In May of this year the State Board of Audubon-California approved a five-year strategic plan to guide the work of the Audubon organization statewide. Stemming from the most rigorous review of our organizational strengths and weaknesses that we have ever undertaken we looked at both the opportunities we face as Audubon conservationists and the sizable threats that the environment confronts in our state.

The plan firmly establishes Audubon as a conservation organization that engages people, and emphasizes the power and importance of education in accomplishing our environmental goals. We will remain firmly rooted in birds and the educational opportunities they afford, and the conservation needs they desperately need in a state of 34 million people. We will take the long view-focusing less on the conservation needs twenty days from now and more on the conservation needs of California twenty years from now. We seek to build an Audubon that becomes more intentional and proactive in its work and less opportunistic and reactive. The work that we do must truly "add up to something," and the something we envision is profound. We see an Audubon-California that in five years will:

Establish a place-based nature education program leading to the siting and development of up to 20 Audubon Centers in strategic locations around California;

Lead key regional and statewide efforts to conserve and restore 500,000 acres of habitat in California, focused on important bird habitats;

Reach through a combination of communications strategies one-third of California's population on a regular basis with a science-based message that advances our conservation goals and overall environmental literacy;

Triple our statewide membership to at least 180,000 members that more accurately represents California's diverse population; and,

Develop collaborative workplans with our chapters in order to increase programmatic alignment, build local effectiveness and contribute to the strategic goals of Audubon in the state.

Many Audubon chapters in the state participated in the plan by attending workshops, commenting on draft plans, and evaluating what Audubon does well today. We thank all of our chapter leaders who took the time to reflect on where we are and where we want to go as an organization. It will take a great deal of work to translate our plan into a remarkable reality. We look forward to working with you and our other Audubon partners to secure a better Audubon and a better California.