Conservation in the Limelight

Annual Meeting

Pee Wee Audubon

Thank You

Mayacamas Campout: May1-2

Volunteers

Field Trip Reports

Observations

Midweek Walkabout Results

Pee Wee Reports

Early Birdathon Report

Conservation Groups Rally to Audubon's Support

Birding Bodega Bay: Spring and Summer

Backyard Birding: Birdbaths

Welcome New Members

SCCC Recognizes Nature Educators

Conservation in the Limelight

WITH THE CHAPTER embroiled in a battle to keep the Geysers pipeline out of the Mayacamas Sanctuary, "Saving the Marin/Sonoma Coast" is an especially timely topic for our annual meeting, Monday evening, May 18. Marty Griffin's discussion of his new book, which chronicles major north coast conservation battles, will serve as a reminder that a lot of important contests have been won, and this can be another one.

It's timely to remember, too, that both National Audubon and our local chapter began as principally conservation organizations, and have a rich history of environmental achievements. Madrone representatives of earlier decades helped trim the Sea Ranch and Bodega Harbor developments, and kill an awful proposal known as Jenner by the Sea, which would have dredged and developed the lower Russian River. They also helped stop a plan to run an acqueduct along the Sonoma and Marin coasts, and a proposal to develop the shoreline of San Pablo Bay at Lakeville Highway. They worked successfully for the Coastal Protection Initiative (Proposition 20) and for the preservation of the Lost Coast and Sinkyone Wilderness---and for Mono Lake.

In most of these cases, Audubon was backing up others who took the lead in the battle, just as other organizations now are doing in supporting our fight to protect the Mayacamas Sanctuary's "forever wild" designation.

Some of our long-time advocates, such as Ernestine Smith and Martha Bentley, have been and are continuously involved in conservation issues on Madrone's behalf. For many others, when we are not embroiled in major battles affecting wildlife habitat we tend to focus more on other aspects of the chapter's mission, such as education, research, and, always, birding.

We owe a great debt of thanks to conservation heroes like Marty, Ernie, and Martha, and to the many conservation groups whose vigilance and energy have made Sonoma County a much better place than it might have been. Like them, we are all still in the business of "Saving the Marin/Sonoma Coast"---and the interior as well.