|
|
Audubon
Assembly 2004 Report
By Tom Atkinson
This is the fifth year that Audubon of Florida has held its annual
Assembly. The purpose of the assembly is to involve chapters in
setting conservation priorities for Audubon of Florida for the coming
year. This year was somewhat special in that we all got to meet
for the first time AOF new executive director, David Anderson. At
every opportunity, Mr. Anderson tried to drive home the point that
“We are all Audubon,” national, state, chapters and
centers.
Audubon chapters have worked together for more than 100 years
with a common interest in birds, wildlife, and natural history.
Working in local communities around the state, chapters deliver
environmental education, conservation and nature appreciation through
field trips, influence conservation policy and hold monthly meetings
and community events. Audubon of Florida (AOF) works with the 43
local chapters. AOF wants to reach the grassroots of Florida to
support national, state and local conservation initiatives, enhance
environmental education, and develop citizen advocates.
In an attempt to involve chapters in the planning process, Audubon
Conservation Committees were established through the Audubon of
Florida Board of Directors in March 2000, as a chapter-inclusive
process for conservation decision-making in the state of Florida.
Instead of one statewide Conservation Committee, the Board of Directors
of Audubon of Florida adopted a regional approach to facilitate
more participation by chapter leaders and allow chapters within
a region to utilize the conservation committees to develop common
strategies on issues that impact regional natural resources. Regions
are organized to take into account the ecosystem areas of the state.
Committee areas largely follow the boundaries of the state’s
Water Management Districts. The purpose of the regional conservation
committees is to recommend conservation priorities to the Audubon
of Florida board, engage in regional conservation planning and resource
development, engage in collective action and conduct training and
chapter development workshops. The process was developed five years
ago to allow Audubon of Florida to respond to chapter initiated
conservation priorities has, over time, shown the need of further
development to become more effective.
Last year, this process of chapters identifying priorities, sending
them on to the regional committees who in turn sent them along to
the AOF Board and Assembly worked well up to a point. The problem
was that there were 43 priorities that made it through the process
and they were all lumped together without any emphasis of one over
the other. This has proven to be unwieldy so not a lot was accomplished.
This year, the Assembly (with a lot of staff input) divided the
existing priorities into three categories.
The categories are: (a) Public Policies; (b) Ecosystem and place-based
conservation priorities and (c) Issue statements. Each group of
priorities will be treated differently in connection with allocation
of staff time and money. For actually for getting things accomplished,
the emphasis will be on the Ecosystem and place based conservation
priorities where AOF intend to take a prominent leadership role.
Staff feel that the workload, resources and development strategies
associated with this more limited list is manageable. These will
have a strong science base, a commitment of chapter, regional and
state effort, and have action plans to reflect that commitment.
I, for one, feel that we really accomplished something at this
year’s Assembly and hope that everyone will support Mr. Anderson
when he says, “We all have to say, and mean WE, when we try
to preserve wildlife habitat in the name of Audubon.” Only
if we all work together will we have any chance of success.
|
Membership
Application for the Indian River Audubon Society Chapter and the
National and State Audubon Societies








Have
you found a sick or injured bird or wild animal? If so, please contact:
Florida Wildlife
Hospital (321)254-8843
|