Priority #1: Audubon's Birds of California Campaign

ABC Goal #1: Restrict chemicals which harm birds and wildlife. Millions of pounds of chemicals are released into the environment each year from manufacturing industries and agriculture. Birds and other wildlife are on the "front line" when it comes to exposure to these chemicals. More often than not the same chemicals that can be so harmful to farm workers and residents of agricultural companies are also deadly to birds. Audubon-California will introduce legislation that requires the state to gather and use bird and wildlife mortality and reproductive data when decisions are made about licensing and use of deadly chemicals.

ABC Goal #2: Restoring Birds to Healthy Population Levels. After a species is listed as "threatened" or "endangered" what is done about it? What can we do to help a species that is on the brink of threatened or endangered status? These are the problems Audubon-California is now addressing.

In 1996, the Legislature passed amendments to the California Endangered Species Act that create a recovery strategy pilot program. This program is designed to fund study and research efforts to determine the biological and habitat needs of up to four imperiled species per year. Once a strategy is developed, we can then actually work on obtaining funding and support for measures to return the species to a healthy, self-sustaining level. In 1997, through this legislation we obtained $250,000 in funding for completing a recovery strategy for the greater Sandhill crane. In 1999, we'll be working to obtain funding for recovery strategies for the:

• Swainson's Hawk
• Tricolored Blackbird
• Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
• Western Burrowing Owl.

ABC Goal #3: Protecting the California Condor from Poisoning. The California Condor is being reintroduced into the wild in California and the Grand Canyon. In California the condor has moved up the Tehachipis and across the Sierra. As more and more birds are released, we are starting to understand the dangers they face from human activity. One of the greatest dangers is poisoning from lead found in lead shot and bullets, which permeates the meat of carcasses which the condors feed on. At the very least this issue needs careful study in 1999, but we may also need to expand the current prohibitions on the use of lead in ammunition in California.

ABC Goal #4: Funding for Breeding Bird Atlases. Audubon has taken on the ambitious task of creating breeding bird atlases on a county by county basis in California. These exhaustive citizen science research efforts break counties up into very detailed quad maps, and hundreds of individuals then go out and survey for breeding bird activity. The atlases are then published, and are used by researchers, government agencies and bird lovers to understand where and when birds are breeding and nesting in California. To date, eight breeding atlases have been completed, with several other major ones in production (including Los Angeles and San Diego).

We will work to get the Legislature to fund a grants program for completion of breeding bird atlases for the entire state of California. This kind of biological data would be invaluable for land use decision, resource management issues, scientific inquiries and ecotourism.

Priority #2: Creating Legislative or Regulatory Changes to Further the Goals of Audubon-California's Symbolic Landscape Campaigns

Symbolic Landscape Goals: The City

• Secure $2500,00-500,000 in state funds for the new Debs Park Nature Center in East Los Angeles
• Play a leadership role in supporting legislation which strengthens California's growth management laws, and in particular focus on restricting development that lacks available water supplies

Symbolic Landscape Goals: The Farm

• Rewrite and strengthen the agricultural lands habitat enhancement program regulations currently in circulation by the Wilson administration. These regulations will guide voluntary programs under SB 231 (Costa) which Audubon supported in 1997.
• Provide legal support to several pilot efforts in Yolo, Fresno and Kern Counties to implement regional habitat enhancement programs under SB 231.

Symbolic Landscape Goals: Wild California

• Amend the California Endangered Species Act to provide clear protection against the "take" of essential habitat for threatened and endangered species.
• Develop a package of wetlands protection legislation focused on coastal wetlands: regulation of mitigation banking, a regional planning mechanism for the Central Coast and a comprehensive plan to strengthen land-use laws in the San Francisco Bay area to protect wetlands.