Maine Audubon Perspective

Year-end Report: The Business of Conservation

As executive director of Maine Audubon for three years come February, I now know well the rhythm of the organization's annual work cycle.

There are favorite trips, for example, every season of the year spotting and moose-rutting in fall, the winter ecology weekend, warbler watching throughout the spring. Every summer, our staff more than doubles, adding interns, wildlife biologists and camp counselors; that's also the season when Maine Audubon volunteers patrol Southern Maine's beaches to help protect endangered shore birds. Fall-to-winter months are crunch time for development staff members who produce the annual Maine Audubon art auction in Falmouth, then head into the busy end-of-year giving season.

Spring thaw brings biologists and volunteers into the field to monitor vernal pools. And whenever the Maine Legislature is in session, Maine Audubon is a presence in Augusta, advocating for valuable wildlife policy.

Still, that's only a sample of business as usual at our headquarters in Falmouth and through our Audubon centers and local chapters statewide. What continues to astonish me is how much else we accomplish in a year. And we do it by coordinating three distinct yet integrated strategies: action, education and conservation.

I'm proud to share with you some of our accomplishments in 2003.

Taking Action

• After a two-and-a-half year legal battle, Maine Audubon stopped a New York developer from building a giant Wal-Mart Supercenter that would have subjected Bangor's Penjajawoc Marsh, one of the state's most valuable wetlands, to habitat loss for hundreds of species, 24-hour noise and light and runoff from almost 18 acres of paved parking lot.
• We kept up pressure against powerful opponents to end the state's coyote-snaring program, which threatens non-target species like the threatened bald eagle and Canada lynx. The program was put on hold in October.
• Maine Audubon's tireless advocacy helped win Governor John Baldacci's significant support and action for sustainable forestry practices and an end to timberland liquidation.

Providing Education

• Maine Audubon's nature camps, school trips and after-school and classroom programs engaged more than 15,000 of Maine's next conservationists in experiencing nature firsthand have, despite living in a state rich with natural wonders.
• We connected more than 35,000 people with nature at our Audubon centers near Portland and Bangor. Nearly 2,000 more explored the outdoors on Maine Audubon trips led by experienced naturalists.

Promoting Conservation

• In September, Maine Audubon was the only environmental group to oppose the proposed casino referendum and site, showing Maine's voters how the law did not guarantee environmental regulation and the complex would seriously threaten rare and endangered wildlife and thousands of acres of vital habitat.
• Maine Audubon brought planning boards across the state "Beginning with Habitat," a one-of-a-kind program that shows how to protect local wildlife and habitat as a tool for conserving open space and curbing sprawl.
• Organizing a record number of 1,000 volunteers, Maine Audubon completed its 20th annual Maine Loon Count, a project the Portland Press Herald recently described as "a fundamental part of the state's strategy for protecting loons."

Thanks to people like you volunteers a strong and highly effective voice for the wildlife and great natural heritage of our state. And the hundreds of new members who joined the organization this year help make Maine Audubon even stronger.

Thank you for your support, and my best wishes for the holiday season and new year. With your help, Maine Audubon will continue "business as usual" in 2004

Kevin P. Carley, executive director