Vashon Audubon focuses in on climate

change

By Emily Harrington, Reporter

The Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Society is a non-profit, all volunteer organization that works to learn about and preserve birds and their natural habitats on the island. Vashon Audubon’s current main areas of focus are climate change and native plants for bird habitats.

Many bird species in King County are threatened by climate change because of the negative impact to their habitats due to rising temperatures. The National Audubon report, “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink,” states that “two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise.”

“We’re beginning to see the negative effects of warmer, drier summers on natural vegetation in Puget Sound, and that will have a huge impact on habitat going forward, but the big impacts on birds and wildlife are not yet due primarily to climate change,” Vashon Audubon board member Jim Evans said. “But habitat disruption due to climate change is becoming more important all the time and that will continue.

A key thing to remember is that wildlife populations already suffering from significant habitat loss are that much more vulnerable to habitat disruption due to climate change.”

In the 2022 session of the Washington State legislature, Vashon Audubon supported bills for clean energy, habitat protection, and outdoor education. The Vashon Audubon’s efforts helped pass bills to help bring solar energy to more vulnerable communities, to help restore native habitat in the Puget Sound, and to bring outdoor opportunities to Washington’s fifth and sixth graders.

“Some of our efforts succeed and some fall short. In the last couple of sessions, there have been some notable successes—legislation to move transportation away from fossil fuel and toward electrification and to site solar projects in a way that would minimize habitat degradation and maximize environmental justice. Where we have failed, we are trying again this session,” Board member Steve Hunter said.

Vashon Audubon is committed to helping the island community learn more about climate change, local birds, and the importance of sustaining natural habitats.

“The status of bird populations are indicators of things that are otherwise hard to see: the health of our ecosystems, the soil, water, insect populations, air quality, all these things that are necessary for the productivity of our ecosystems, and because of that, for us,” Evans said.

Currently, Vashon Audubon is working together with the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust on habitat restoration at Judd Creek Preserve in Paradise Valley. Some of their other projects include the Audubon mural at the Vashon Center for the Arts, Christmas Bird Count, birding field trips, public presentations, and the Chautauqua fourth grade birding program.

“Learning about birds and their lives leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of the grand web of life and an understanding of the threat posed by things like climate change and habitat degradation,” Hunter said. “An organization like Vashon Audubon is too small to be particularly impactful by itself, but when we work with others we can, and do, make a difference.”