May Program - Mike Sellors: "Crunching Numbers in California" Monday, May 17th, 1999, 7:30 PM, Chico Creek Nature Center 1968 East Eighth St., Chico, 95928 Mike Sellors, the National Audubon Society's Habitat and Population Coordinator for California, will be our speaker this month. What can Audubon do to stem the population driven hemorrhaging of California's biodiversity? Come find out at our Monday evening program. Mike will shares with us his slide presentation entitled, "Crunching Numbers in California".

California's current population of 33 million is projected to nearly double to 55 million by the year 2025. Rapid human population growth, coupled with current patterns of inefficient land use (for example, between 1970 and 1990, Los Angeles County's population increased by 45% while the built landscape increased by 300%), are contributing to loss of bird habitat across the Golden State. What can Audubon do to stem the population driven hemorrhaging of California's biodiversity? Come find out on Monday evening, May 17, when the National Audubon Society's Habitat and Population Coordinator for California - Mike Sellors - will give a slide presentation at Altacal Audubon Society's May program meeting. The program, entitled "Crunching Numbers in California", addresses the loss of wildlife habitat in the Golden State due to human population growth and sprawling development. Several of California's major habitat types will be discussed, including riparian areas, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, coastal and interior wetlands, and native grasslands. The program highlights bird species within these habitats that have been adversely impacted by human population growth and sprawl. Species encountered in this tour of the Golden State range from the California condor, yellow-billed cuckoo, and western tanager, to the California clapper rail, western snowy plover, tricolored blackbird, and western burrowing owl. Following this survey of humanity's footprint on the California landscape, the program proposes solutions to ultimately reverse the loss of habitat and thereby preserve California's incredibly rich natural heritage. Audubon's Habitat and Population Campaign advocates habitat-sensitive local growth management policies, regional planning, and increased funding for voluntary family planning services and women's health and education programs.

The Campaign's California Coordinator, Mike Sellors, previously worked with Audubon's California Legislative Affairs Office as a policy/media consultant and grassroots organizer. Mr. Sellors has also worked on the California Biodiversity Alliance's endangered species defense campaign. He holds his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a graduate of Georgetown University. Mr. Sellors has clerked for the US EPA's Office of Regional Counsel in Atlanta, as well as the Washington, DC law firm of Wiley, Rein and Feilding. He is a member of the environmental law section of the California Bar. An avid hiker, backpacker, and cross country skier, Mike also enjoys gardening with drought-tolerant/wildlife-attracting native plants. Mike has served as a volunteer "hawkwatcher" at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, helping to track the fall migration of raptors along the Pacific Coast. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Regional Environmental Advocacy Project (REAP), an organization working to support sustainable agriculture in the Sacramento region.