Advocacy

Georgia Audubon is the leading voice for the birds across the state of Georgia. Georgia Audubon watches vigilantly for harmful activities that could affect birds or undermine the integrity of bird habitat. Many birds found in Georgia are migratory and stop in Georgia only briefly before continuing their journey to other areas of the country and continents. Therefore, our work to inform decision makers about legislation and policies that benefit or threaten birds and their habitat involves local, state, national, and, occasionally, international concerns.

From clean air and water to support for the nation’s iconic national parks and national wildlife refuges to climate change and pesticide use, many of the same issues that touch people also touch birds. In addition, protections for birds conferred by such milestone legislation as the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act and the Endangered Species Act have long-term implications for people along with more immediate impact on birds.

Our Values

​The following are a list of values for which Georgia Audubon advocates.  These values guide us in our programmatic work:

  • We believe that where birds thrive, people thrive.
  • We believe everyone in Georgia should have access to bird-friendly habitats, as the benefits of healthy bird populations and high bird diversity are exceptional, irreplaceable, and invaluable to all members of the community.
  • We believe in maximizing the number of native plants in any outdoor space.
  • We believe that maximizing structural diversity of a small habitat is the best strategy for encouraging use by a variety of Georgia's bird species.
  • We believe in maximizing the urban/suburban tree canopy.
  • We believe in minimizing sterile, monoculture outdoor spaces, including large swaths of turf grass, for the benefit of birds, insects, and other wildlife.
  • We believe in minimizing the number of exotic plants in any outdoor space.
  • We believe in managing invasive plant species to allow for a higher diversity of native plants.
  • We believe in eliminating the widespread use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, and rodenticides in the environment. We understand and support the limited, responsible use of targeted herbicides for habitat restoration and management in controlling exotic and invasive species.
  • Domestic and feral cats are not a part of the natural ecosystem. We believe that domestic cats should be kept indoors and that outdoor feral cat colonies should not be supported in any way.
  • We believe in taking action to reduce bird-building collisions and other hazards to birds in the built environment.
  • We believe that new development can be bird-safe and encourage the use of techniques that reduce loss of natural habitat and use of materials and design that minimizes bird collisions.
  • We believe in reducing the effects of climate change in order to reduce the negative shifts and potential collapse of local bird populations.

Issues we are currently monitoring

Okefenokee Swamp mining Proposal
JANUARY 2023 UPDATE – GEORGIA EPD RELEASES TWIN PINES’ DRAFT MINING LAND USE PLAN AND OPENS 60-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD​
On January 19, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division released Twin Pines Minerals LLC’s draft Mining Land Use Plan (Draft Plan) and opened the 60-day public commenting period – allowing concerned citizens and Swamp advocates to voice their concerns and opposition to Twin Pines’ mining proposal. Additionally, Georgia EPD is allowing comments through two scheduled virtual public meetings on February 21 and 23 at 6 PM EST.

Please register for one of the two meetings here: https://gaepd.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2DroBrvkTZGU_4OsogtPSQ 
There is a capacity of 1,000 people per meeting and it is expected that they will both reach capacity. 

More information on the Draft Plan can be found at: https://epd.georgia.gov/twin-pines 
Please submit your comments on the Draft Plan and your support for the Okefenokee Swamp via email to: twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov 
Or via mail to: 
Land Protection Branch 
4244 International Parkway, Atlanta Tradeport, Suite 104 
Atlanta, GA 30354 
Need help crafting your comments? 
Please see the Okefenokee Protection Alliance’s Okefenokee Talking Points here: https://protectokefenokee.org/resources/ or more information below. 

Georgia Audubon is currently reviewing the Draft Plan will be submitting public comments during the 60-day window. 
In July 2019, a proposal was submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by an Alabama-based company, Twin Pines, seeking issuance of a permit to mine for heavy minerals (titanium and zirconium) from Trail Ridge near the southeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. After public outcry, this plan was withdrawn. 

In March 2020, Twin Pines, LLC, an Alabama-based mining company, submitted a revised application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) seeking issuance of a permit to “construct a demonstration mining project on 1,042 acres that will mine heavy mineral sands on 898 acres over 6 years” from Trail Ridge near the southeastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.

The mining is proposed to go an average of 50 feet deep from the ground surface which is below the level of the Okefenokee Swamp depression, which is integral to maintaining surface water and groundwater hydrology in this region of southeast Georgia. Twin Pines plans for a facility on a 12,000 acre tract along Trail Ridge and very close to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Charlton County.

