Pasadena and LA Audubon present 4th year of AUDUBON FILM FRIDAYS at Debs

Pasadena Audubon Society and Los Angeles Audubon Society joined with Audubon Center at Debs Park to present the fourth year of AUDUBON FILM FRIDAYS, a summer series of free, outdoor, once a month high quality screenings of films about nature and conservation preceded by a bird walk. The last screening was on August 27, 2010.

This year's films included ROCK THE BOAT, a video documentary of the kayak ride down the LA River that proved the river is navigable reversing the ruling of the EPA, and FLY AWAY HOME the true story of one young girl's determination to help her Canada geese migrate naturally. The films are shown in English with  Spanish sub-titles, or Spanish with English sub-titles.

Shown here are Pasadena Audubon's Ron Cyger with LA Audubon's President Travis Longcore after the bird walk.

Calfornia Chapters win Together Green grants!

San Bernardino Valley Audubon, Monterey Audubon and Los Angeles Audubon will receive $ 48,000 in Audubon Toyota Together Green Innovation grants to restore habitat and educate youth in Southern California.

San Bernardino Valley Audubon recieves $18,000 for an education program for underserved youth at a Cahuilla Wetlands restoration site at the Salton Sea, Monterey Audubon will receive $20,000 for a restoration project on Carmel River at the Hilton Bialek habitat that includes an education program for youth, and Los Angeles Audubon receives $10,000 for continuation of the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Intern program and Restoration Leaders program in partnership with Newfields in the new Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park.

Congratulations to these California chapters!

LADWP DROPS GREEN PATH NORTH

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced that it has dropped plans to build an 85-mile-long "green" power transmission line across desert wilderness preserves and scenic ridgelines including Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, a favorite birding spot for LA Audubon birders and an Audubon California Important Bird Area. This follows three years of opposition from environmental groups including Los Angeles Audubon, San Bernardino Valley Audubon, California Desert Coalition and Wildlands Conservancy.

While supporting renewable energy, the environmental groups advocated that LADWP use transmission lines that already exist rather than build new ones through pristine habitat. The Green Path was planned to go through Pioneertown near Yucca Valley, Pipes Canyon Wilderness Preserve as well as Morongo.

Full story in LA TIMES here

4 coastal chapters win Snowy Plover Art grants

Ventura Audubon, Los Angeles Audubon, San Diego Audubon and Redwood Region Audubon will each receive around $4,000 to hold a Western Snowy Plover art contest for young children in their community, and to make signs to protect Plovers from the winning entries. Western Snowy Plover coastal populations are threatened and protected.
The grant program is modeled after the success of the program conducted by Mendocino Coast Audubon that resulted in a published children's book as well as signs.
The funding is provided as part of the Audubon/Toyota Pennies for the Planet program of Together Green with additional funding from a family foundation, and was dreamed up by Audubon California's Science, Seabird and IBA team.

LA Audubon breaks ground on USF&W native plant garden at elementary school

On September 25th, 2009 Dorsey High School students from the Baldwin Hills Restoration Leader and Greenhouse Internship programs visited Leo PolitiElementary School to teach students how to use compasses and test soil to prepare for restoration. Leo Politi students learned how to use a compass to measure the aspect of a slope and sampled three types of soil - pure sand, pure clay, and then a sample of their campus's soil. Restoration Leaders and Greenhouse Interns will be working with students at Leo Politi Elementary throughout the school year to help establish a native habitat garden as habitat for birds and other wildlife on the Leo Politi campus. Los Angeles Audubon, Leo Politi Elementary, the Greenhouse Program, and NewFields are working together with the help of a schoolyard habitat grant from US Fish & Wildlife.

4 California chapters win 2009 Toyota Innovation grants!

San Diego, Los Angeles, Golden Gate and San Bernardino Valley Audubons were notified that they would be awarded Toyota Together Green Innovation grants totalling $ 124,632, or 33.8% of the total amount of grant awards to the 17 Audubon chapters in the U.S.

San Diego Audubon's winning project plans to connect communities with native habitat coridors for wildlife. Los Angeles Audubon will continue to restore Baldwin Hills Park using an education/intern program aimed at South Central high school students. Golden Gate Audubon will monitor shorebird populations in wetlands in the second year of a program engaging the diverse Bay Area community. San Bernardino Valley Audubon plans to restore wetlands at the Salton Sea to help Black Rail and other species of birds in partnership with the Torres-Martinez tribe.

Congratulations to these three Southern California and one Bay Area chapters!

