President's Message

By Jason Frederick

So, how are I, the new officers, and the new board members doing so far? Hard for me to tell sometimes, but here is what's going on and what is going to be going on.

Several communities, environmental groups, students and teachers from Freedom 7 Elementary School, members of the Space Coast Audubon Society, and citizens from Brevard County came together and convinced the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to purchase the last piece of the Thousand Islands in Cocoa Beach. The property known as Reynolds Tract was purchased after a 5-0 vote. We, as well as other groups and citizens, have been after the county to purchase and protect the Thousand Islands and thankfully that mission is complete. Time to relax and take a brake, well... not yet. There are still other properties that we would like the BOCC to purchase and protect.

The Audubon Assembly has come and gone. We hosted the event along with the Audubon of Florida at the Hilton in Cocoa Beach. I coordinated the field trips and with the help of some great field trip leaders, we introduced fellow Auduboner's (even spell check did not like that one) from all over the state to the nature and some history of Brevard County. I would like to thank the field trip leaders that helped me out by assisting or leading field trips this year. From the feed back I received, Doug Sphar and Jim Durocher did a great job leading a kayak trip to the newly acquired Thousand Islands. Sarah Linney, Kathy Frederick and I led a trip to Viera Wetlands that was interesting to say the least. High winds and passing showers always makes for a great trip. The participants were treated to a Peregrine Falcon, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, and several other of our local favorites. Sarah and Kathy also joined me to lead a trip to Pine Island that we partnered with the Indian River Archeological Society's Jim Escoffier and his wife to see the Sams House and the Indian Mound on the property. Next up was a trip to Jetty Park and the Canaveral Locks which provided the participants with birds and an added bonus of manatees, sea turtles, and dolphins. Jim Meyer, our Co-Vice President, provided me with some space program history that made the trip a little more interesting than just a birding trip. Dave Freeland and Jim Stahl led a trip to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. With more participants than originally scheduled, all of our field trip leaders had to step up and work over time to give the trip participants a trip of a life time. Several people back at the hotel came up to me to say thank you for a great time and how envious they were of our great wildlife and places to view wildlife.

With the Christmas Bird Counts coming up in December and then the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Fest in January, more excitement and work is still ahead of us. Brevard County has three Christmas Bird Counts: Cocoa, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and South Brevard. For new comers to Audubon, the Christmas Bird Counts are a bird census count in a specific area. The numbers gathered can be compared from year to year and also throughout the nation and the world to see how each bird species is reacting to an ever changing world. If a certain species is losing numbers, an investigation in to the cause can be conducted. This type of investigation helped to show the devastation that DDT was doing to the avian world. If you would like to participate in the Cocoa Christmas Bird Count December 15th, Contact Dave Freeland (freela148@aol.com) or Dee Fairbanks Simpson (deefairbanks@yahoo.com) for details. Merritt Island Christmas Bird Count on December 17th, contact Ned Steel (nedsteel@msn.com) or Jim Pedersen (pedersenjc@comcast.net) for details. South Brevard Christmas Bird Count on December 30th, Contact Roy Book (rlbook@earthlink.net) for details. No experience needed, we always need people to help record birds counted.

The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Fest is taking place January 23 - 28, 2008. For more info, check out the website at http://www.nbbd.com/fly. There will be field trips of all kinds, displays, products, demos, exhibits, products, and fun for birders and wildlife lovers of all ages.

We have been busy at work and we continue to work on Audubon's mission to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity. We still have work to do, but with a strong board of directors, a strong group of members of our chapter, and with the hard work and determination of like minded individuals, anything is possible. Look at what we have done at the past and what odds we faced. Rather than asking when is somebody going to do something about the problems we are facing with urban sprawl and other environmental challenges, we have a great group of people, standing up and making a difference. We need more people to help. We need you. As members of the National Audubon Society, the Space Coast Audubon Society, and as residents of Brevard County, we have a voice, we can either choose to use it or suffer the consequences of being silent as the wildlife we love becomes silent.