GGBA announces new Executive Director

GGBA announces new Executive Director

ByGGBA

On December 1st, Mike Lynes will succeed Mark Welther as Executive Director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance. Following is a letter from GGBA Board President Carey Knecht welcoming Mike and thanking Mark for his leadership and service to Golden Gate Bird Alliance. 

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Dear Golden Gate Bird Alliance members and friends:

We are announcing a leadership change at Golden Gate Bird Alliance: On December 1st, Mike Lynes will succeed Mark Welther as GGBA Executive Director.

These are challenging economic times for most nonprofits, and GGBA has been making strategic adjustments in order to ensure long-term sustainability. One of Mark’s strongest recommendations was that we streamline our leadership structure by merging the Executive Director and Conservation Director roles, and ask Mike to lead Golden Gate Bird Alliance in its work ahead.

Many of you know Mike as our Conservation Director since 2008. He brings with him the dedication and expertise necessary to engage all Bay Area residents in protecting birds and habitat. A U.C. Davis-trained biologist who studied birds with PRBO Conservation Science, he is also a lawyer specializing in environmental policy. For the past four years, he has been Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s chief strategist and public face on conservation issues.

We extend our respect and deep gratitude to Mark for his leadership over the past three and a half years. Mark guided GGBA to some major victories: a landmark agreement to remove thousands of old bird-killing wind turbines at Altamont Pass, San Francisco’s adoption of Bird-Safe Building Standards, and the expansion of the Eco-Education Program and high school internships into Richmond and San Francisco. Mark will continue to be involved with Golden Gate Bird Alliance as a member and advisor, and he looks forward to getting out in the field more.

We on the Golden Gate Bird Alliance Board of Directors look forward to working with all of you to strengthen GGBA’s conservation and education programs. Your support is what makes possible all of our great activities including advocacy, field trips, guest speakers, restoration days and youth education.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to meet Mike personally yet, you’ll have a chance at our annual Christmas Bird Counts on Dec. 16 and 27. We hope to see you there!

Yours truly,

Carey Knecht,
President, GGBA Board of Directors
…
The Feathery Tribe – Thursday Nov. 15

The Feathery Tribe – Thursday Nov. 15

ByGGBA

Join us on Thursday November 15 in San Francisco for a spotlight on the roots of ornithology — how Charles Darwin changed our understanding of birds, the passionate debates that led to today’s classification of bird species, and what it was like to be a natural scientist at the dawn of the 20th century.

Our featured guest speaker is Daniel Lewis, author of the book “The Feathery Tribe,”  a biography of Robert Ridgway, the Smithsonian’s first curator of birds.  For more information, see our Speaker Series page.…

New waterfowl class starts Nov. 24

New waterfowl class starts Nov. 24

ByGGBA

Winter is waterfowl season, with millions of ducks, geese and swans arriving in northern California. Our new “Duck, Duck, Goose… Loon?” class starts on Saturday November 24 and includes two Sunday field trips to San Francisco and the Sacramento Delta.

Learn to identify the nearly 30 species in the order Anseriformes (including ducks, geese, swans) that reside or overwinter in California, and learn about the evolutionary adaptations and life histories that distinguish them from other water birds like loons and grebes.

The class will take place from 9 am to 3 pm on November 24 at the new EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco. Field trips will take place on Sunday November 25 (9 am to noon in San Francisco) and Sunday December 2 (10 am to 4 pm, to the Cosumnes River Preserve in the Sacramento Delta).

Class size is limited to 20. Fee: $60 for GGBA members, $75 for non-members. For more information, see the Classes page on our web site. To sign up, please call the GGBA office at (510) 843-2222.

 

Tundra Swan photo by Bob Lewis.…

GGBA supports the SF parks bond

GGBA supports the SF parks bond

ByGGBA

Golden Gate Bird Alliance encourages San Francisco voters to approve Measure B, the $196 million parks bond that will be on the November ballot.

We reviewed arguments both for and against the Parks Bond. Some of our allies make strong cases for opposing the bond, based on the S.F. Recreation and Parks Department’s poor track record on issues important to local wildlife.

However, on balance we feel that the bond provides much-needed funding for city parks and for wildlife habitat — including $6.5 million for natural areas in Golden Gate Park, $2 million for Lake Merced, $4 million for trails, and $35 million for waterfront parks at the Port of San Francisco.

San Francisco’s parks badly need improvement and maintenance. If this measure fails, there won’t be another opportunity to fund parks for a number of years. So we are supporting the bond measure — and then we will keep a close eye on how Rec & Parks spends the money, to make sure that wildlife and habitat get their fair share.

You can read the text of Measure B here.

Other Ballot Measures

As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Golden Gate Bird Alliance can not endorse political candidates. As a local Audubon chapter, we do most of our advocacy on Bay Area issues. So when election time comes around, our focus is on local issues and ballot measures .

In addition to the San Francisco parks bond, our Conservation Committees and Board of Directors reviewed two other local ballot measures. We decided to take a neutral position on both of them:

Oakland Zoo Parcel Tax: Oakland voters are considering Measure A1, a parcel tax that will generate $6 million per year for 20 years. While critics say the zoo is expanding too aggressively into Knowland Park, which contains sensitive habitat, zoo officials say the parcel tax money will not be used for that expansion and will improve  animal care and nature education. GGBA takes a neutral position.

Berkeley Measure T: Berkeley voters are being asked to provide $30 million for improvements in West Berkeley and adjust the zoning to allow for more development.  We opted to stay neutral because the activities that would directly affect Aquatic Park, a local important bird area, have been tabled for decision in early 2013.  We will remain involved in advocating for Aquatic Park in the coming months.…

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