Pasadena Audubon, Los Angeles Audubon, Audubon Center at Debs Park launch 3rd annual AUDUBON FILM FRIDAYS

Los Angeles Audubon, Pasadena Audubon and Audubon Center at Debs Park are hosting our third annual FILM FRIDAYS at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. The free series in Spanish and English is shown on a wide screen outdoors under the stars for families and kids.

 
Friday, June 26th: Over the Hedge: A comedy about a group of animals taking back the neighborhood... One snack at a time.  (Spanish with English Subtitles)
 
Friday, July 24th: Water and Watersheds explored through two shorts-  Stream Spirit Rising and On the Arroyo Seco and the internationally acclaimed FLOW (English with Spanish Subtitles)
 
Friday, August 28th: The Education of Little Tree:- Little Tree is an 8-year-old Cherokee boy, who, learns the wisdom of the Cherokee way of life.  (English with Spanish Subtitles)
 
Prior to the shows, we will have Birds Walks in the park starting at 6:45 p.m. and running to 7:45 p.m.  Showtime is at 8 p.m. in the courtyard of the Audubon Center at Debs Park. Refreshments are provided by Trader Joe's!
 
Location: Audubon Center at Deb's Park 4700 North Griffin Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90031
For more information call: 323.221.2255

Big Day at Tejon Ranch

Audubon California Executive Director Graham Chisholm snapped this photo of eleven California Condors roosting in an oak tree during a visit to Tejon Ranch. The visit was part of a two day effort during spring migration to document species of plants, birds and other animals on the ranch. Prior to the effort, Jim Hardesty of San Fernando Valley Audubon Society led Olga Clarke of Los Angeles Audubon and others on a private field trip on the ranch as part of the Southwest Bird club. To join the club, contact Jim by email here

LA Audubon conducts baseline survey at Baldwin Hills park

On Valentines Day, 2009, students from Dorsey High School, members of the Los Angeles Audubon Society, and avid birders from the community helped to conduct the first baseline avian survey at the soon-to-be open Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park, recording 18 species. This information will go to databases at both California State Parks and Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Great Backyard Bird Count Program. We got the one sunny day of a very rainy holiday weekend, and were lucky enough to take in the fantastic views of the Los Angeles Basin (mountains to ocean!) that this new state park offers visitors. In addition to surveying for birds, volunteers also initiated the collection of mammal tracks at this site - casts of tracks will be used to teach students about urban wildlife through Los Angeles Audubon’s outdoor education programs. Our greenhouse advisor was also on hand to help point out and identify native plants and ongoing habitat restoration projects in the park with students and birders.  We topped off our hike and bird count with a pizza party at the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse, where students in the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Internship  and Restoration Leadership Programs discussed the projects they are currently working on at the greenhouse. The day’s three outstanding student volunteers were awarded Audubon bird plush toys for their excellent work. Many thanks to the students who hiked the muddy trail on Valentines Day, and many thanks to the Audubon birders who helped the students with species identification!

-From LA Audubon Director of Interpretive Stacey Vigallon-

Chapter Committee of Audubon California Board selects Outstanding Chapter Volunteers

The following chapter leaders were nominated by their chapters and selected Outstanding Chapter Volunteer by the Chapter Committee of the Audubon California Board of Directors. The Chapter Committee is composed of the five regional chapter representatives elected by chapters in their region.

The Outstanding Chapter Volunteers will receive a free registration to the Audubon Assembly in Asilomar in Monterey Bay on March 15-17,2009, and will be acknowledged at that event. They will also be included in the Volunteer Hall of Fame on the Audubon California website.

Congratulations to these volunteers who do so much for Audubon chapters, birds and their habitat.

1. Tam Taafe, La Purisima Audubon 

Tam continues to serve on the Board of Directors as Treasurer of the La Purisima chapter as she has for the last five years. During this period, she has been the main force for changing LPAS from a bird club to a chapter dedicated to local conservation issues. At a time when volunteerism is down, her full time dedication has kept LPAS from folding during this challenging transition. She has shown her enthusiasm and leadership in projects such as

• the restoration of the Waterfowl Natural Resources Area, “the Ponds,” on Vandenberg AFB
• the Beach Ecology Program, an educational outreach program
• the restoration of the Santa Ynez River Estuary, an Audubon California Important Bird Area, through grants including an outreach grant in 2009 from Audubon to engage local citizens in a campaign at the Estuary that La Purisima calls PRIDE (Proud Residents Investing in a Diverse Estuary).
• Advocacy with Santa Barbara Audubon and Los Angeles Audubon for two years on the Lompoc Wind Project to minimize the impacts on birds and bats.

