Almost 50 years ago, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Albert M. Day evaluated the work of conservation organizations on their effectiveness in the protection of America's ducks, geese, and swans. "The National Audubon Society heads our list of private organizations," Day wrote in his publication, North American Waterfowl. He rated Audubon ahead of other such useful groups as Ducks Unlimited, Wildlife Management Institute, and the Izaak Walton League.

Audubon's complex relationships with federal and state agencies remain a significant element in the overall story of waterfowl conservation. The Society's strength in influencing public policy can be traced back to the close ties between early Audubon leaders and Theodore Roosevelt. (TR even ran a Christmas Bird Count on the White House grounds during his Presidency.) At a time when Congress revealed no interest at all in wildlife issues, Roosevelt set aside 57 wildlife and migratory bird refuges by executive order, nearly 40 of which (as in the Klamath Basin) were guarded by wardens paid by Audubon.

In 1908, when Congress threatened to shut down the Bureau of the Biological Survey, Audubon president William Dutcher orchestrated the outside support with sportsmen that helped restore funds for the Bureau's operations.

Audubon's relations with the Fish and Wildlife Service have worked on many levels ever since. At times the Society prods Service officials to take the appropriate action on specific refuges or, as in the current impasse in the Klamath Basin, goes over their heads to achieve its goal.

At other times Audubon staff or individual members are helpful to the Service when its own people's hands are tied. Regional Audubon groups helped to carry the ball in pressing for the creation of the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge (the first National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia) a few years ago when it was politically inappropriate for Service officials to lobby for the enabling legislation.

The late Mollie Beattie, Fish and Wildlife Service Director from 1992 to 1996, asked Audubon staff to work with the committee negotiating revisions to the Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada, amendments which would give the agency greater flexibility on setting bag limits for Alaskan native people. And, when anti-environmentalists in Congress recently tried to phase out the agency's survey aircraft (needed for safety reasons as well as making accurate counts to help manage waterfowl), Audubon stepped in behind the scenes and saved the program's funding.

Conflicts in conservation values were illuminated some years ago when Audubon's director of sanctuaries confronted a Soil Conservation Service agent over the drainage of sensitive wetlands.

"My job is to get water off the land," the agent replied.

Audubon has sometimes found itself at odds with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over wetlands issues. A sore spot for a long time was the Corps' conversion of Florida's Kissimmee River into what an Audubon warden called "a damn sewer ditch." A 90 percent drop in waterfowl use of the area because of wetlands losses along the Kissimmee has helped bring a change of heart and direction, with a project now underway to release the river from the straitjacket of the canal and restore its meandering course.

This restoration project will create 30,000 acres of wetlands important to waterfowl, including Mottled Ducks and Wood Ducks. Renewal could not have come at a more opportune time. In an innovative, new approach, Audubon will sell the 7,000 acres now in its Kissimmee Sanctuary, merging them with adjacent properties and leveraging the money to manage and restore the resultant 47,000-acre Latt Maxcy Kissimmee Prairie State Park.

Reddish Egrets
by Tupper Blake

A unique arrangement along the Texas coast allows Audubon to manage key nesting islands under long-term leases. An added benefit in this case is that the Society's staff has acquired a great deal of experience in the region, which increases their value when knotty problems arise. If certain proposals on the dredging of sensitive areas come up for public comment, Audubon spokespersons have not only the expertise but the historical background to advocate sound alterations or restrictions in the project. Representatives of public agencies, often rotated in and out of assignments, may not have the long-term familiarity with local conditions to catch the nuances in those proposals.

Scott Hedges, manager of Audubon's Texas Coastal Sanctuaries, speaks from hands-on experience.

"Sportsmen's groups in Texas haven't always stood up for the protection of waterfowl habitat," Hedges says. "When it comes to issues such as the placement of a power plant or a redfish hatchery, their voices aren't heard for conservation. We have taken the lead, for instance, in protecting seagrasses that are needed by ducks."

Specifically, Hedges leads the campaign to preserve waterfowl feeding grounds in the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre. About 80 percent of the world's Redhead population winters there. However, in maintaining the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Army Corps of Engineers disposes of silt and sediment from its dredging operations by dumping them into the bay.

These dredge materials produce long-lasting turbidity in the shallow water, blocking light and killing seagrasses. Recent studies indicate that the practice has destroyed more than 43,000 acres of seagrass meadows in the Lower Laguna Madre. Hedges has rallied local Audubon members to showcase the bay as a wetland of international significance and use their strong contacts with industry and among landowners to "create a new future for the Laguna Madre."

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