National Audubon Society Wetlands Campaign...
Partnership in Protection

Great Blue Heron, Black Rail, Marsh Wren and Blue-winged Teal.... if you care about birds, you care about wetlands conservation and restoration. Because America's marshes, swamps, bogs, hardwood bottomland forests, mangroves, tide flats, and prairie potholes are places birds like-and need-to be. In fact, fully three-quarters of North America's bird species depend upon wetlands for resting, feeding, or nesting. Wetlands conservation and restoration are the key to bird conservation.

Chapter Leaders --
Join Audubon's Wetlands Campaign!

In cities, towns, and rural areas, from coastal marshes to prairie potholes and bottomland hardwood swamps, chapter leaders are working with Audubon Wetlands Campaign to protect and restore wetlands. Our goal is to save, restore and protect one million acres of the wetland habitats so important to birds and other wildlife, and we invite you, Audubon chapter leaders, to join our Campaign.

The Audubon Wetlands Campaign is a grassroots campaign. Audubon's chapters form its backbone and greatest strength. By linking chapters into a network, the Campaign offers a forum for exchanging information and for mobilizing political power. By the end of 1998, we plan to have 250 chapters signed up with the Campaign.

The Campaign can offer your chapter greater resources to save, restore and protect wetlands

• National, regional, state and local fund-raising. The Wetlands Campaign works to secure grants for chapter wetland acquisition and restoration projects. We are also seeking funds to initiate an Audubon "legacy wetland" program, aimed at providing resources to chapters to preserve and restore wetlands in their communities across America.
• Technical assistance and communication materials. The Campaign's revised wetlands action guide will be available by June with updated information on how to save wetlands at the local, state and national levels. We have recent public opinion polling information about winning wetlands messages and fact sheets to help you communicate effectively with the media and with decision-makers. A slide show, public service announcement, guide to passing local wetlands ordinances, and other tools are also available.
• Mobilize to defend the Clean Water Act and other wetlands protections. Congress continues to consider weakening wetlands protections in the Clean Water Act and other federal laws. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is repealing "Nationwide Permit 26" but may replace it with a program that is even more destructive of wetlands. Audubon has been a leader in mobilizing grassroots opposition to these measures. By joining the Campaign, you become part of our activist network and receive regular updates of actions in Congress and the federal agencies and timely information on how to influence decisions in Washington, D.C.
• Receive technical, policy, and strategic advice. The Campaign is currently setting up "mentor teams" of individuals with expertise in wetlands science, policy, and strategic consulting. This team can help your chapter on anything from designing a wetland restoration project, to developing policy and positions on important local wetlands issues, to creating an education or communications program.
• Join a Campaign committee. As a grassroots campaign, our Advisory Committee helps transform good ideas into action on the ground. Made up of chapter volunteers and Audubon staff from state field offices and other Audubon programs and divisions, the Advisory Committee has five subcommittees: science, policy, education and communications, networking, and fund-raising. Positions are now open on the Advisory Committee and most subcommittees for chapter leaders.
• May is American Wetlands Month. Every May, wetlands activists across the country celebrate American Wetlands Month. The Wetlands Campaign can assist chapters to organize wetlands tours for members of Congress or local and state legislators. We can provide you with a packet of materials to help you get started, give you some ideas on how to get the media to cover your tour, and help you connect with others in your area who might be interested in participating.
• July 6-7 is the Wetlands Campaign "summit." Learn more about the Campaign by joining us at our annual wetlands summit this summer, held in conjunction with Audubon's biennial national convention in Estes Park, Colorado. Meet other wetlands conservationists, learn new skills for saving wetlands, and sign up to be one of our committees carrying out the Campaign.
• Get published in Audubon-at-Work! 1998. The Wetnet program of the Washington state field office is currently updating the Campaign's networking resource document, Audubon-at-Work! This document highlights our database of hundreds of chapter, state field office, sanctuary, and other Audubon wetlands protection and restoration projects all across the country. By bringing attention to your project in this way, you help others learn how to save wetlands, and the document may help you to attract additional funding for your project or for a new project.
• Receive Saving Wetlands, the Campaign's quarterly newsletter. Learn what's happening around the country and around the corner on wetlands issues.

We are well on our way to building a network of 250 chapters working together on saving and restoring wetlands, with more than 100 chapters already working on wetlands issues in their communities. Let's share our experiences to gain additional strength and help others succeed with their projects at the same time. Let's send even more powerful messages to Congress to strengthen, not weaken, wetlands protections. Please join other chapters participating in Audubon's Wetlands Campaign. For materials and further information, please call us at 800-659-2622 (message) or fax in the form below to 360-786-5054. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,
Naki Stevens
Wetlands Campaign Director
Olympia, WA

Wetlands Campaign Advisory Committee:

Arthur Feinstein, Chair, Golden Gate Audubon (California), Chair, Networking subcommittee

Ginny Black, Minnesota Audubon Council, Chair, Policy subcommittee

Don Chinquina, Tropical Audubon Society (Florida)

Janet Ellis, Montana Audubon Society

Mark Kraus, Audubon Everglades Conservation Office (Florida)

Cheryl Miller, Minnesota Audubon State Office, Chair, Science subcommittee

Patty Pendergast, Connecticut Audubon Representative Office

Rock Termini, Buffalo Audubon Society (New York), Chair, Education subcommittee

Chris Townsend, Seattle Audubon Society (Washington), Chair, Fund-raising subcommittee

Yes, sign me up to join the Campaign!

Please send more information on how I can help save wetlands in my community and help Audubon defend strong wetland protections.

To receive more information, send a message to lmitchell@audubon.org. If you don't have E*Mail, you can mail or fax your request to:

National Audubon Society
Wetlands Campaign
POBox 462
Olympia, WA 98507
fax 360/786-5054

Make sure your message includes the following information:

• Name
• Address
• City, State, Zip
• Phone
• E*Mail
• Chapter name
• Reasons for your interest in wetlands

You may also request additional information on any of the following topics (specify those that interest you in your message):

• Fund-raising assistance
• Technical assistance and materials
• Activist network to defend CWA
• Policy and strategic advice
• Join a Campaign committee
• American Wetlands Month
• Wetlands summit
• Audubon at Work!
• Saving Wetlands newsletter