La Purisima Audubon is now a dynamic and conspicuous force for north Santa Barbara Countyconservation thanks to Tam’s willingness to volunteer a full-time work schedule for the last several years towards that goal. 

2. Mike Prather, Eastern Sierra Audubon 

Mike is past President of Eastern Sierra Audubon and a leader in the conservation of birds and habitat in the Owens Valley. He led the process which resulted in the designation of Owens Lake as an Audubon California Important Bird Area, citing its importance as a breeding area for Snowy Plover and stopover for migrating shorebirds. He has documented more than 250 species within the Important Bird Area and organized the first Big Day at the Lake in 2008. It is Mike’s enthusiasm, constant good humor and devotion to the Eastern Sierra and its birds that is leading the effort to develop a long term conservation plan for the area. Mike travels far and wide throughout Californiaspeaking at Audubon chapters and other groups on behalf of Owens Lake and its birds.  He has done all this using his own resources.  

3. Nick Freeman, Los Angeles Audubon 

Nick Freeman has been Fieldtrip Chairman and Fieldtrip Leader for Los Angeles Audubon Society for nearly 20 years.  On top of organizing trips to such popular locations as the Sierra Nevada in California to southeast Arizona, he often leads or co-leads the trips himself infecting participants with his enthusiasm and knowledge of birds and and habitat and not to mention herps. His fieldtrips have been one of the most important factors that have kept LAAS a very active Audubon chapter by bringing in new members and raising funds to help support the Ralph Schreiber Grant Fund for non-professional researchers in ornithology. .He is currently the compiler of the Lancaster Christmas Bird Count and participates in the Malibu and Los Angeles Christmas Counts, the three CBC counts sponsored by the LA Audubon Society.   

4. Marilyn Waits, Redbud Audubon 

Redbud Audubon is a small rural chapter serving Lake County, an agricultural and tourism area north of the Napa Valley around the 100-mile shoreline of Clear Lake. Marilyn has served as chapter President for five years. During her term of office, she has developed new activities and programs that energized longtime members, attracted new members, drew in new volunteers, and created a strong financial base for future growth. She has raised Audubon’s public profile in Lake County and developed creative partnerships with local conservation and nature education groups. She strengthened a mutually-beneficial bond with Audubon California and helped reestablish the Northern California Regional Council as an active participant in statewide chapter communications.

Here are a few of Marilyn’s accomplishments:

• Increased chapter assets by 703% in five years. Cash assets grew from $5,931 when she became President to $49,270 in June 2008.

• Partnered in the annual Heron Festival and increased attendance by 333% from 300 to 1,300, with 37% coming from outside Lake County
• Expanded festival volunteers by 462% from 35 to 197 and identified and recruited new chapter leadership from these volunteers.
• Increased festival net profit by 712% from $890 to $7,224.
• Obtained a total of $24,000 over three years for festival advertising and marketing support paid by the County of Lake Marketing Department.

Marilyn’s special passion in children’s nature education activities, and she started programs such as the “Fifty Species Challenge,” “Wild Things, Inc.”, “Raptor Speak” and the Jeanne Wall Fund for Children’s Nature Education where she raised over $ 50,000 and she partnered with the Children’s Museum of Art and Science for a day camp at Anderson Marsh State Park for 120 local schoolchildren. 

5. Steve Ferry, Santa Barbara Audubon 

Steve Ferry has been on the Board of Santa Barbara Audubon since 2003 and currently serves as Conservation Chair and Membership Chair. He was elected in 2006 by the Central Coast Chapter Council to sit on the Audubon California Board where he serves on the Chapter Committee and the Finance Committee. As Conservation Chair of Santa Barbara Audbuon, he is vigilant and tireless working with La Purisima Audubon and Los Angeles Audubon to minimize the impacts of the Lompoc Wind Project through two years of advocacy, and working with Assembly member Pedro Nava (D-SB) and Audubon California to ban lead ammunition in Condor Country.  You’ll see Steve on the ground as a volunteer as Condor nest-watcher for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, or at Coal Oil Point as a Snowy Plover docent educating the beach-going public about sharing the beach with these wonderful birds. 

