Summary of Audubon Resolutions for 2002

• We shall urge the United States Congress to change the channel authorization of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System so that the navigation channel will no longer be federally maintained south of the Jim Woodruff Dam.
• We shall oppose the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and shall urge Florida’s congressional delegation to vote in opposition to any legislation that would open the Refuge to such drilling.
• We shall urge the development of a Florida Global Warming Action Plan that sets specific greenhouse gas emission reduction goals as a component of a comprehensive clean energy plan, and identifies strategies to minimize risks posed by rising seas and other warming effects, and we will support the implementation of a Sustainable Portfolio Standard and a Public Benefits Fund to ensure that Florida harnesses
  sustainable energy generation and energy efficiency technologies.
• We shall propose new public policy that articulates goals, assigns responsibility, and assigns funds for educating Florida’s diverse citizenry about their relationship to Florida’s natural heritage and ensuring that the majority of residents have the knowledge necessary to practice conservation citizenship.
• We shall work with the state of Florida, through the St. Johns River Water Management District, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and other agencies, to identify the parcels within the Upper Econ Mosaic (which covers approximately 30,471 acres and encompasses the headwaters of the Econlockhatchee River and the Econlockhatchee River Swamp) with the highest value for conservation and preservation of natural systems and water resources; work with conservation agencies to bring about the purchase of these land parcels, prioritized for conservation and preservation value; and work with conservation agencies to implement management plans to restore and maintain the natural communities and water resources within the Upper Econ Mosaic.
• We shall urge the local, tribal, state, and federal entities involved to expedite implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in an environmentally sound manner to accomplish 50% restoration by 2010. In addition, we shall be fully committed to continuing to develop a well informed, strong, mainstream constituency emphasizing business, agricultural, and minority communities to support Everglades restoration.
• We shall influence and promote enlightened land management practices for public and private lands, including prescribed burns optimized to restore and maintain native, fire-adapted plant communities.
• We shall support recovery and protection of the Florida panther.
• We shall work with other interested parties to implement an improved plan for recovery of the Florida scrub jay.
• We shall advocate a revision of current district policies and procedures to reflect that wildlife and natural systems are legitimate existing legal users of water, and that sufficient water shall be allocated to natural systems in order to ensure their long-term health and abundance prior to allocation for other uses.
• We shall advocate changes in Florida’s Growth Management Laws.
• We shall support the CERP Indian River Lagoon Project (including C-44 Basin storage, C-23, C-24 Storage and C-25 north and south fork storage), the Indian River Lagoon Feasibility Study, and the Natural Lands and Wetlands Restoration Project.
• We shall campaign to restore Lake Okeechobee and its watershed and to protect areas downstream of the lake. We shall utilize and capitalize on Audubon’s presence in the Lake Wales Ridge region, with four chapters and two existing Audubon Centers, to build and sustain a strong and engaged conservation community.
• We shall urge the Northwest Florida Water Management District to assume the same general responsibilities for managing and protecting water resources as those of the other water management districts, and employ more science, including biologists and ecologists, and increase management for wildlife habitat and diversity, and improve its management and accountability to the public.
• We shall call upon the state of Florida, St. Johns River Water Management District, and the U.S. Forest Service to drain the reservoir, remove Rodman Dam, and restore the floodplain forest along the Ocklawaha River.
• We shall remain opposed to any drilling off the coast and adjacent to Florida or in such environmentally sensitive areas as the Big Cypress Swamp.
• We shall work with federal, state and local agencies, and the phosphate industry to identify critical habitats and species that should be protected from mining impacts, and advocate for their protection and or acquisition.
  • We shall urge the U.S. Forest Service to continue to make the Pinhook a priority purchase area through the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
• We shall support efforts to change the state’s regulations regarding state-listed plant species and amend the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s endangered, threatened, and species of special concern lists and listing criteria to reflect current scientific knowledge.
• We shall support and call for final adoption of the Roadless Conservation Rule without further review or delay.
• We shall continue to work toward a rural land protection policy.
• We shall urge the strengthening of the comprehensive plans of Collier, Lee, Charlotte, and Hendry counties to protect water resources and contain growth within set land-use boundaries.
• We shall develop strategies and constituencies to oppose highway projects that threaten intact ecosystems and environmentally sensitive areas.
• We shall continue as a partner in the Whooping Crane Recovery Effort and support the establishment of the nonessential experimental Whooping Crane Wisconsin-Florida flock.
• We shall specifically oppose the construction of a dam on the Yellow River and the damming of any remaining free-flowing rivers or streams in the state.

For a complete description of these resolutions, please visit the Audubon of Florida Web site at:

http://www.audubonofflorida.org/action/2002res-body.pdf

If you do not have Internet access and would like to receive a printed version of the complete resolutions, please contact Dee Fairbanks at 631-7347.