Audubon in Sacramento

By Ilana DeBare

Guess who visited the California State Capitol on Wednesday:

One leucistic Red-tailed Hawk. One American Kestrel. One Great Horned Owl.

And dozens of Audubon members from chapters throughout the state, including Golden Gate Bird Alliance!

Diane Ross-Leech, Leslie Silver, and I joined our colleagues from other chapters in a “Birds Matter Day” lobbying blitz organized by Audubon California, the first such statewide effort by Audubon in over a decade.

As we gathered for breakfast and an orientation across the street from the white-domed Capitol building, we were greeted by a familiar face — former GGBA Executive Director Mike Lynes, who now, as Policy Director for Audubon California, treats the Capitol as his “patch.”

We also were given an insider’s view of the lobbying process by former Assemblyman Pedro Nava, who serves on the Audubon California board.

“As a legislator, when I had visits from Audubon, I paid attention,” Nava told us. “Audubon has a reputation for being responsible and understanding that compromise is not a dirty word.”

After breakfast we fanned out in teams to visit legislators and their aides. Our mission was to establish relationships with our local representatives — so we can work together with them for a healthy, clean environment for both people and birds.

We let them know Audubon’s positions on several  key issues:

• Climate change. We shared the scary results of last fall’s study by National Audubon, which found that HALF of all North American bird species risk extinction over the next 80 years due to climate change. And we expressed our support for the package of climate change bills being put together by the State Senate Leadership.
• Wildlife corridors. We supported AB 498 by Assemblyman Marc Levine of Marin County, which would encourage creation of habitat strips connecting wildlife populations that have been turned into isolated “islands” by freeways, development, etc.
• Salton Sea. No specific bill yet — but something must be done to prevent this major stop on the Pacific Flyway from drying up.
• Lead ammunition. Yes, California finally passed a ban on lead hunting ammunition — but now the gun lobby is pushing a bill, AB 395, to overturn the ban. We asked legislators to oppose this bill.

In meeting with Bay Area and coastal lawmakers, we received encouragingly warm and friendly responses. One aide (to Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties) even told us she was an Audubon member!

Meanwhile, other chapters had the more challenging task of meeting with conservative legislators who deny or downplay climate change.

Audubon is uniquely positioned among conservation groups to reach out to such policymakers — because 45 percent of our membership nationally is either Republican or independent

“Your being here helps a great deal,” San Francisco Senator Mark Leno told our team of Bay Area Audubon members. “Our counterparts in ‘redder’ parts of the state need to hear from your counterparts in their district offices.”

There were moments when the whole process felt like a choreographed dance. The legislators knew what we were going to say. We knew, more or less, what they were going to say.

And there were a half-dozen other groups of citizen lobbyists also wandering the corridors that day — beverage industry representatives, state parks supporters, state employee supervisors, just to name a few.

Even so, our presence there made an important statement.

“An event like this has numerous impacts,” said former Assemblyman Nava. “First, it helps to unite Audubon California and the chapters so they are speaking in a consistent and coherent voice. Second, policymakers hear that consistent voice, which reinforces their positive impression of Audubon.”

If you’re wondering what role the owl, kestrel and leucistic hawk played in the day, they were guests of honor on the Capitol lawn at lunchtime — courtesy of Native Bird Connections, which uses rehabilitated birds for educational presentations.

They were a hit not just with the Audubon visitors, but with Assemblyman Levine, who returned to his office with an Audubon California baseball cap and a photo of himself with the raptors.

(Note: Native Bird Connections’ raptors will also be guests at our Birdathon Awards Celebration on May 17! Tickets for the celebration are available online.)