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To find out how you can help, please contact Jim Peugh at (619) 224-4591 or e-mail peugh@cox.net.
Rose Canyon
Ash-throated flycatcher
Barn owl
Photos by Ben Miller
Salton Sea
Wood Stork
White-faced Ibis
Photos by Henry Detwiler
Parks Funding Rally
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Notices
Audubon at Home Grant
San Diego Audubon has been awarded a seed grant to develop a healthy garden/backyard habitat outreach program. The $4,490 grant is from Audubon California. It will fund the initial phase of a statewide program patterned on National Audubon's Audubon at Home theme, but this program will have a distinctly California flavor. San Diego Audubon will collaborate with Palos Verdes Audubon and Santa Clara Valley Audubon to create the pilot program.
For more information on the schedule and enrollment for our Native Plant Garden Workshops click here
D Street Nesting Site Project
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Audubon California recently collaborated to create the Grassroots Habitat Conservation for Shorebirds at IBAs on Pacific Coast of the Americas Project , funded by the Packard Foundation. San Diego Audubon has been selected to participate in the two-year project. Our project site is at the D Street Nesting Site, located in the Sweetwater Unit of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
In collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Friends of San Diego Wildlife Refuges, we'll be improving nesting habitat at the D Street site – one of the most productive nesting sites for the endangered California Least Tern in southern California and a site historically used by Western Snowy Plover. If you'd like to get involved or learn more about this project, please contact Chris Redfern at 619-682-7211 or at redfern@sandiegoaudubon.org.
SDAS Conservation Policies
Click on the policy statement to download a pdf copy of the policy
Wind Farm Development
SDAS Conservation Projects |
Grant to Protect Nesting California Least Terns |
Least Tern chick-fence in need of replacement; adult Least Tern
San Diego Audubon has received a $1650 grant from Audubon California to provide enhanced protection for the Least Terns that nest in the Mission Bay area. The grant includes funding for a youth educational program on endangered species, especially the Least Tern.
SDAS has been helping the City manage the Mariners Point nesting area in Mission Bay for over ten years. The site is fenced to protect the birds from animal predators and curious beach goers. The site is also surrounded by a low plastic chick-fence to keep the chicks from wandering out of the area. However, the current Mariners Point chick-fence is getting brittle and breaks easily. This grant will enable SDAS volunteers to install a replacement fence that will safely contain the chicks so the adult birds can find and feed them. The new fence will last for many years. The grant will also provide for the installation of a chick-fence at a Fiesta Island nesting site. The Fiesta Island site will be part of an experiment comparing various vegetation management practices at Least Tern nesting sites.
A second component of the grant is a youth education program. Students will learn about endangered species protection using the Least Tern as an example. As part of the program, the participants will make models of the nesting bird. The models will be cast and painted to resemble real birds. Some of the models will be used as decoys on underperforming nesting sites to encourage renewed nesting.
San Diego Audubon is grateful to Audubon California for funding this local program.
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Rose Canyon Open Space Park in University City |
Rose Canyon at the proposed site of the Regents Road bridge
NEW LAWSUIT FILED BY GROUP OPPOSING THE REGENTS ROAD BRIDGE
San Diego Audubon, Friends of Rose Canyon and the Endangered Habitats League have filed a second lawsuit related to the proposed Regents Road Bridge in Rose Canyon. This suit seeks to prevent the city from spending 4.8 million taxpayer dollars for final design of the bridge before an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been completed.
This group (plus San Diego Coastkeeper) successfully sued the city in 2006 over inadequacies in the original EIR that evaluated traffic relief alternatives for University City. As a result of this earlier lawsuit, the city must now conduct a project specific EIR for the bridge including evaluation of reasonable alternatives. Not only must the city do the new EIR, the courts have determined they must pay our attorneys $450,218 in legal fees related to the 2006 lawsuit.
