from Debbie Fisher

Would you like the whole world to know about your chapter, its projects and environmental priorities? Would you like to communicate immediately with your chapter leaders and general members? And all of this with little to no cost to your chapter? Then you and your chapter want to join Audubon's electronic communications network! NAS offers its chapters the capability of hosting a chapter Web site on the national server in New York, and also offers free LISTSERV e-mail distribution lists to chapters.

Rainier Audubon, the South King County chapter in Washington State, is among the many Audubon chapters using NAS Web and LISTSERV services. My husband AJ Fisher and I are the chapter Web co-editors, and AJ is chapter LISTSERV administrator. See our Rainier AS Web site at: http://www.audubon.org/chapter/wa/rainier/. We started with just putting information from the chapter newsletter on our Web site, and have now expanded into: calendar of community environmental events; tips for helping injured birds; info on wildlife rehabilitators; info on chapter committees, with links to related Web sites; minutes of chapter Board/Committee meetings; links to NAS Board minutes; Christmas Bird Count results; recent bird sightings, ideas on local birding, links to Rare Bird Alerts and other bird Web sites; info on how to reduce, reuse, recycle; landscaping for wildlife; how to subscribe to, and to use, the chapter LISTSERV; info and pictures of merchandise available for sale; PLUS MUCH MORE!

If you feel lost even thinking about the world of the Web and the Internet, there's also an organization called "Online Networking for the Environment" (http://www.onenw.org/), which has lots of great basic info about software, Internet service providers, how to use search engines and more.

Rainier AS has a LISTSERV discussion list called WA-Rainier. This list capability is provided at no cost by NAS, and works as follows: Rainier AS members give their e-mail addresses to the LISTSERV software (called "subscribing"). When an e-mail message is sent to the list's address, it automatically goes to everyone on the list. This is a GREAT way to send out environmental action alerts and chapter activity reminders/updates, report wildlife and bird activities in your area and share info with chapter members. Visit the WA-Rainier LISTSERV at: http://www.audubon.org/chapter/wa/rainier/rainlist.html. You can also search through all of the old NAS LISTSERV messages in an "archive" on the Web. Check out the WA-Rainier archive at: http://www.audubon.org/LISTSERV/wa-rainier.html.

Every NAS chapter can take advantage of the NAS Web site and LISTSERV hosting. Someone in your chapter needs to be the electronic communications focal point, or a group of volunteers can work together to fill this increasingly critical job. Most chapters have members who already have computers and are familiar with the Internet. You can also work through your state office to find funding sources for equipment and training for your chapter. Many software products on the market now offer document conversion to HTML (the language of the Web) at the click of a button!

For More Info, Contact: Debbie Fisher, Rainier AS; 26029 119th Drive SE; Kent, WA 98031; ph: 253/852-7766; e-mail: debbiefisher@compuserve.com or http://www.audubon.org/chapter/wa/rainier/.