[chapter-communicator] Audubon Newswire: Volume 5, Number 5
- From: "TENNEFOSS, Lynn" <ltennefoss@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <chapter-communicator@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 12:10:22 -0500
Audubon Newswire - "News on Audubon Happenings"
Volume 5, Number 5
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Circulation: 4,700
The peace of nature and of the innocent creatures of God seems to be secure and
deep, only so long as the presence of man and his restless and unquiet spirit
are not there to trouble its sanctity. -- Tomas De Quincey
Please Note: The Ask Audubon section is our newest addition to Newswire. You
can submit your questions about consumer choices and how they affect the
environment to Cynthia Blayer at cblayer@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:cblayer@xxxxxxxxxxx>. Please continue to send your news and updates to
Sally Montgomery at smontgomery@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:smontgomery@xxxxxxxxxxx>.
In this Issue:
-- Great Backyard Bird Count is a Record-Breaker!!
-- California Condor to Benefit from State's First Voluntary Discontinuance of
the Use of Lead Ammunition
-- Audubon North Carolina Condemns Navy's New Landing Field Study
-- Audubon Ohio Urges Legislature to Follow Minnesota's Lead and Make
Protection of the Great Lakes a Top Priority
-- Audubon Connecticut Joins Clean Water Investment Coalition in Demanding for
Restoration of Funding for Clean-Water Projects
-- Audubon Texas Hosts Richard Louv, Author of 'No Child Left Inside' and
Founder of The Children and Nature Institute
-- Audubon Vermont Introduces Birding Podcasts
Announcements:
-- The Birdhouse Network: A Decade of Dedication
Ask Audubon:
-- In the winter, is it safe to use salt to melt icy sidewalks and driveways?
Is there a greener solution?
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Great Backyard Bird Count is a Record-Breaker!!
New York, NY, March 1, 2007 - Participants in this year's count have broken an
all-time record for the number of bird checklists submitted! Audubon thanks
everyone who made this a record-breaking year.
Learn more about the count and this year's results at
<http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/>.
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California Condor to Benefit from State's First Voluntary Discontinuance of the
Use of Lead Ammunition
Los Angeles, CA, March 1, 2007 - Tejon Ranch Company joined with the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service and Audubon California to further protect the California
Condor by announcing it would discontinue the use of lead hunting ammunition on
Tejon Ranch, the 270,000-acre privately-owned ranch in California's Tehachapi
Mountains that is home to the state's largest private hunting program.
While tremendous progress has been made in bringing the California Condor back
from the brink of extinction, poisoning from lead ammunition is regarded as the
single greatest threat to the continued recovery of the species. Lead
ammunition poses a threat to the condors when the birds eat carrion containing
the bullet fragments. This move by Tejon Ranch is the latest effort by the
Ranch to help protect the condor, which has historically used portions of Tejon
Ranch for foraging and roosting.
Effective with the 2008 hunting season, only non-lead ammunition will be
allowed on Tejon Ranch, making it the first major private wildlife management
program in the state to voluntarily require the use of non-lead ammunition. It
covers all lead ammunition used in hunting. Tejon Ranch Company worked
closely with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish &
Game, Audubon California and several hunting and environmental organizations to
design the new regulation.
To learn more about Tejon Ranch, please visit <http://www.tejonranch.com>.
To learn more about Audubon California, please visit
<http://www.ca.audubon.org/index.html>.
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Audubon North Carolina Condemns Navy's New Landing Field Study
Chapel Hill, NC, March 1, 2007 - The U.S. Navy has once again proposed a jet
landing field for land right next to the globally significant Pocosin Lakes
National Wildlife Refuge. Audubon North Carolina finds its new study deeply
flawed.
To read Audubon North Carolina Executive Director Chris Canfield's statement on
the study, please visit
<http://www.ncaudubon.org/news_Feb23rd2007_CCstatement-draftSEIS.html>. The
study itself can be seen at <http://www.efaircraft.ene.com/>.
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Audubon Ohio Urges Legislature to Follow Minnesota's Lead and Make Protection
of the Great Lakes a Top Priority
Columbus, OH, March 1, 2007 -- Audubon Ohio, the League of Ohio Sportsmen, the
National Wildlife Federation, Ohio Greenways, and the Ohio Environmental
Council congratulated the Minnesota legislature for making the Great Lakes a
priority this year and urged Governor Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly
to make the Great Lakes a top priority by taking Minnesota's lead and ratifying
the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.
Minnesota is the first state whose legislature has voted to ratify the Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.
The Great Lakes governors endorsed the Compact in December 2005. Four states -
Ohio, New York, Illinois, and Michigan - introduced legislation in 2006 to
adopt the Compact. The New York Assembly and Ohio House succeeded in passing
the Compact, but the legislation stalled in both states' Senates. So far in
2007, Minnesota, Indiana, and Illinois have introduced similar legislation.
Each Great Lakes state is expected to introduce legislation before the year
ends.
To learn more about Audubon Ohio and its efforts to promote Great Lakes
conservation, please visit <http://www.audubon.org/chapter/oh/oh/>.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact is available
at
<http://www.cglg.org/projects/water/docs/12-13-05/Great_Lakes-St_Lawrence_River_Basin_Water_Resources_Compact.pdf>.
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Audubon Connecticut Joins Clean Water Investment Coalition in Demanding for
Restoration of Funding for Clean-Water Projects
Southbury, CT, March 1, 2007 -- Audubon Connecticut, a member of the Clean
Water Investment Coalition, joined with lawmakers, business leaders, and other
environmentalists as they appealed to the General Assembly to restore funding
for the state's Clean Water Fund.
