Audubon Washington Programs
Through our Washington Conservation program, we provide leadership and scientific guidance to chapters throughout the state. Together, we increase our collective conservation impact through habitat restoration, citizen science research, and advocacy for birds and their habitats. We also work with chapters to build their capacity, and we represent our state’s priorities in Pacific Flyway-level conservation initiatives.
In the Puget Sound region we are striving to understand the causes of marine bird population declines (nearly 50% in the last 30 years!) so we have a sound scientific basis to empower the most effective advocacy and conservation action. We are working in Eastern Washington’s Columbia Plateau to ensure the survival of the endangered Sage Grouse and other sagebrush-dependent species through collective policy actions, monitoring, and restoration.
At the Seward Park Audubon Center in Seattle we serve over 20,000 people annually, with 75% of school children being low-income and non-white. We connect children and adults from all backgrounds with a joyous experience of nature in the city and provide quality, experiential science programs so they can take action to improve the lives of birds, animals, and their fellow humans.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
In the last year we hired a state bird conservation director who worked with our board and chapters to develop conservation priorities and outline a conservation plan for Washington that builds on the efforts of our 17,000 chapter volunteers. She met with dozens of organizations, government agencies, and chapter members to identify where Audubon Washington could have the greatest conservation impact for birds, resulting in our Living Shores and Sagegrass Steppe initiatives. We are now working on outreach, monitoring, and advocacy to achieve the goals for conserving the land and shores birds need to thrive in our part of the Pacific Flyway.
We are working to raise $1 million to fund these conservation initiatives over the next three years so we can provide the science, leadership, and outreach to secure a healthy future for our state’s birds, lands and water along the Salish Sea and Columbia Basin.