SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG

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The Western Gulls have already chipped in. (Photo: Grace Murayama 7-23-17)

It is again that time of year when we ask our fellow members and friends for their support. Remember, this is our only fund raising effort. Your help allows our all-volunteer group to accomplish much each year. Your donations are used to further our mission “to be a center for wildlife education, habitat protection, and conservation issues that involve birds.”

These efforts are of increasing importance in view of the decreasing support for environmental issues coming from the Federal Administration

You can DONATE four different ways:

• With the self-addressed envelope enclosed with the annual appeal letter (sent to those already on our membership rolls)
• Send a check to our mailing address: SMBAS, PO Box 35, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
• With PayPal using the PayPal Widget located on the right side bar of the blog
• With a Credit Card using the same PayPal Widget located on the right side bar of the blog.  You do not have to join PayPal to donate, just have your credit card “standing by.”

Please take a moment and make a donation today.

We continue our strong backing of all things bird, habitat, native plants, the environment and conservation through education, field trips, bird monitoring, speakers and grants to students and conservation groups.

Please take a minute to read the annual appeal letter below and see what we have been doing this year.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Galton
President

This is the time of year – and the only time of year – when we ask our fellow members and followers for their annual support.  This is our only fund raising effort by our all-volunteer group.  Many of you have seen the recent shocking headlines about the loss of one third of all birds in North America since 1970.  We need, now more than ever, to reverse this trend and address the impacts on our bird populations.  Your donation is needed to continue the strong SMBAS support of all things bird, habitat, native plants, natural environment, and conservation.

SMBAS makes particular effort to focus on:

Education

• We continue our support of the Student Conservation Association which provides hands-on conservation service and training in the Santa Monica Mountains and/or Butterbredt Spring area, the site of our annual Christmas Count.
• For the Audubon Education Program at Ballona Wetlands, this year we funded ten bus scholarships to help elementary school students visit Ballona Wetlands for field trips that – for many – is their first glimpse of a natural area.
• In February, we will again offer the very popular field class designed to improve birding skills of beginning and intermediate birders, and to learn to identify and observe the birds of the Los Angeles region.

Public Outreach

• Our evening speaker programs are diverse and insightful. They are held the first Tuesday of October through May, except January. We meet in Santa Monica; locations vary, so keep in touch via the BLOG or http://www.facebook.com/SantaMonicaAudubon/ or Twitter at http://twitter.com/SMBAudubon.
• Our monthly Malibu Lagoon walks (fourth Sunday, 8:30 a.m.) and our special family walks (same day) at 10 a.m. continue to be popular and productive.  We also offer a different field trip on the second Saturday of the month.  A complete field trip calendar is enclosed.  Please verify times and locations before you venture out to join us, contact information is provided.  By signing up to receive email notifications via our BLOG, www.smbasblog.com, you will always be on top of upcoming trips and meetings.  These trips are rich in opportunities and information for the beginning birder as well as the experienced.

Bird Monitoring

• Snowy Plovers (a Threatened species). Our support for this monitoring effort (and for the Endangered Least Terns and for Brown Pelicans) into subsequent years is imperative in collaboration with State, Federal, and local agencies.  We continue our monthly Snowy Plover counts at Malibu Lagoon, Santa Monica Beach, and Zuma Beach.  Check out our Snowy Plover page (with slideshow) and videos on the blog.
• To support the Snowy Plovers, we help fund the cost of maintaining fencing at Santa Monica beach and a plover/tern volunteer coordinator for Los Angeles County.  We also participate in the Rangewide Snowy Plover Conference.

Habitat Conservation and Research

• We offer small, but essential, research grants to local college students.  Due to your generosity last year, we were able to increase the number of grants and provided a total of 9 grants to students from UCLA, Pepperdine, and California State University Los Angeles.  Since 2005, fifty-two grants have been awarded to thirty-nine individuals.  Follow the occasional blogs regarding their projects and their impacts on the bay and the birds.
• We also support Friends of Big Morongo, Endangered Habitats League, American Bird Conservancy, and Birder’s Exchange.

This is your chapter and we hope you will join us in many of these activities.  We welcome your input to this diverse program of events.  If you can spare a few hours each month, we are also seeking new members to expand our Board of Directors.  If you wish to receive or continue to receive our bi-monthly, single sheet paper news update/calendar, please indicate on the enclosed remittance envelope.  (You need not donate to receive the print version).  Please remember all contributions are fully tax deductible and will be used exclusively in direct support of our programs.

We hope you will consider the solid positive impact of our group and make a contribution.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.  Your critical support matters to the environment and to the birds.

Elizabeth Galton
President
post office box 35  pacific palisades  california  90272