This handsome wood duck is proud of you for voting. Thank you! Photo by Monica Hall
The votes are in. The turnout in the Madison Audubon region renders the odds that just about every reader of this blog (all 6 of you, bless your hearts) voted along with just about every Madison Audubon member and the vast majority of our neighbors. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. It might seem that voting is an important and obviously right thing to do, but at a time of great anger, pain, cynicism, and complications, one could think of lots of reasons not to. More on the results in a moment but a couple of more thank you's.
This has been a tough year for the Madison Audubon staff in the office and at our sanctuaries. The pandemic disrupted their personal and professional lives as it has everyone's. They persevered and accomplished so much. As noted in a previous blog post, our sanctuary staff found a way to have interns work there and safely provided some volunteer activities. Not only did this mean we were able to strengthen our sanctuaries but we also provided some much appreciated outdoor relief for many volunteers.
Faville Grove Sanctuary is calling. Madison Audubon photo
Our Madison-based staff converted and created programs to keep our members immersed in birds and nature when our normal ways of socializing and communicating were stopped. Matt Reetz, our most excellent Executive Director, with the help of John Minnich, our veteran administrator, found ways of securing our financial stability when the economy seemed to be running off the rails. Madison Audubon played a critical role in helping Madison adopt an effective measure to begin limiting window-caused bird fatalities.
Close to my heart are the expansions of Goose Pond and Faville Grove Sanctuaries, and Ostego Marsh. Each purchase occurred because our office and sanctuary staffs worked together in a timely and innovative fashion.
The biggest thanks for all this good work and more go to you, our members. You have been unfailingly generous in your support of Madison Audubon; never has that been more vital than in this Year of the Plague.
But it's now depressingly apparent that the plague won't end on December 31 but we'll be dealing with COVID through some or much of 2021. Like you, I hope normal comes sooner than later. I still haven't given up my hope that Carolyn Byers, our most wonderful Education Director, volunteers, and I can arrange for a June field trip for the great 4th graders of Lincoln Elementary.
We need your help more than ever if Madison Audubon is to meet the challenges of 2021.
You help make Madison Audubon soar. Photo by Monica Hall
In a few weeks, you'll receive our Annual Appeal, our most critical fund-raising activity of the year. Becky Abel, our newest staff member and Director of Philanthropy (holy smokes are we lucky to have her join the team now!) , and Brenna Marsicek, who superbly handles communication and outreach, have organized a concise, grateful, and respectful request. Please respond as generously as you can. One part of the appeal is my favorite duty as a Board Member. The Madison Audubon Board and staff each has a number of cards on which we write notes to some of our donors. For me, it's a vivid and personal reminder of how generous so many folks have been for so many years. I also remember how many of our members care for birds and our environment in so many ways. A great task is one that leaves you refreshed and not just tired. Writing those cards is such for me.
Oh yes, back to the results of the election. The division in our country is pretty apparent and many are wondering what common ground can we find. Birds might be one starting point, at least on environmental and conservation issues. And our friends, allies and neighbors at the Green Rock Audubon Society provide a nice example. Please use the following link to their latest newsletter. First, please appreciate their hard work and achievements at their sanctuaries this year, all accomplished with no paid staff. Secondly, the newsletter has a couple of long accounts of the Great Lake Region of Audubon and, in particular, the Great Lake Restoration Initiative (GLRI). National and Great Lakes Audubon have long supported GLRI, a program that over the last decade has provided significant federal funding for the restoration of the Great Lakes and their watersheds. The newsletter details the successes of efforts in Green Bay to restore the Cat Island complex of islands and wetlands. The Northeastern Wisconsin Audubon Society has been a vital supporter and the restorations have been successful, to the extent that this area is now one of the best for shorebirds in all of the Great Lakes.
What has all this to do with common ground? The current administration tried to eliminate funding for the Great Lakes Restoration. Conservationists, local officials, and state and federal legislators of both parties rallied to defend the Great Lakes and all the birds and fish and other flora and fauna that find a home in and around those lakes and restored the funding. Let's keep that success in mind as we turn to the conservation issues that require state and federal support in the coming year.
And, THANKS AGAIN,
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board member and advocacy committee chair
