I apologize for the scarcity of post these days, but I am about to take over as the new President of the Wake Audubon Society and we are having some cash flow issues. I have been knee deep in writing a fundraising letter (oh, quit snickering, I have multiple editors on that project, thank you) and reading up on all sorts of interesting things like membership (how to expand) fundraising ideas (besides the letter) and getting ready for our annual board retreat (I sort of don’t like calling it a retreat because really, its just an all day meeting). After next weekend I promise, more posts!
Ok, Bush Administration, now it’s personal April 28, 2008
I am as mad as anyone about the Bush Administration. They are an obnoxious bunch, doing pretty much whatever they want, Congress and International treaties be damned. I have frequently felt frustrated because I feel there is nothing to do but count down the next few long months. Sure, I have signed petitions, given money to causes, but on the whole I feel impotent with regards to the federal government. It doesn’t help that NC has two congress people who don’t do jack, and writing letters to them does not help anyway because they toe the party line.
But now, George, it’s personal. This border wall you are building. I have read countless articles about the negative impact it will have on wildlife. If this weren’t bad enough, you go an take Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary in Texas. Sabal Palm hosts the largest last remaining stands of Sabal Palm trees and this ecotype of native vegetation is host to many, many animals. This is one of the main reasons birdwatchers flock (no pun intended) to southern Texas. So many amazing birds.
I love Sabal Palm, because I spent two weeks there pulling invasive weeds (and there are many) and working on the construction of a boardwalk. It is a beautiful place and I saw many cool birds as well as helping get a group of high school students interested in the environment. Jimmy, the head guy, was so nice and it was a real pleasure to work with him.
Sabal Palm, under the current border plan, will be cut out. It is located on the Rio Grande, and the wall will put it in no man’s land outside of the wall. Outside of visitors view. The ocelot population, small at best, will probably not survive. Without management, the palms won’t either.
This is a terrible, terrible thing. The wall is for me the breaking point. I can hardly wait for a change in administration. If you want to help this fight, check this out.
George, January 2009 cannot come soon enough.
The Power of a Cleanup April 5, 2008
Today I took part in the Neuse River Cleanup here in Raleigh. It made me think about volunteering and littering. (Well, I was out there picking up trash not usually within conversation range of anyone else for about 4 hours!)
I am a big believer in giving back to the community. I thought about that a lot today. Because I was knee deep in wet vegetation on a Saturday morning. And I am out doing volunteer work on many Saturday mornings. Maybe I should spend more time doing things for myself? None of my pals volunteer to the extent that I do, and so perhaps I am missing some sort of self indulgent element of life? But you know, I volunteer because I want to. In a different way than getting a massage is self indulgent, but, it makes me happy. Plus, you get that warm fuzzy feeling of doing something good. Best of all even with a small number of people (we had 7 folks from Wake Audubon to do our section of the river) you can get stuff done. Our section certainly looks much nicer than it did yesterday.
Ok, on to littering. First of all, people who litter drink a lot of Nu-Grape. Who drinks Nu-Grape? No one I know. I don’t think I have ever tried it myself. They also drink a lot of alcohol, but that is to be expected. We picked up 48 bags of trash, 3 tires, a bike (I found another but it was so buried in the mud it is now part of the ecological web), a metal frame for towing a car on a trailer, a tennis racket, a purple martin house, and a saw blade for a table saw.
As a bonus I saw my first Blue Grey Gnatcatcher of the year!! Also heard Blue-headed Vireo and a few warblers I could not identify. I need to refresh my birding by ear, clearly.
