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GSBAS President Judy Davis, Warren Davis, Past-President and
Conservation Chairperson Larry Merryman, Publicity Chairperson Helga
Merryman, Past-President and Audubon New York Council board member Alice
Heller, and Ross Cusimano attended the Audubon New York Spring Council
Meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY, March 25-27.
The weekend began with a Friday evening presentation,
“Partnering with Land Trusts and the Land Trust Alliance to Conserve
Bird Habitat.” Ethan Winter, New York Conservation Manager,
Land Trust Alliance gave an informative and well-received presentation
followed by numerous questions from the audience.
On Saturday morning, chapter representatives chose between a
field trip to Saratoga Battlefield and Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic
Preserve. It was hard to believe that spring had sprung as we
bundled up against the nippy wind. Those who chose the Saratoga
Battlefield trip were treated to a sighting of a Pileated Woodpecker! At
lunch, attendees had the option of sitting at tables to discuss
conservation issues such as wind power and energy, Audubon at home, and
citizen science/monitoring.
Saturday afternoon’s agenda began with Rebecca Sills,
National Audubon Chapter Services, presenting, “Services The Power of
Audubon Chapters: Education, Advocacy, Citizen Science and Land
Conservation.” The chapter round tabled followed where the
chapters shared their current work and ideas. Elizabeth Sorrell,
National Audubon Society, presented “Communications – Using Social
Media.” This lead to some levity as we learned the language of Facebook
and Twitter. Mike Burger, Audubon New York, lead a discussion looking
for the next multi-chapter conservation project. After Saturday
evening’s dinner, the prestigious Hoyt Award was presented to the
Honorable Suzi Oppenheimer, New York State Senate.
The workshops continued Sunday morning with Sean Saville, Washington
D.C. Policy Office presenting, “Oil Spill Update and other
Federal Issues.” The Audubon New York Council board and Audubon
New York staff presented their updates, followed by Executive Director,
Al Caccese’s report. The meeting officially ended at lunch but some
chapter representatives stayed on to prepare for the First Annual
Chapter Lobby Day. Sean Mahar, Laura McCarthy, and Sean Saville provided
Advocacy training and taught attendees how to be an effective advocate.
The Monday after the Audubon New York (ANY) Spring Council Meeting
was our first Chapter Lobby Day, spearheaded by ANY’s Sean Mahar and
Laura McCarthy. Great South Bay Audubon Society representatives Judy and
Warren Davis and Helga and Larry Merryman joined members from Buffalo
Audubon Society, New York City Audubon Society, Delaware-Ostego Audubon
Society, Audubon Society of the Capital Region, and Southern Adirondack
Audubon Society at the capital for a day of lobbying.
We met in one of the cafeterias in the capital for a power breakfast
of bagels and coffee provided by ANY. After an hour or so of planning,
we split into two groups based on region. Under the tutelage of Sean
Mahar, the GSBAS and NYC Audubon headed off to our first appointment.
Throughout the day we met with:
- Deb Kelleher from Senator Marcellino’s office
- Assemblyman Sweeney
- Assemblyman Lentol and Cathy Peake
- Assemblyman Englebright
- Tom Congdon, Deputy Secretary for Energy and the Environment for
Governor Cuomo
- Chris Molluso from Senator Zeldin’s office
- Tom Lyons, Director of the Environmental Management Bureau,
Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation
We thanked each Senator and Assemblyman for supporting the
Environmental Protection Fund and asked him to support the Environmental
Protection Fund Awareness Act. We asked them to support a strong New
York State Water Management Program and discussed the dangers of
Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas. Each chapter also had a chance to
discuss an issue important to them. New York City Audubon discussed bird
collisions with office building windows and we discussed the problem of
managed feral cat colonies in NY State Parks.
It was a long, exciting, and productive day as we managed to garner
some interest in our issues. We look forward to the next opportunity to
team up with Audubon New York and other chapters to lobby Albany.
Photos below courtesy of Helga Merryman and Judy Davis.
Click to
enlarge and view captions.
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