The Rocky Mountain Regional Office is actively conserving birds and ecosystems in Colorado and Wyoming.
National Audubon Society
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Autumn 2013
~ Rocky Mountain Regional Office ~
The Uncertainty of Water
Brian Rutledge
Vice President, Audubon
Executive Director, Audubon Rockies
Colorado’s mountain landscape from Boulder to Fort Collins has had
three consecutive years of near-record extreme weather events,
including high snowpack in 2011, heat, drought, and forest fires in
2012, and high rainfall in 2013.
This year’s torrential September rains swept over fragile fire-burned
landscapes, bringing down trees, rocks, and homes, and sending
refuse into our waterways. It caused the deaths of at least nine people
and over $2 billion in damages. Several public drinking water
systems still remain on boil or bottled water advisories.
Concerns about leakages from flooded oil and gas wells, raw sewage,
and other debris into rivers prompted the State health department to
collect water samples, showing that several rivers had high levels of
E. coli.
To read the whole story: http://rockies.audubon.org/colorado-floodsoil-gas-e-coli-lots-uncertainty-around-water
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20131008/NEWS01/310080020/S
tate-E-coli-no-oil-pollutants-found-Colorado-floodzones?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
Creating BirdFriendly
Communities
In late August of 2013,
leaders from throughout
the One Audubon
Network, including
Audubon Rockies’ own
Jacelyn Downey,
convened for two days at
Maine’s Hog Island
Campto chart a clear and
achievable course for
Audubon’s national
conservation strategy,
“Creating Bird-Friendly
Communities.” This
document summarizes the
outcomes and proceedings
of this first Creating BirdFriendly Communities
Summit. The successful
summit culminated in
agreement among
attendees about:
Photo by Dave Showalter
COMMUNITY
NATURALISTS
POLICY
Bringing Nature Into
Classrooms
BLM’s National
Sage-Grouse
Strategy Impacting
WY and CO
As summer wanes and
school begins, Audubon
Rockies Education
programs in both Wyoming
and Colorado have become
a flurry of activity as
theCommunity Naturalist
Programs begin to educate
students and teachers on the
wonders of birds and all
things outdoors.
After a one-week rain
delay,Four Mile Ranch
Environmental Education in
Colorado is up and running
for its seventh annual
season. More than one
hundred Pagosa Springs 2nd
graders were lucky to have
good weather for
In order to avoid the need to
list Greater Sage-grouse as
a protected species under
the Endangered Species Act
(they are currently
acandidate species, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to
make a final decision in
2015), BLM has begun an
ambitious new paradigm in
wildlife management
through its National SageGrouse Conservation
Strategy. This strategy
focuses on developing and
implementing sage-grouse
conservation policies across
10 states and as such, is one
of the highest level species
recovery efforts in the
• The essential elements
of a bird friendly
community (BFC)
• A collective definition of
a BFC
• Programs, activities, and
products that already
promote BFCs
• Additional BFC
programs, activities, and
products to be developed
• Models for BFC
recognition
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Rocky Mountain Regional
Office of the National
Audubon Society
Wyoming's
Important Bird
Areas
Audubon Rockies recently
submitted four state
Greater Sagegrouse Important Bird
Areas (IBAs) in Wyoming
for consideration for
global status. The
National IBA Technical
Committee reviewed and
identified Ninemile Draw,
Little Sandy Landscape,
Shirley Basin/Bates Hole,
and Red Desert Complex
as global IBAs based on
their Greater Sage-grouse
populations.
Audubon’s “Insects Are
Everywhere!” program.
Students used nets,
magnifiers, and bug boxes
to observe insects, spiders,
and other creepy-crawlies,
gaining a greater
appreciation of the diversity
and abundance of insects
that support a wide variety
This huge federal effort will
ultimately impact
management of 47 million
acres of sagebrush habitat
(includes 15 million acres in
WY and 8.6 million acres in
CO). BLM is revising 68
Resource Management
of birds and other
wildlife. Over the next few
weeks, every student from
Pagosa Springs Elementary
School will have a similar
opportunity to put all five
senses to work, exploring
topics from the water cycle
to plants, wildlife, and
habitat.
Plans, compressed into 15
large geographic
areas. These RMPs are
pivotal because they
identify how the landscape
is managed, often times in
place for decades, and
addresses everything from
grazing to recreation to
energy development.
In Wyoming, along with the
usual classroom and field
trip outreach - which have
resulted in over 500
students already attending
programs this fall - we have
been focusing even more on
our teacher trainings and
educator workshops, since
working with teachers helps
us reach an exponential
number of youth in the
region. We conducted a
workshop at Sheridan
College on September
19thand 20th, and have
several more planned for
In regards to Greater Sagegrouse, BLM is to
implement science-based
conservation measures so as
to prevent the need for
federal listing. The BLM’s
emphasis for protecting and
managing grouse habitat
incorporates the following
principles: protection of
unfragmented habitat;
minimization of habitat loss
and fragmentation; and
management of habitats to
maintain, enhance, or
restore conditions that meet
grouse life history needs.
history of the western U.S.
