The Auduboner

Movers & Shakers

New Chair In Charge

Photo by Katherine Lambert

This December Carol Browner takes over as chair of Audubon's Board of Directors from Donal C. O'Brien Jr., who is retiring after 15 years in the position. Browner headed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 through 2001, the longest term in agency history. Three of the many marks she made were adoption of the toughest clean-air standards ever, enforcing the Clean Water Act, and expediting the cleanup of Superfund sites. We spoke to Browner recently at her office in Washington, D.C.

Question: Why Audubon?
Answer: A big reason is that, through our centers and state programs, we're making a personal and financial commitment to communities across the country where there may not have been a focus on conservation issues before. The centers are one way Audubon gets people interested and involved in conservation. They are places where you can touch, feel, see, and learn. There are beautiful birds and wildlife. It is about giving people and communities access to nature in ways they haven't had before.

Q: Why is this so important?
A: When you engage and educate people in their community about environmental issues, it's the first step toward engaging them in a broader debate and effort—whether it be on a city, state, or national level. Building the next generation of activists is all about having educated, committed constituencies so we can address problems like climate change.

Q: Let's talk about climate change, the focus of recent media attention, including this issue of Audubon.
A: It is the greatest environmental health problem the world has ever faced. When you think about Audubon's core business—bird and wildlife preservation and conservation—climate change will have dramatic consequences. And the effects are irreversible. Sea-level rise is not reversible, for instance. We are about to be the first generation to leave subsequent generations a problem they cannot solve.

Q: In this day and age of environmental rollbacks in Washington, are there any reasons for optimism?
A: In my experience, the public demand for clean air and clean water doesn't change. If anything, it may grow stronger when the public believes the government isn't doing its job of setting and enforcing environmental standards. In part, I believe that's why more and more governors are taking leadership roles in climate change. Their citizens don't believe Washington is doing enough. And when you get enough critical mass at the state level, that will put pressure back on Washington.

—David Seideman

Chapter Spotlight

Going to Bat for Bats

Ann-Francis Ford, an Audubon activist for velvety free-tailed bats in South Florida.

Photo by Andrew Kaufman/Contact Press Images

The boxed bat guano—collected, sanitized, and given away each week—is a gift from Ann-Francis Ford. "Best fertilizer around," she declares. Ford snaps down her bicycle kickstand and starts working the crowd. Never one to miss an opportunity, this grandmother, naturalist, and Florida Keys Audubon Society member passes out flyers about the velvety free-tailed bat (Molossus molossus), the species that people gather here every evening to see swarm.

The curious bat watchers aren't standing outside a cave but a school maintenance building in Monroe County, Florida. The only colony of velvety free-tailed bats known to roost in a U.S. city is in one of the school's hollow block walls. In most places, bats are about as popular as prisons and nuclear power plants, and, despite their rarity, these bats are no exception: Few people want them in their backyards, including at first the Monroe County School Board. However, the bats are protected by Florida state law and cannot be exterminated. Last year Ford and other members of Florida Keys Audubon rallied around the bats to enlighten the community and make sure the animals weren't evicted.

The colony is located just a block away from an elementary school—too close for the comfort of many school board members, but just about right, according to the kids. Cyndi Marks of the Florida Bat Center traveled 300 miles at Audubon's request to teach the students all about the nocturnal creatures; a wave of save-the-bats letters soon reached the school superintendent. "There's no health risk if people know to avoid injured animals," says Mark Whiteside, a physician and the president of Florida Keys Audubon. "I've spoken with U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, with our state veterinarian, and with an entomologist. We all agree the bats are roosting in the best possible place."

An unusually large number of albino bats—5 in a colony of 1,200 (albinism in mammals usually occurs at a rate of just one in a million)—has further dispelled old concerns. The unusual phenomenon "shifts the mind-set about bats from vampires to good guys," says Tom Andrews, a Florida Keys Audubon member. The school board has agreed to grant the bats asylum, he says. "And that's as impressive as seeing the albinos themselves."

—Barbara Bowers

Important Bird Areas

Pawnee National Grasslands

Photo by Brian E. Small

The Pawnee National Grasslands,193,060 acres of shortgrass prairie in northeastern Colorado, was designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) in 2000, largely as a historic stronghold and breeding site for the mountain plover.

This misnamed species is limited to the Great Plains and the Colorado Plateau. Until the 1990s about 1,300 individuals nested on and around the national grasslands, but then most of them abandoned the area. Today fewer than 100 individuals nest there. What happened?

The mountain plover had adapted to life with the bison, nesting on bare ground or short, dry grasses grazed by the great herds. Ironically, recent management of grasslands for sustainable cattle grazing, plus several wet years, has left the Pawnee National Grasslands too lush for plovers!

The Audubon Society of Greater Denver is advocating for restoration of the grassland habitat, and the Platte and Prairie Audubon Society is conducting winter bird surveys on the Pawnee. Meanwhile, Colorado Audubon is recruiting volunteers to protect mountain plover nest sites at this IBA. (For more information about Audubon's IBA program, visit www.audubon.org, go to Birds & Science/Bird Conservation, and pull down to Important Bird Areas.)

—Frank Graham Jr.