Latest News and Updates from Audubon in California
California Condor. Photo: Scott Frier/USFWS
Audubon California's Gaylon Parsons and Juan Altamirano were on Treasure Island on July 25th to witness the signing of climate legislation to extend California's cap and trade program. Governor Jerry Brown, Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia, Assembly Member Kevin de León and others reasserted that California will lead on climate change when our Federal Government does not.
Our hope is that in the coming years, our leaders will continue to build on these bills to address ongoing pollution and other conditions that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities.
The National Marine Sanctuaries off the California coast represent the best that our oceans have to offer birds – protected breeding sites, bountiful food resources, and freedom from disturbance. For people, these sanctuaries offer incredible opportunities for recreation and wildlife viewing. But the Trump Adminstration wants these sanctuaries shrunken or eliminated altogether, and we can’t let that happen. Please join Audubon California in speaking out in defense of these treasures.
Dave Weeshoff received the 2017 2013 William Dutcher Award for the Pacific Flyway at last weekend’s Audubon Convention in Park City, Utah. Weeshoff was honored for his many years of contributions to the Audubon mission, including his work to make renewable energy safer for birds, establish Marine Protected Areas in Southern California, and support marine bird conservation through his work with International Bird Rescue. Audubon couldn’t have found a better advocate for birds in California.
William Dutcher was a prominent amateur ornithologist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and in 1905 was appointed the first President of the National Audubon Society. The Dutcher Award was created in his honor to recognize superior volunteer service by Audubon leaders that results in bird conservation at scale.
The U.S. House of Representatives this morning passed H.R. 23, which we opposed because it seeks to wrest control over much of California's water from the state to the feds. If eventually signed by President Trump, it will overturn decades of negotiations on water in California. Audubon California opposes it because it will divert water from the Center Valley refuges, undermine the Endangered Species Act, and halt the restoration of the San Joaquin River. Audubon activists sent about 3,500 emails to Congress just in the last week in opposition to this bad bill. Now it moves on to the Senate, where we will continue our fight.
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Join the thousands of Californians that support the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument.