PROGRAMS

Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month, September-April, at the Phoenix Zoo Auditorium.  Meetings start at 7:30, and feature a speaker, book sales, refreshments, and a chance to socialize with fellow MAS members.  Non-members welcome!

Join us for a pre-meeting dinner at Pete's 19th Tee, 1405 N Mill Avenue, Tempe (at the Rolling Hills Golf Course) starting at 6:00 p.m.  Except for the September meeting which will be our annual potluck starting at 6:30.  Each attendee is invited to bring a platter of his or her favorite h'ors de oeuvres, sufficiently large enough to serve at least six people.  We'll provide the eating utensils, the plates, and the drinks, bring a friend and enjoy swapping birding stories.  The regular meeting will begin at 7:30. Meals average about $5.00 with a variety of choices on the menu.  Join us!

By Deva Burns

The overall tone of this newsletter is one of need.  A need for members that will get involved in writing letters, a need for members that will make donations to help the chapter survive, and a need for members that will actively participate in projects such as the Christmas Bird Count.  The Wren-dition has always tried to provide you, the members, with information.  In this issue Laurie has provided contact information about Hassayampa, the Environmental Fund has provided information on how to get employers donations to help Maricopa Audubon Society, and Walter Thurber has put together this year's CBC information.  Now you, the members, need to help Maricopa Audubon Society--get involved!

This final issue of the year is the time to say thank you.  Thanks to all of you who have sent in articles.  Whether once or many times, your contributions are greatly appreciated.  I will not take up ink and paper to list everyone, but from the bottom of my heart--THANKS!

By the way--if you are not able to attend the National meeting in December, fill out the proxy that is included in this issue and send it to Herb.  (If you don't like to tear up your Wren-dition, make a copy and send it!).

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Cool evenings and double digit days are ushering us into the season that verifies our sanity for living in the desert. The general elections are recently behind us and hopefully your candidates have prevailed. Our supreme wish is for substantial snowpack  in the mountains this winter to recharge our reservoirs and ground water and raise the moisture level of our forests to avert another catastrophic wildfire season next year. But we also must face the potential for continued drought. The SRP announced that it will cut 1/3 of it’s water delivery to valley cities in 2003. The SRP reduced water allocations briefly in 1991. The last time it was reduced for a full  year was in 1951. Local municipalities are forced to compensate by more groundwater pumping, augmented CAP deliveries and actually conserving water. Unbelievably, most cities are assuring their customers that prices will be contained by drawing on water contingency funds or savings elsewhere, which discourages voluntary conservation efforts.

What happens if we do get snow this and consecutive winters? Will we return to our complacent habit of unhindered growth in both our desert and forests? As Charles Babbitt pointed out in the last issue, environmentalists are not the cause of catastrophic fires. Decades of fire suppression, logging, and grazing coupled with an extended drought and high temperatures are what caused the largest forest fire in Arizona’s history. Gauged by the fire perimeter, 468,000 acres burned.  The mosaic pattern of the fire path, however,  left untouched acreage that provides habitat for wildlife and a baseline for recovery. Arizona Game and Fish reports that wildlife fared relatively well in Rodeo/Chediski. It is development in the forests and   poor management that turned anatural, healthy event into a crisis. Building in the forest is arisky venture just as building ina flood plain or entering the

  wilderness on foot. We can ask if it is the responsibility of the government to subsidize forest development by spending millions of dollars clearing the wildland-urban interface (WUI) of fuel loads, especially if that burden is borne by publicly owned old growth. Even without “catastrophic” fires like  Rodeo/Chediski, creeping sub-urbanization will require more resources to fight fires  that heretofore would have better served the forest health by being allowed to burn themselves out

Congress is trying to pass legislation to "fix" this problem. But the burden of protecting the WUI is threatening to come at the expense of the last 5% of fire resistant old growth trees. Bush’s Healthy Forests Initiative would open up 10 million acres of national forests to commercial logging without any oversight. It would eliminate environmental analysis, public comment, and administrative appeal. Both plans disguise destructive timber harvesting as salvage logging, fuel reduction and forest restoration.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration announced Sept. 20^th  that it would provide $752 million in emergency aid for livestock producers in the west and elsewhere. This subsidy serves to perpetuate an already heavily subsidized, marginal industry in the arid west. Dry lands grazing is arguably more destructive than productive in the best of years. It leaves a legacy of introduced grasses crowding out natives, trampled riparian habitat,  endangered and candidate species such as the Southwest Willow Flycatcher and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and soil erosion so egregious that some liken it to mining. 

Another pressing issue is the state of our local chapter. With dues share from National Audubon being incrementally phased out, it is more critical than ever that we continue to lend our support both financially and by volunteering. We have a small but dedicated group of volunteers working on securing prizes to entice all you  Birdathon ’03 participants. More help is always welcome. We need people to obtain prizes and donations. Or you can join or lead a birdathon team and solicit monetary pledges. Contact me about this. But I hope that the lure of prizes is not the only reason you participate. Now more than ever we need your contributions to maintain the programs that make Maricopa Audubon the unique organization that appeals to you. Your donations support out-of-town program speakers, monthly meetings, free field trips, bookstore capital, subsidized banquets, Audubon Adventures for our school children, conservation efforts and this newsletter that informs you of our many field trips, bird sightings and conservation. Last years birdathon raised $1,200, with $1,000 coming from an anonymous donor. Aside from this anonymous donation, Sharon Arnold and Alison Grinder were the top contributors, raising a total of $200.00, but fell short of the $300.00 required to win the stained glass hummingbird. Sharon and Alison received custom bead necklaces for their efforts. The stained glass prize will be rolled over to Birdathon ’03, to the individual or team that raises the most money over $300.00. Check out our website, www.maricopaaudubon.org , to see a picture of it.

In other news, The Nature Conservancy's intent to sell 35 of its 333 acre Hassayampa Preserve to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum of Wickenburg was uncovered by preserve volunteers. It was TNC's desire to keep the