National Audubon Society - Current Activities

Current Activities

In 2011, Audubon created a new model for positioning energy transmissions lines along the East Coast to help preserve bird and wildlife habitat. Audubon President David Yarnold has made environmentally friendly siting for renewable energy one of the organization’s highest priorities.

Audubon was instrumental in bird rescue and Gulf Coast wetlands recovery efforts in the aftermath of the April 20, 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Audubon recruited over 34,000 volunteers to assist in rescuing, cleaning and releasing injured Brown Pelicans and other water birds. In addition, Audubon was a leader in pushing for legislation to use British Petroleum oil spill penalties to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

Audubon's Mississippi River and Louisiana Coastal Initiatives have been helping to restore coastal wetlands and to rebuild Mississippi River delta marshlands. The Mississippi Delta loses an area the size of Manhattan to the sea every year, stripping away coastal protections for both human communities and wildlife habitat.

Audubon's Important Bird Area program has been protecting 370 million acres along migratory bird flyways in the United States and is a key part of Audubon's work with BirdLife International and other conservationists around the globe. Audubon is leading the campaign for U.S. Congressional Reauthorization of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act which would generate as much as $100 million each year to advance hemispheric bird conservation.

In Wyoming and across the Intermountain west, Audubon's Sagebrush Initiative works with industry government, ranchers and conservationists to protect 15 million acres of Greater Sage Grouse Core habitat. It also helps promote the development of renewable energy projects in the area.

Audubon also helped to secure preservation of 240,000 acres of wild lands at the Tejon Ranch, the largest land conservation area created in California history.