The Council met on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 to begin the process for identifying the conservation issues of greatest concern for our Pennsylvania Audubon chapters. There were thirty-two chapter representatives registered from fourteen of our chapters. The meeting featured six concurrent breakout groups charged with the task to generate the conservation and advocacy issues of greatest concern. The groups engaged in brainstorming sessions facilitated by Phil Witmer from the Valley Forge Audubon Society. The set up and reports of each of the six groups was recorded.
Some of the conservation issues that were identified include:
- Bird friendly buildings and mitigating bird collisions with glass
- Habitat protection, wetlands, storm water management, bird friendly yards, native plants, and more
- Funding environmental programs and agencies like DCNR/DEP and Federal programs
- Climate issues, renewable energy, critical siting of utility solar and wind generating facilities, and energy policy
- Pollution issues including plastics, pesticides, lead bullets, water quality, etc.
- Environmental education including educating municipal leaders
- Many more issues of concern were generated
We will continue the process to identify the conservation issues of greatest concern to our chapters. The list of ideas from June 16th will be shared, in the coming weeks, with each of our chapters. Each chapter will be invited to review and add items to the list. After a comprehensive list of issues is generated, we will engage in a process to prioritize the issues in terms of their importance to our chapter network and the role the chapters and Council may play in advocating for the issues of highest priority.
ACCESS A COMPLETE LIST OF ITEMS OF CONCERN HERE (PDF)
Questions or comments can be sent to [email protected]