Still Available for Audubon Leadership Workshop at Hog Island Camp: August 14-20, 2005

Hog Island, ME, May 13, 2005 - The inaugural "Audubon Leadership Workshop" at the Hog Island Audubon Camp from August 14-20, 2005 still has openings for participants. Designed especially for active Chapter leaders, to build and deepen your expertise and ability to enhance Audubon’s effectiveness at all levels, workshop sessions will be led by top-level State and National Audubon program staff and thoroughly experienced Chapter staff and volunteers. Participants will enjoy a combination of daily workshops, special presentations, and lively discussions, as well as the traditional Maine field trips, serenity and fine food that are hallmarks of the Hog Island Camp. Daily sessions will include an in-depth focus on key Audubon conservation programs including IBAs, Audubon at Home, Centers and Education and citizen science, as well as State-Chapter partnership opportunities, fundraising, leadership development and training.

Due to the popularity of the Workshop, an additional number of special National scholarships of $200 per person have been added for registrants with a matching scholarship from her/his local Chapter. (A $250 tuition reduction by Maine Audubon is already included in the price to all workshop registrants.)

Dates: August 14-20, 2005
Session fee: Per participant without National/Chapter scholarship aid: $700
Session fee: Per participant with National Scholarship and Matching Chapter Scholarship: $300
To register: Call Maine Audubon’s registrar, Linda Ledoux, toll free at 888/325-5261 x215.

For more information on Audubon Camps and Workshops - http://www.audubon.org/educate/cw/index.php.

Audubon Magazine Seeks Rooftop Gardens

New York, NY, May 13, 2005 - For a future story, AUDUBON Magazine is looking for folks who have turned the roofs above their heads into oases in the sky. Do you have or know of a rooftop garden that features native plants, providing habitat for birds? If you have information to share, please contact Rene Ebersole, Senior Editor, Audubon at rebersole@audubon.org.

Audubon At Home Needs Your Input!

Ivyland, PA, May 13, 2005 - Audubon At Home provides the tools and resources that help individuals create healthy habitats for birds and other wildlife in their backyards, neighborhoods and communities. This summer, thanks to generous funding from NRCS, we are expanding our resources to include a series of poster-brochures encouraging people to manage their personal landscapes for birds, bats, and butterflies Each of these brochure will focus on conservation actions that will make a difference in a specific kind of landscape, including:

· Apartments-activities that people can do when they don’t have a large area to landscape for wildlife
· Yards-including how homeowners can go beyond merely feeding and housing common bird species and start to focus on Watch List species and other birds of local concern.
· Ranchettes-additional efforts owners of larger properties can undertake, especially to help species impacted by the break up of former working lands.
· Schoolyards-ways schools, students, and parent groups can work together to improve the habitat value of their school grounds.
· Neighborhoods-how people can cooperate with their neighbors to landscape for wildlife on a larger scale.

We invite comments and suggestions for “best practices” ideas that we can include in this series of brochures. If you have ideas, experience, or suggestions for these brochures, please contact Rob Fergus, Audubon At Home Science Coordinator, 545 Almshouse Rd, Ivyland, PA 18974, rfergus@audubon.org. Please send comments by May 31, 2005.

PBS Series “Strange Days” Focus on Invasive Species

New York, NY, May 13, 2005 - On April 20, PBS premiered an exciting new series - National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth. The program, hosted by actor Edward Norton, is a new age of exploration of the strange happenings in nature all over the globe.

The first installment of the four-part series, Invaders, which involved Audubon’s Citizen Science invasives program, discusses the worldwide phenomenon of plants and animals silently finding their way into places where they don't belong. These invasive species have enormous powers to spread disease, decimate entire habitats, and even devour our buildings.

For more program information, please visit http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/index_flash.html.