6. Robin Winslow Smith, Sequoia Audubon 

Robin Smith has been active in the Sequoia chapter of Audubon on San Francisco Bay for over 20 years as President, Conservation Chair, Education Chair, field trip leader and Annual Bird Count complier. Some of her victories include leading the fight to save Blair Island and opposing high rise buildings along the Bay in Redwood City. She was an active member of the Committee to SaveBayfront Park election in 2006. Currently Robin is active in the Redwood City measure to protect the wetlands along the edge of the Bay that Cargill Salt wants to develop. Robin travels widely, always birding.  Her chapter says it is the enthusiasm that underlies all she does that draws people to the Chapter.

Santa Barbara County approves wind farm with protections for birds

From Santa Barbara Audubon Conservation Chair Steve Ferry:

"On September 30 the Santa Barbara Planning Commission approved the Lompoc Wind Energy Project (LWEP).  The project includes 65 wind turbine generators (WTGs) producing about 1.5 MW each on 3000 acres of private grazing land about 5 miles south of Lompoc.                  

This milestone is the culmination of approximately two years of effort by Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense Center (EDC), Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS), La Purisima Audubon Society (LPAS), and Los Angeles Audubon Society (LAAS).  EDC and the three Audubon chapters made extensive comments on the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports and had numerous meetings with the County, the applicant, and their consultants.  As a result of those efforts, the Biological Resources section of the DEIR was completely re-written and significant protections to the environment were added. 

Just in the last week the County staff, at the urging of EDC and the Audubon chapters, inserted a requirement that parts of the project could be shut down if there were excessive bird mortalities.  This provision was a major goal of the environmental groups.  During the Planning Commission meeting EDC and Audubon advocated for strengthening of the shutdown provision, a longer period of bird mortality monitoring, offsite land easements, and additional protection for burrowing owls.  Our positions were supported by the Sierra Club, the Santa Barbara Community Action Network, and in part by the Community Environmental Council.  In the end, the Commission voted to extend the mortality monitoring and strengthen the shutdown provision. 

The approval of LWEP is a significant environmental achievement.  The project will produce enough clean energy to power about 50,000 homes.  The reduction of greenhouse gasses as a result of this project, if replicated across the country, will reduce global warming - a major threat to the survival of birds.  And the protections added to the project as a result of the efforts of EDC, SBAS, LPAS, and LAAS ensure that the environmental impacts of LWEP will be minimized. 

Special thanks for a long, sustained, and effective effort to those who worked on this project: Karen Kraus and Brian Trautwein of EDC, Steve Ferry of SBAS, Tam Taaffe and Paul Keller of LPAS, Garry George of LAAS, and Mark Holmgren.  Thanks also to Kris Burnell, former SBAS Science Chair, for her contributions."

 

 

Over 100 volunteers join Los Angeles Audubon for Toyota Together Green Volunteer Day event

Volunteers from Dorsey High School in South Central, Los Angeles Audubon, and Toyota joined forces on Saturday, September 20 to remove invasive non-native vegetation from the endangered Least Tern protected breeding colony on Venice Beach in Los Angeles in an Audubon California IBA. The terns are wintering in Central or South America, but will return to the colony in March or April to breed and raise their young. Removal of the invasive non-native plants allows more productive breeding areas for the birds. The effort was the first funded by a Volunteer Days grant from a Toyota/Audubon partnership that will deliver $20 million dollars to Audubon chapters, centers, sanctuaries and state office programs over the next four or five years. For more on Least Tern project go here. For more on Toyota Together Green grants go here.

AUDUBON AT HOME falls forward at chapters

Fall is the best time to plant native plants so that the rains (hopefully) can help them get established. Chapters throughout the state are hosting workshops and giving advice to kill lawns and convert useless dead zones to living, thriving habitat revegetations. "The health of an ecosystem is measured by it's biodiversity."-E.O Wilson.

San Diego Audubon former President Mel Hinton, who created a brochure and power point that chapters in SoCAL can use (click here), did a 1/2 hour internet radio interview on birds and gardening for wildlife on July 10, 2008. It's available on line at http://www.internetvoicesradio.com/. Click on Archives, then Dr Charlotte Thompson and it is listed as "Gardening for Birds and Butterflies."

Sacramento Audubon and the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Native Plant Society are partnered with UC Davis Arboretum to make the San Diego Audubon's version of Audubon at Home Birds and Butterflies power point presentation compatible with Valley habitat and critters ,of course, we added a section on native bees and other insects as well. Presentations in August and September in various locations. Details here

Los Angeles Audubon is planing to release a comic book to promote Audubon at Home called KILL YOUR LAWN.