Audubon Advisory
December 10, 2009
Vol 2009 Issue 12

As 2009 comes to a close and we head into the holidays, we present our top conservation victories of the year. Thank YOU for your support, which made these success stories possible!

Climate and Energy Bill Heads for Final Lap   Congress is making headway on legislation to reduce carbon pollution, which contributes to the global warming that threatens the Snowy Owl's tundra habitat. Photo courtesy of USFWS.   Progress has been amazing this past year on the critical issue of climate change and energy. For the first time in history, climate legislation has been passed by one chamber of Congress and is poised for action in the other. Environmental and conservation groups across the board worked the issue with all determination and Audubon brought its great chapter and state office network and a field staff of 15 organizers to the effort. The legislative initiative started this spring with a pitched battle to get a bill through a not-so-friendly Energy and Commerce Committee. True to his word, Chairman Waxman, the bill's lead sponsor, got it wrapped up in committee before Memorial Day recess and quickly brought it to the floor for an historic House vote in June. Here’s a quick synopsis of work to date: • May 2009 – House Energy and Commerce votes out HR 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) • June 2009 ACES bill passed the House by a slim margin (Whew!). • October 2009 – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee votes out S 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. In the meantime, two other significant events will help shape this debate. The world’s nations are convened in Copenhagen this month to hammer out a climate pollution reduction agreement and, for the first time, the United States President will address this issue on the global stage. The Environmental Protection Agency has found global warming pollution to be a threat to public health and the environment and is taking steps to regulate emissions. That’s important progress! For more information, download our fact sheet on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (434kb PDF).   Endangered Species Act Gets Back on Strong Footing   The Endangered Species Act has rescued the Kirtland's Warbler and many other species from the brink of extinction. Photo by Ron Austing, www.fs.fed.us.   Responding to urging from thousands of Audubon activists, the Obama administration revoked a controversial last-minute rule change imposed by the Bush administration, which effectively gutted critical protections offered by the Endangered Species Act for threatened and endangered wildlife on the brink of extinction. Score one for the good guys and for species survival. Another example of how the Endangered Species Act works to protect flagging species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced last month that Brown Pelicans had sufficiently recovered from the impact of DDT contamination compounded by continuing habitat loss to be taken off the list in areas where it is not already delisted.   Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Gets Respect!   Cerulean Warbler Photo credit: MDF/Wikimedia Commons   This little bill packs a big wallop for migratory songbird conservation by tripling funding for projects in South America, the Caribbean, and Canada. Responding to the call of thousands of Audubon activists, the Senate has acted on this $20 million package for bird conservation and the House Natural Resources Committee passed a similar bill with a $15 million funding level. We expect to get it to the President's desk in the next session of Congress. Final passage will be good news for the more than 125 neotropical species in decline from habitat loss and other threats.   Banner Year for Conservation Programs and Ecosystem Restoration   Each year, Congress passes appropriations bills to fund federal programs, like the restoration of the Everglades. Photo credit: National Park Service. Credit: Lee Karney/USFWS    It was a historic year for federal funding of Audubon conservation priorities, alleviating years of underfunding that starved conservation budgets. • The Stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year contained billions of dollars for green jobs, energy efficiency programs, improvements to the National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks, and ecosystem restoration projects. • The Interior appropriations bill increased funding in several important areas, including $503 million for operations and maintenance of the National Wildlife Refuge System, up from $463 million in FY 2009, and $31.03 million for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management, up $1.5 million from the FY 2009 appropriations. • The Land and Water Conservation Fund included a number of state and chapter priorities, including Audubon Connecticut - Steward B. McKinney NWR - $2,000,000; Houston Audubon - San Bernard NWR - $1,250,000; Evansville Audubon - Pakota River NWR - $1,150,000; Central New Mexico Audubon - Sevilleta NWR - $500,000; and Audubon South Carolina - Waccamaw NWR - $600,000. • Our Coastal Louisiana work got a boost when the White House Council on Environmental Quality announced it was creating a new federal interagency task force to coordinate the "economic and environmental resiliency" of Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast region. This was a great shot in the arm for restoration of critically important Louisiana Coastal wetlands. • The study of restoration projects in Coastal Louisiana has tripled, going from just about $8 million in the FY 2009 bill to over $24 million for 2010. It is our goal to move this money from "study money" to actual project construction money in FY 2011. • Long Island Sound restoration funds got a much needed increase in funding — $7 million in FY 2010, up from $3 million in FY 2009. • The complex array of Everglades projects and funding enjoyed huge increases overall, with millions more going to projects designed to restore the natural water flows that make the Everglades a special place for birds and wildlife.   The West Breaks New Ground for Species Protection   A Greater Sage-grouse defends his display territory from another male.   Groundbreaking work in Wyoming to protect critical Sage Grouse habitat from oil drilling and ill-conceived siting of energy transmission lines will serve as a model for other western states. This is the culmination of a long-standing fight to protect Bureau of Land Management lands from exploitation without regard for natural resources and wildlife needs. In addition, one million acres of state land within core sage grouse population areas was withdrawn from wind energy development after urging from Audubon activists.   None of these success stories for birds, wildlife and their habitat would have been possible without your help! Keep those letters, phone calls and emails coming. We still have a few things on our plate for next year, including . . . The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this summer affirmed protection for almost 50 million acres of national forests and grasslands from new road building, logging, and development. Efforts are afoot to extend this roadless protection to parts of the Tongass National Forest, our largest National Forest. A series of regulatory comments and discussions with agency officials on the impacts of communication towers on birds brought us close to getting agreement to factor bird collisions in siting and structural decisions. We hope to press ahead to secure change to protect birds from these hazards. The vast wetlands complex known as Teshekpuk Lake, part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s North Slope, got a last minute reprieve from oil drilling in August 2005. The 10-year moratorium on drilling gives us time to secure permanent protection for this internationally important bird habitat that also provides summer feeding and calving grounds for the Teshekpuk Caribou herd.   The Mystery Bird takes a break in December. Look for the next one in January! Congratulations to Mary W. of Oak Harbor, OH, whose entry was chosen at random from all of the entries correctly identifying last month's Wild Turkey. Happy Holidays from your friends at Audubon!