In spite of these setbacks, the city is trying to go ahead with final bridge design before the new EIR has even been started, a clear case of getting the cart before horse. This is a foolish waste of almost five million dollars in community funds for a project that may never be built.
For details, click here.
Information on this issue will be updated as events unfold.
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Audubon and the Salton Sea |
What happens at the Salton Sea is as important to birds as was the first Audubon fight to keep them from being slaughtered in the name of fashion. Not only because of the sheer numbers of birds affected, (literally millions), but also because water is rapidly becoming so scarce that it is imperative we backup the fight we started at Mono Lake and continue ensuring that wildlife has a legal right to water and that providing water for wildlife is considered a “beneficial use” of water.
So, why won't the birds just go somewhere else if the Salton Sea dries up? In the 1800's California had 5 million acres of wetlands. In the year 2000 California had about 450,000 acres of wetlands left – so birds from the Pacific, Central and Atlantic flyways, all use the Salton Sea as a stopover spot. This translates into literally MILLIONS of birds using the Sea and surrounding agricultural lands, some traveling from as far north as Russia and as far south as Peru. The Sea hosts HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of shorebirds (44 different species) during their winter migration.
Salton Sea birders
Scarcity of water is the threat to the Salton Sea ecosystem right now. California has been forced to reduce it's use of Colorado river water and an agreement, known as the QSA, was signed in September of ‘03 that enables the transfer of water from the Imperial Irrigation District to the San Diego County Water Authority. This is water that is currently used to irrigate agricultural fields and then runs off into the Salton Sea . Thus, when implemented, the size of the Salton Sea will be reduced, by as much as half. It is foreseeable that this will also entail fallowing of agricultural lands, further reducing bird habitat in the area.
An important point to remember is that many of the bird species need both the flooded fields and the sea to survive. So it isn't enough to simply save the Salton Sea – we must also save the surrounding agricultural lands that provide habitat. Or, we may wind up winning the battle, but losing the war.
Flooded fields near the Salton Sea
It also seems likely that there will be additional water transfers in the future – further degrading this ecosystem and facilitating growth in the surrounding cities of San Diego and Riverside counties.
You can make a difference for the millions of birds depending on the Salton Sea Ecosystem. From time to time, as events warrant, Audubon California will send out mailings or urgent notices concerning actions being taken at the Salton Sea . If you are willing to join me in ensuring the continued survival of our migratory birds, please send an email with your contact information to: advocate@audubonsaltonsea.org (This information will not be shared with anyone).
Kathie Satterfield
Salton Sea Campaign Coordinator
Audubon California
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San Diego River Restoration Project |
A new project is just taking shape and we can use your help. This project is BIG! It is the restoration of the San Diego River. This is not only a huge undertaking, but I think one of the most important, because it will have significant, long range benefits for our entire community. The river’s habitat, scenic, flood control and water quality values make this restoration essential to improving our quality of life. We hope that this broad based effort to restore the river will also foster a better understanding of its special biological, historical and geologic place in the San Diego region. The San Diego River Park Foundation has been formed to raise funds for restoration projects along the San Diego River. The foundation is also forming a coalition of public and private groups who care about our river. The first goal of the coalition is to create a master plan for all 52 miles of the river and to identify the most critical areas needing immediate attention.
The San Diego Audubon Society has traditionally, unofficially, monitored and protected the section of the river between Robb Field (Dog Beach) and Interstate 5, as this is an excellent birding area and important wetland habitat. As part of this river restoration effort, our chapter has agreed to officially adopt this section of the river. We don’t yet know exactly what this will entail, but it will likely include cleaning up both trash and invasive exotic plants, restoring vegetation along the river banks, conducting educational events, advocating for conservation and restoration projects, as well as general monitoring of both wildlife and other conditions in the area. In order to do this, we need a committee of enthusiastic volunteers willing to initiate and oversee these kinds of activities. If the idea of restoring the San Diego River inspires you please contact Jim Harrison at (858) 273-5242 or e-mail jimharrisoninsd@cs.com. |
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