How are global or
continental IBAs
different from state
IBAs?
The difference is one of
scale and relative
importance to bird
conservation. For
example, a site that
contains significant
numbers of a globally
imperiled species would
be a global IBA, while a
site that contains
significant numbers of a
species that is stable in
parts of its range but
endangered in North
America would qualify as
a continental IBA. In
contrast, a state site that
contains significant
numbers of a species that
is stable elsewhere in the
U.S. but endangered in
that particular state would
be a state IBA.
What does this all mean?
All IBAs are important
and can be used to
conserve our local,
national, and global bird
populations. However, a
site that is globally
important lends more
weight when stressing the
importance of an area in
our policy, education
and/or science actions. For
example, Audubon will be
using the global
designation when
the fall. Our educators have
also been asked to present at
the State Math and Science
Teachers Conference in
Casper.
Lastly, we are sad to report
that the Audubon Center at
Garden Creek will be
closing next spring after 16
years. While this will be a
change for us, we feel we
can use this as an
opportunity to reach out to
even more communities,
students, and teachers in
southern and central
Wyoming through the
community Naturalist
approach. Our outreach
there has already led to new
classroom and field trip
experiences in Casper, as
well as a collaborative
fundraiser with local
elementary art teachers and
the Nicolaysen Art
Museum.
Looking for a
Group Activity?
Become
aHabitat Hero!
Turn your yard or
community garden into a
wildscape by incorporating
Since March, our staff have
commented on 3 draft
RMPs for WY
(Lander,Buffalo, Bighorn
Basin) – pointing out the
strengths, weaknesses, and
proposing new ideas for
each. Next in line
is Northwest CO RMP –
due Dec 2. BLM plans to
have all RMPs wrapped up
by Fall 2014, and before
then each will go through
another public comment
opportunity.
Gunnison Sage-Grouse –
Official Public Hearings
With fewer than 5,000 birds
remaining in Colorado and
Utah, the Gunnison Sagegrouse is in a dire
situation. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS)
has proposed to list the bird
as endangered and
designate critical habitat
under the Endangered
Species Act. Audubon
continues to advocate for
federal listing decisions
based on science, not
politics. USFWS is
expected to make a final
decision is end of March
2014.
commenting on various
energy development
scenarios in the state.
Thank You to the
Bailey Family:
In the spring of 2014, the
Audubon Center at
Garden Creek will
officially close. For the
past 16 years, the Baily
Family has graciously
allowed Audubon
Wyoming (now Audubon
Rockies) to carry out our
nature education on their
property. Now the family
has decided to return the
property to a more natural
state, taking out the old
and deteriorating
buildings and eliminating
trails. We would like to
thank the Bailys for their
generosity to Audubon
and the community.
Although we will miss the
center, Audubon Rockies
respects the Baily family’s
decision and welcomes
this change as a way to
further our conservation
education. Audubon is
refocusing our efforts in
Casper by going to
schools, rather than
relying on the schools to
come to the center. This
Community Naturalist
Program is a “traveling
native plants that support a
diversity of wildlife.
What is a Habitat Hero?
Habitat Heroes are people
who practice a form of
landscape stewardship
called "wildscaping",
designed to provide habitats
for wildlife, large and small.
Whether the landscape you
tend is a home yard, a few
pots on a balcony, a public
park, a schoolyard garden,
or a farm or orchard . . .
Habitat Heroes believe in
growing a healthy
community.
Make a positive
difference for birds,
pollinators, and
other wildlife right
at home!
The USFWS has scheduled
3 public information
sessions (read their press
release):
Tuesday Nov. 19 Gunnison at WSCU
University Center
Wednesday Nov. 20 Montrose at Holiday Inn
Express
Thursday Nov. 21 Monticello at High School
Auditorium
Each of the public meetings
will have the following
schedule:
4:00 - 5:00 Information
Session (short presentation,
Q&A)
6:00 - 9:00 Official Public
Hearing
education” program, a
“center without walls”
which delivers
conservation education
directly to the classroom
or to nearby natural areas.
We feel we will continue
and even increase our
outreach to Casper and
surrounding communities
through this Community
Naturalist Program
approach.
The Audubon Center will
always hold a special
place in our heart as we
forward our conservation
education outreach in
Casper.
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Copyright © 2013 National Audubon Society - Rocky
Mountain Regional Office, All rights reserved.
The Audubon 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
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