If you would like to receive timely email notification of birding, conservation and other issues that effect wildlife both local and nationally, send an email to: webmaster@sacramentoaudubon.org containing your name, email address with "SAS Action Alert List" as the subject. Most Alerts have a short action suspense which seems to be the norm. This is an opportunity for you to do your part to affect change in the wildlife conservation arena. (Alerts are gleaned from various sources and information is provided for your consideration and possible action).
Samples of previous Action Alerts
Sacramento Audubon Society needs your help in opposing the proposed “Greenbriar” development project, proposed by Angelo Tsakopolous / AKT.The city has scheduled a second workshop on Tuesday Jan 15, 2008.
The Greenbriar project, if approved, would pave over nearly 600 acres of prime agricultural land and habitat in the Natomas Basin, outside of the existing City limits, outside of the County’s urban services boundary, outside of the boundaries of the lands that may be permissibly developed under the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan, and inside of a deep basin that has inadequate flood protection.The City’s Planning Commission already rejected this project last November on a 5-2 vote, due to its unacceptable safety risks and unmitigated environmental impacts. Rather than listen to its own Planning Commissions’ recommendation, however, the City has now announced that it will hold a public “Workshop” on the Greenbriar proposal on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, and that the City Council may consider approval of the project as early as Tuesday, January 22, 2008. Please call or write to the City Council, or attend one of the upcoming meetings (or both), to inform the Sacramento City Council that you support the Planning Commission’s rejection of the Greenbriar project. The meeting times and places, and contact information for the City Council are as follows: Workshop:Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008, 6:00pm. Location: SacramentoCity Hall, 915 I St., Sacramento, 1st Floor (enter from patio between old and new city halls or from H street entrance). City Council Meeting (tentative, please check agenda when it is published): Tuesday, January 22, 2008, 6:00 pm. Location, SacramentoCity Hall, 915 I St., Sacramento, 1st Floor (enter from patio between old and new city halls or from H street entrance). Contact Information for City OfficialsAddress for letters: Office of the Mayor and City Council, City Hall, 915 "I" Street, Fifth Floor, Sacramento, CA. 95814Fax number (same for Mayor and all Council Members): 916-264-7680. Telephone and e-mail contact info: Mayor Heather Fargo: hfargo@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-5073. Councilmember Ray Tretheway: rtretheway@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7339 Councilmember Sandy Sheedy: ssheedy@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7002 Councilmember Steve Cohn: scohn@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7235 Councilmember Rob Fong: rkfong@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7340 Councilmember Lauren Hammond: lhammond@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7234 Councilmember Kevin McCarty: kmccarty@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7336 Councilmember Bonnie Pannell: bpannell@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7008 Councilmember Robby Waters: rwaters@cityofsacramento.org, 916-808-7338 Reasons that you might include in explaining why this particular project is even more offensive than most of AKT’s out-of-bounds efforts to destroy habitat and promote sprawl and gridlock in the Sacramento region, include:
Everybody, including the City and AKT, knows that adequate flood protection does not exist in the NatomasBasin. Approval of the project would be extremely irresponsible, and poses a substantial risk loss of life and property.
The project cannot lawfully be approved, because it lies outside of the area covered by the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan (“NBHCP”). The project area supports wildlife species such as the imperiled Swainson's hawk and giant garter snake. Wildlife protection agencies and Swainson's Hawk biologists have formally commented that the mitigation plan that has been proposed for Greenbriar is grossly inadequate.
The project is not consistent with current city or county general plans. A general plan is supposed to guide sensible future development – not simply catalogue a neverending swath of environmental carnage, sprawl and gridlock caused by the City’s approval of socially and environmentally irresponsible development proposals in the NatomasBasin, such as this one.
Tell California Governor to Sign Condor Protection Bill Click here to take action: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/california_condor California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this week caved to pressure from the National Rifle Association and Republican legislators, canning one of his own Fish and Game Commissioners for daring to have an opinion on the protection of endangered California condors from lead poisoning.The California Senate and Assembly recently passed an historic protection measure for condors, Assembly Bill 821 (Nava, D-Santa Barbara), the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, which would require non-lead ammunition for big-game hunting in condor habitat. The California Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission have opposed the legislation and urged Governor Schwarzenegger to veto it, which he is expected to do.The Condor Preservation Act would require hunters to use non-lead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes within the California condor range in central and southern California, beginning July 1, 2008. The Condor Preservation Act would significantly reduce lead poisoning of condors in California and is an important first step in getting lead out of the food chain.Please contact Governor Schwarzenegger and tell him that that putting the condor on the state quarter isn't good enough: He needs to sign the Condor Preservation Act into law to stop California's condors from being poisoned by lead ammunition from big-game hunting. He also needs to reinstate Judd Hanna, a commissioner who worked fairly and impartially to conserve California's wildlife, and to quit intimidating the commission on controversial issues. For more information on condors and lead poisoning, visit www.savethecondors.org Jeff Miller Conservation AdvocateCenter for Biological Diversity 1095 Market Street, Suite 511San Francisco, CA94103 Phone: (415) 436-9682 x303Fax: (415) 436-9683Web site: www.biologicaldiversity.org The Center for Biological Diversity protects endangered species and wild places through science, policy, education, and environmental law
This is the one simple thing everyone should do for birds!