The proposed mine in the revised application is smaller, but still represents a similar, if not identical, threat, in that the company still intends to mine all of the economically-viable deposits on the entire 12,000-acre tract.

The Okefenokee is the largest blackwater swamp in North America, comprised of about 440,000 acres, and is considered one of the world’s largest intact freshwater ecosystems. The swamp, designated a National Wildlife Refuge in 1937, is located in Southeast Georgia and visited by 600,000 people annually. The Okefenokee swamp is a unique wetland system made up of peet beds, island prairies, open lakes, creek channels, and cypress forests. It creates an ideal home for wildlife. Wading birds, songbirds, toads, turtles, frogs, and black bears all make their home in Okefenokee, but the most abundant and visible resident are the healthy population of American alligators.

The mining proposals proximity to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, which is one of Georgia’s most precious ecological sites, heightens concerns over the proposed mining.  The mining would impact wetlands on or adjacent to this tract and could permanently impact the hydrology of the entire Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee’s 438,000-acre biodiverse ecosystem is home to the headwaters of two notable rivers, the Suwannee and the St. Marys.

Each year, 600,000 people visit the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, generating roughly $88 million in economic impact in Charlton, Clinch and Ware Counties.
​
Risking the health of the Okefenokee, its ecosystem, and its current economic impact is unthinkable today as it was in the late 1990s. Then, the swift action of concerned citizens, scientists, lawmakers and conservation groups fought off a similar mining threat.

Georgia Audubon opposes this proposal. We have also joined the Okefenokee Protection Alliance with more than 40 other national, state, and local organizations to call for the protection of the Okefenokee. 
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is America’s most important bird protection law. Passed in 1918 with the support of Audubon advocates and other early conservationists, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protects nearly all of our country’s native birds. The law carries out the 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada, and later treaties signed with Mexico, Japan, and Russia, in order to protect our nation’s shared bird species. The MBTA is credited with saving numerous species from extinction, such as the Snowy Egret, Wood Duck, and Sandhill Crane, and millions, if not billions of other birds.


The penalties under the bird protection law have served as critical incentives for companies to take common sense precautions to help reduce bird kills, such as covering oil pits with nets and marking transmission lines so they are more visible to migrating birds. Every Republican and Democratic administration since the 1970s has applied the law to avoidable industrial hazards, which has saved countless numbers of birds.  The Trump administration eliminated this longtime protection at the end of his term, essentially creating a free pass to kill birds.


The change by the Trump administration limits the MBTA’s protection only to activities that purposefully kill birds, exempting all industrial hazards from enforcement. Any “incidental” death—no matter how inevitable, avoidable or devastating to birds—became immune from enforcement under the law. If this change had been in place in 2010, BP would have faced no consequences under the MBTA for the more than one million birds killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP ended up paying $100 million in fines thanks specifically to provisions in the MBTA.
In response to overwhelming opposition to this move, the current administration has started a regulatory process to repeal this change, but reinstating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act should only be the beginning.
​
How We Fought Back
The reversal generated widespread concern from former senior DOI officials from Republican and Democratic administrations as well as three Flyway Councils, multiple states, and hundreds of organizations. National Audubon and more than 500 conservation groups and other organizations from all 50 states joined together to urge Congress to defend country's most important bird conservation law in the United States.


In 2018, National Audubon and several other organizations filed lawsuits challenging that opinion. Eight states filed a similar suit in September 2018. In August of 2020, a federal district court ruled that the administrations action do not align with the intent and language of the 100-year-old law. In her ruling, Judge Caproni found that the policy “runs counter to the purpose of the MBTA to protect migratory bird populations” and is “contrary to the plain meaning of the MBTA”. Despite this victory, the Trump administration proceeded with the rule change.
The rollback has bipartisan opposition including members of Congress, more than 25 states, numerous tribal governments, scientists, sportsmen, birdwatchers, and 250,000 people who submitted comments opposing the proposed rule change.


The early support from the Biden administration to bring these protections back is promising. The rulemaking process to reinstate incidental take protections began in May 2021 with the comment period closing the following month.


What’s Next for MBTA
National Audubon is pushing for the administration and Congress to establish a reasonable permitting approach for incidental take. A permitting program is a common-sense approach to clarifying these longstanding protections and providing the certainty industry wants. It would also help drive new and better ways for businesses to manage how they deal with birds.