The Clean Water Fund is a key step in preserving the health of the Long Island
Sound, as well as Connecticut's rivers, streams and lakes, and Audubon supports
the Coalition's appeal for a $157 million re-investment in the fund.
Connecticut's Clean Water Fund has made possible great progress over the past
30 years, but the state is still far from reaching the goal of sewage-free
waters for fishing, swimming and boating. Further delay in restoring funds for
this program only adds to the ultimate cost. With each passing month, it is
harder to get back on track and the cost of meeting goals gets higher and
higher.
Audubon Connecticut urges support of full funding for the Clean Water Fund and
re-commit to the future of clean water in Connecticut.
To learn more about Audubon Connecticut and their work advocating for
clean-water projects, please visit <http://ct.audubon.org/index.html>.
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Audubon Texas Hosts Richard Louv, Author of 'No Child Left Inside' and Founder
of The Children and Nature Institute
Dallas, TX, March 1, 2007 - Richard Louv, whose book "Last Child in the Woods:
Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder" has sparked a nationwide
movement to reconnect children and nature, paid a visit to the metroplex on
February 28 and March 1.
Audubon Texas, currently developing two new Audubon Centers that will bring
opportunities for area children and their families to connect with nature and
learn about Texas' rich natural history, hosted Louv. The two centers, the
Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas and the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center in
Cedar Hill, are both slated to open in 2008.
Louv spoke with local educators, community leaders and the general public at a
series of events in Dallas and Cedar Hill. In his influential work about the
growing divide between children and the outdoors, the child advocacy expert
directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation-he
calls it nature-deficit disorder -to some of the most disturbing childhood
trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
Louv's research suggests that providing new opportunities for children to
connect with nature can mitigate or reverse some of these trends.
To learn more about Audubon Texas, please visit
<http://www.tx.audubon.org/index.html>.
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Audubon Vermont Introduces Birding Podcasts
Huntington, VT, March 1, 2007 - Segments from WMRW 95.1 FM's' "Beeks - A
Birding Geeks Radio Delight," an eclectic talk show focusing on bird watching
and bird conservation issues in Vermont are now available as podcasts on
Audubon Vermont's web site.
The show, which is written, produced and hosted by Audubon Vermont's
conservation education coordinator, Bridget Butler, features segments including
local and state-wide bird sightings, "Now Hear This!," a bird song quiz for
your ears, and interviews with individuals from the birding community. It also
features rotating segments like "Beeks in the News," "Winter Survivor," and
"Beeks in Action."
To listen to the podcasts or learn more about the radio show, please visit
<http://vt.audubon.org> as well as its host radio station at
<http://www.wmrw.org/>.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The Birdhouse Network: A Decade of Dedication -- If you're looking for a new
way to indulge your passion for birds, consider joining The Birdhouse Network,
a citizen-science project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Participants put
up nest boxes and record information once or twice a week about what the birds
are doing. Over the past 10 years participants have submitted nearly 70,000
records detailing when birds build their nests, how many eggs they lay, and
when the fledglings take their first flights. These efforts have helped expand
scientific knowledge about bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens, and other
cavity-nesting birds.
People of all ages and skill levels can be part of The Birdhouse Network. To
sign up or find out more, visit the project's web site:
www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse <http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse>, or
call (800) 843-2473. The project fee is $15 ($12 for Lab members).
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ASK AUDUBON...
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"In the winter, is it safe to use salt to melt icy sidewalks and driveways? I
have also heard of people using kitty litter; is that a greener solution?" --
Submitted by Joe C. of St. Paul, MN.
This is a tough question - icy roads and sidewalks are clearly dangerous, but
the salt used to keep them safe for walking and driving pose environmental
dangers. The amount of salt poured into our ecosystem is staggering. According
to the National Research Council (NRC), between 8 and 12 million tons of
road-salt is used in the United States per year.
Salt on roads, sidewalks and driveways can enter air, soil, groundwater, and
surface water from snowmelt runoff, release from surface soils, and wind-spray.
Trees and plants are damaged by road salt, even when salt is applied as far
away as 600 feet from the road. Studies have shown salt sensitivity in 50.8% of
woody plant species in Canada; many of these have disappeared from Canadian
roadsides. Salt can interfere with the flowering, seed germination, roots, and
stems of roadside plant species. Birds can mistake salt particles for food,
resulting in fatality. In 2000, Environment Canada had 12 reports of bird
deaths due to roadside salt, two of them reporting the deaths of over 1,000
birds each.
Salt carries risks for human health as well. In rural areas, wells are easily
contaminated by salty runoff or seepage into groundwater. Elevated sodium
concentrations in drinking water can pose a health risk to those with high
blood pressure. Some states monitor the salt levels in drinking water, but
there is no federal legislation requiring universal monitoring. The chlorine in
salt has a corrosive effect on automobile parts, another safety consideration.
Sand or kitty litter, sometimes also used as alternatives, create other hazards
in the environment, as they do not break down and can clog storm drains.
One good alternative is calcium magnesium acetate (CMA), which is less harmful
to the environment. Unfortunately CMA is more costly than salt, but the initial
outlay of money can prevent the later costs associated with repairing the
environment. Some municipalities use a combination of salt and CMA in an
effort to mitigate environmental damage as well as contain costs. A Department
of Public Works study concluded that every additional dollar spent on the use
of a 4 to 1 mixture of sodium chloride and a salt alternative will result in a
savings of at least two dollars in environmental costs. In addition, simply
reducing the amount of salt you add to the environment by using only as much
salt as you really need to keep your driveway and walkway clear will also help.
Submit your questions about consumer choices and how they affect the
environment to Cynthia Blayer at cblayer@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:cblayer@xxxxxxxxxxx>.
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