Migratory birds are in trouble and need your help. Loss of habitat on both their wintering and breeding grounds, combined with other threats, has led to severe declines in many species. For example, the Cerulean Warbler and Olive-sided Flycatcher have declined by as much as 70% since the 1960s.
The Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act is the only source of federal funding dedicated specifically to bird conservation throughout the Americas. It has a proven track record of reversing habitat loss, and of advancing innovative management and habitat restoration strategies.
This Act is now up for reauthorization in Congress, and thanks to a bipartisan bill, funding could be dramatically increased. Overall, the program could leverage some $60 million in additional funding for bird conservation!
The White House has recently proposed a new rule for oversight of marine fisheries. The new rule would gut the protections that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has long provided ocean ecosystems and the seabirds and other wildlife that depend on them. Under the new rule, the ability of the public to have input into the future of our oceans would be severely limited and oversight of marine fisheries would be largely given over to regional fishery management councils — the equivalent of having the fox guard the hen house.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires government agencies to analyze the likely environmental effects of their actions and to seek public input into their decisions. The proposed rule would exempt certain categories of fisheries from environmental review altogether and weaken the requirements for environmental reviews of fisheries across the board. The proposed new rule would also severely limit the ability of the public to give input into any decisions made.
NEPA's review process has successfully protected ocean ecosystems in the past. By mandating that impacts to birds and other ocean wildlife be considered when fishing regulations are made, NEPA can help birds and other wildlife while creating a more sustainable ocean system. Nineteen of the twenty-two species of albatross are already threatened with extinction due to long-line fishing techniques that accidentally catch and drown the birds. On the East Coast of the United States, the rufa Red Knot is threatened by overfishing of its main food source, horseshoe crabs. It is vital for our seabirds that we do not weaken environmental oversight of the fishing industry.
Submit a public comment opposing adoption of the new, weakened rule by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Do you know someone else who cares about protecting seabirds? Help us to spread the word: Tell-a-friend! Please use Tell-a-Friend instead of forwarding the message. The links in this message have been personalized for you.
Save Our Seas: Protect Sensitive Ecosystems from Drilling
Dear Audubon Advocate,
First, a big thank you for submitting comments in support of the Endangered Species Act. A record number of Auduboners wrote letters to demand that our nation's most important wildlife law not be weakened. Now, we need your help again to protect America's coastal communities and oceans. With less than four months left in office, the Bush Administration is working harder than ever to open frontier areas to oil and gas development off America's shore. Although the ink is barely dry on the current outer continental shelf (OCS) leasing plan, the Administration's Minerals Management Service (MMS)—the Department of Interior bureau that manages the nation's oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the OCS—has just initiated a new development plan. Their intention is explicit: to "accelerate an offshore exploration and development program."
At the same time, the Administration and Congressional allies have proposed lifting a 27-year-old moratorium on new drilling off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts under the false pretense that increased offshore oil and gas leasing will reduce current gas prices.
The nation and the world face an energy crisis, and the high prices of gasoline and fuel oil are burdens for many people. But the solution is renewable energies and energy conservation, not more drilling. With long lead times on exploration and development, unproven and expensive technologies, and unknown recoverable oil and gas resources, increased drilling will only save pennies at the pump, and not for a decade or more. Yet more drilling will cause irreversible environmental damage to our country's pristine oceans and coastal areas.
The MMS is accepting public comments as it begins work on a new drilling plan to accelerate offshore oil drilling. Areas off the West Coast and East Coast, which are currently protected by a Congressional moratorium on leasing, could be added to the new five-year plan. But even more threatening are the potential additions of many areas in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific off the coast of Alaska that are not covered by the moratorium and that are not in the current five-year plan. These waters host a myriad of marine life, and their abundant ecosystems support some of the largest and most productive fisheries and marine mammal habitats in the world. By the MMS' own estimates, these areas contain very little oil and natural gas resources, and they should not be subject to damaging exploration and development activities.
A fast-tracked offshore drilling plan based on short-sighted strategies that sacrifice America's oceans will not significantly lower gas prices or solve our energy crisis. Instead of more drilling, we need real, long-term solutions that will end our dependence on oil once and for all.
Tell-a-friend!