Saint Paul Audubon Society
Conservation
The Conservation Committee follows the mission to inform members on local, state, and national environmental issues and provide ways for them to take action. Some of the current activities of the Conservation Committee are described below.
Through a wide variety of activities, we work to inform members and others so they can take timely individual action to influence decision-makers on conservation issues and/or make a difference by volunteering to restore and protect local natural areas. We also support and partner with other organizations to have a larger impact on state legislators and decision-makers in conservation and the environment.
Meetings are held at 1463 Portland Avenue in St. Paul. Please call Susan Solterman at 651-260-7040 to find out when the next meeting will be held.
St. Paul Audubon Society’s Conservation Projects and Collaborations
In the past year the Conservation Committee supported a number of important environmental/conservation projects, including:
Project BirdSafe:
A group of partners banded together to create a task force with the goal of
reducing bird deaths from collisions with tall buildings during migration.
Lights Out Twin Cities works to encourage city, state and privately owned
buildings to turn off non-necessary lighting during peak migration hours in
spring and fall. Volunteers also are recruited for the two migration seasons to
assist with a monitoring program, using scientific protocols, to document the
severity of the bird collision problem in the Twin Cities. Partners include
Audubon Minnesota, St. Paul and other Audubon chapters in the Twin Cities, the
University’s Bell Museum of Natural History, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
and Bird Conservation Minnesota. This is an on-going project.
Como Woodland Restoration/Outdoor Classroom
This important environmental project centers on the last remaining
undeveloped portion of Como Regional Park, a 14.5-acre woodland that will be
used as an outdoor classroom for hands-on nature study and projects by St. Paul
schoolkids. Plans call for the continued removal of invasive species such as
buckthorn and garlic mustard in the woodland, planting of thousands of trees and
shrubs and habitat analysis of the various life forms. An advisory committee
meets regularly and is making progress in the areas of youth education, resource
inventory and historic preservation. A broad array of organizations, such as
Ramsey Conservation District, Metropolitan Design Center, City of St. Paul
staff, and school groups are working as partners on this multi-faceted project.
Ramsey County Birding Festival
We continue to support this close-to-home birding festival designed for new
birders and young families. Audubon volunteers help plan and publicize the event
and we sponsor the speaker for the festival dinner. The festival is growing each
year, with events concentrated into a single weekend in early May 2007.
International Migratory Bird Day
Como Park’s Education Division created a new event to Welcome Back Urban
Birds and celebrate International Migratory Bird Day. Audubon volunteers led
bird tours at the one-day event and the committee arranged for the IMBD
organization to provide posters and brochures as handouts. (These were also be
handed out at the Great River Birding Festival, the Audubon Villa Maria event,
the Ramsey County Birding Festival and the Como Water Fest in mid-June.)
Other Organizations:
We continue to support, via a yearly contribution, other organizations for
their work with birds and ecological conservation and restoration. These groups
include the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union, Minnesota Environmental
Partnership, Audubon Minnesota,Audubon Upper Mississippi Campaign and Audubon
Center of the North Woods. ByPartnering in this way, SPAS and the Conservation
Committee can expand the scope and reach of our organization.
Volunteers are always welcome to work on one of our conservation projects described below. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Val Cunningham at writers2@comcast.net or 651-645-5230.
Environmental Advocacy Volunteer Opportunities
The St. Paul Audubon Society is one of the most politically active Audubon chapters in the state. Our members engage in:
- writing letters to local, state and federal elected officials
- responding to e-mail action alerts on state and federal issues
- attending Audubon’s annual legislative lobby day at the capitol
- representing St. Paul Audubon Society on Audubon Minnesota’s Environmental Issues Committee (EIC)
- participating in Audubon’s state policy issue selection process
In1979, Audubon chapters created the state office in Minnesota primarily for the purpose of consolidating advocacy efforts at the State Capitol. Audubon’s influence at the state legislature depends on our members. We have a grassroots base and our members, when they contact their legislators, affect legislative outcomes. For this reason, members helps the Audubon Minnesota Board select and prioritize state legislative issues for the following spring’s legislative session. This is done at a meeting in November of all members of Minnesota Audubon chapters who wish to attend. Audubon’s typical state legislative agenda consists of two to three issues, with the caveat that priority issues in previous years will be again prioritized if under attack.
If you are interested in any volunteer opportunity, please email ssolterman@audubon.org or write to Audubon Minnesota, attn: Susan Solterman at 2357 Ventura Dr. #106, St. Paul, MN 55125.
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