April 1997, Volume 30, Number 7

Does the Mandarin Duck Count? April General Meeting Volunteer Opportunites Pee Wee Audubon Thank You Mayacamas Camp-out April 25-26 Madrone Audubon on the Info Autobahn Pee Wee Reports Observations Bird Band Reports MidweekWalkabout Results Beginners Bird Walks Field Trip Report Mandarin Duck Observations Sought News From Our Ranch Preservation Update An Egregious Omission Field Trip to Pepperwood Welcome New Members Bird Rescue Open House Student/Senior Membership Rates

Preservation Update Laguna Uplands With the purchase of a conservationeasement by the Landwrights conservancy, the Laguna Uplands property (Leaves,May, 1996) has been permanently protected from development. Landwrightswas unable to raise enough funds to buy the land, however, and title hasreverted to the Ghilotti family. This means there is no public access, forthe present. Last spring, the conservancy asked Madrone Audubon's help in protectingthe 8.4-acre property in Sebastopol, at the western edge of the Laguna deSanta Rosa. The owners had already obtained approval for an 18-home subdivisionon the site, known as Palm Terrace. Landwrights' objectives were two: topermanently protect the ecologically important property from development,and to purchase it so public access could be provided. Madrone Audubon contributed$1,000 toward the effort, which raised a total of $125,000 from the communityand $900,000 from the Sonoma County Open Space District to secure the conservationeasement. While community groups were united in wanting to stop the development,there was no such unanimity on how the property should be used once it wasacquired and contention over that issue may have undermined the fund-raisingeffort, which fell short by $337,000. Escrow did close on May 1, 1996, butonly because the owners agreed to take back a note for the out-standingamount. Unable to raise the money, Landwrights ultimately deeded the propertyback to the Ghilotti family on December 28, but retains the conservationeasement. Stopping development of the property was an important win for wildlife,and Joan Vilms, Landwrights' President, has commended the Ghilotti familyfor making it possible. "They showed their community spirit every stepof the way and they've continued to show it," she told the SantaRosa Press Democrat (March 2, 1997). Black Point The golf course and residential developmentthat was proposed for the former Renaissance Faire site on Highway 37 overa year ago (see April, 1996 Leaves) is still being litigated. Lastspring, Madrone Audubon contributed $250 toward a legal challenge of theproject by the Marin Audubon Society and other conservation groups. TheMarin County Superior Court ruled in our favor, but the decision is nowbeing appealed by the developer, with no hearing expected before summer. Amendments to the plan that have been proposed so far reportedly wouldstill fill wetlands and destroy thousands of native oaks. Marin Auduboncommends the Army Corps of Engineers, which is insisting that all areasmeeting wetland criteria and historic sloughs be addressed in the project'senvironmental assessment, and has issued a cease and desist order directingthe developers to stop constructing drainage ditches and depositing sedimentsin wetlands. (Information from Marin Audubon Society Redwood Log.)

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