Audubon's Top Ten

The National Audubon Society announced its annual "top ten" conservation victories, many of which have been covered in PNG:

1. Widespread media coverage of the Society's climate report that concluded half of American birds are threatened by climate change. Birds matter to Americans and they want actions taken to insure their survival into the next century;
2. Audubon California protected tricolored blackbirds by delaying the harvest on a single parcel of land where a third of the state's population gathered to nest. The producer was able to harvest after the birds had nested and was protected from a monetary loss by government agencies;
3. British Petroleum was found grossly negligent in its handling of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. More money will be available for restoration of wetlands, barrier islands and study of environmental impacts on the Gulf The Supreme Court recently rejected BP's appeal of the trial court's findings {21.06.10, BP Deserves Contract Debarment};
4. Florida voters passed a measure to designate nearly a billion for conservation efforts in the next 20 years. Audubon helped collect 35,000 signatures to put the Water and Legacy Amendment on the ballot. Progress is also being made on reconnecting the central Everglades to fresh water flows. California voters approved a water bond measure that includes major elements directly benefiting birds. Audubon California presented data to the legislature on the lack of water for wildlife and the impact of drought;
5. Congress reauthorized the Farm Bill that includes significant funding for conservation efforts in important habitats for wildlife;
6. US Fish & Wildlife Service listed the Yellow-billed Cuckoo as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  The cuckoo is under pressure from severe drought conditions. The Service is expected to finalize a proposal to designated 500,000 acres in nine western states as critical habitat;
7. Izembek Refuge in the Aleutian Islands stays roadless after the Secretary of the Interior rejected a native proposal to build a road through its wilderness. Izembek is important habitat for migrant birds. In some years all of the world's Pacific Black Brant use Izembek Lagoon {26.02.13, Build A Road Through It};
8. Solar power is booming in the US and facing a push-back from utility companies concerned about the impact of inexpensive residential solar on their profit margins. Audubon is supporting policy reforms at the state level and opposing regulatory changes that could undermine further growth of rooftop solar energy {12.11.14, Solar Gains in US};
9. The Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay, Alaska hit a major block when one of the partners dropped out of the project that has generated concerted opposition among conservationists. {09.17.13, Anglo-American Calls it Quits} The EPA will identify options for protecting the world's largest sockeye salmon run and habitat for many important bird species from what would be one of the world's largest open-pit copper mines. So far the agency has not used its authority under the Clean Water Act to stop the hugely damaging project;
10. The President designated a half million acres near Los Cruces, NM as a new national monument under the Antiquities Act.  The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Monument includes critical and unique habitat for more than 210 species of birds and other species of wildllife. He also used his executive authority to greatly expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument covering 370m square miles of unique marine habitat. {27.09.14, Marine Reserve Expanded} After five years of inactivity, Congress sent a package of conservation bills to the President for signature on Friday. The package was attached to the defense appropriation bill passed last Friday. {22.03.14, Right-Wingers Hate Parks} The measures protect more than 1 million acres in various forms including 245,000 acres of new wilderness. The legislation did not come without cost: a special measure to facilitate Rio Tinto's Resolution copper mine near Superior, AZ was added, and Great Northern Properties, a Houston-based coal company got a Christmas present in the transfer to the company of coal reserves in Montana's Bull Mountains. The government said the transfer was made to correct an error made in 1900 when it expanded the Cheyenne Indian Reservation without mineral rights attached.