During the last session of Congress, a bipartisan group of more than 90 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsored the Migratory Bird Protection Act which would secure protections for birds and direct the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to develop a permitting process for “incidental take” through which relevant businesses would implement best management practices and document compliance, further driving innovation in how to best prevent bird deaths.​

Georgia Audubon Opposes Changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and encourages a new rulemaking process to establish a permitting program under MBTA to strengthen it from future attacks and offer stability and certainty for birds and businesses.

OIl and Gas exploration off georgia coast
Georgia Audubon has joined National Audubon Society, 100 Miles Georgia, Sierra Club, the Georgia Conservancy, Environment Georgia, Center for a Sustainable Coast, 141 cities and counties including Georgia communities Savannah, Brunswick, Hinesville, St. Mary’s, Kingsland, Porterdale, and Tybee Island, and a long list of other conservation organizations and coastal communities in opposing a proposal by the Administration to vastly expand oil drilling off of America’s beaches and coasts, including Georgia’s 100-mile coastline. 

The proposed plan includes parts of the outer continental shelf (OCS) along the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts. Atlantic seabirds and shorebirds that would be especially at-risk from offshore oil and gas development include Red Knots, Piping Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, and Roseate Terns.
 
National Audubon Society and other organizations are encouraging the current Administration to limit offshore drilling to locations where leases are already active. Expanding lease sales to sensitive marine areas off the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific coasts threatens critical bird habitat as well as the economic viability of hundreds of coastal communities. 
 
Georgia Audubon staff, board members, and volunteers attended a public hearing on this issue on February 28, 2019  to meet with representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and express our concerns about the plan. In addition, Atlanta Audubon submitted a letter to the BOEM asking that the Georgia coast be excluded from the drilling proposal due to both the lack of oil resources off our coast and because of the risk posed to birds and other wildlife.  We will continue to monitor this issue as it develops.

To date, more than 360 municipalities and over 2,200 elected local, state and federal officials have formally opposed offshore oil and gas drilling and seismic airgun blasting, including more than 260 along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. All the Governors along the East and West coasts - Republicans and Democrats alike - have expressed concerns with and/or opposition to expanded oil and gas exploration, development, and production off their coasts, including the Governors of Washington, Oregon, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

​Georgia Audubon opposes drilling off the Georgia Coast and encourages the Administration to limit drilling to areas where leases are already active.

Parks as Habitat
Georgia Audubon mission is to build places where birds and people thrive. To this end, we support efforts to create and build parks that provide greenspace for people and native plants for birds and other wildlife.

​Camden County Spaceport
Camden County, Ga. has submitted a proposal to build a Spaceport, or rocket launch facility, at an abandoned munitions plant, owned by Union Carbide Corporation, in a rural location four miles west of Cumberland Island National Seashore. The proposal is an economic development tool to bring jobs and industry to the area. The proposed Spaceport would be located east of I-95 and border the Saint Andrews Sound, a dynamic body of water which touches several islands, including Cumberland Island, Little Cumberland Island, Jekyll Island and Raccoon Key, and one which contains the extensive and high-functioning estuary of  the Satilla River. The launch trajectory would take rockets directly over the Cumberland Island National Seashore and Wilderness Area.

Cumberland Island is home to pristine maritime forests, undeveloped beaches, and extensive salt marshes, and supports a rich biodiversity of wildlife and plants. These habitats are crucial to birds because of their natural and pristine state. Cumberland is a hotspot for migratory birds; being Georgia’s southernmost barrier island, it is tremendously important stopover for thousands of birds, like the Blackpoll Warbler, Red Knot, and Peregrine Falcon, where they first make landfall after endless hours of flight or fuel up before their long open water journey back to South America. 
 
Cumberland Island is also an important breeding ground in the spring and summer for many species of birds, including the threatened Least Tern and Wilson’s Plover. During the winter, Cumberland provides exceptional wintering grounds for thousands of shorebirds, wading birds, sparrows, and Bald Eagles. 

A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released in March 2018.  In June 2018, Georgia Audubon submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the following concerns regarding the proposal:

  • There is minimal to nonexistent discussion in the EIS of significant bird sites in the vicinity, including Brown Pelican rookeries, nearby Bald Eagle nesting sites, as well as nesting sites for the Least Terns, Wilson’s Plovers, American Oystercatchers, and other shorebird species. ​
  • The EIS does not address impact of extreme short-term noise events, sonic booms, or the potential vibration and exhaust emissions resulting from launch, landing, or testing at the proposed facility. If nesting shorebirds are disturbed even for a short-term event, it will lead to chick mortality. To this end, the EIS also does not address potential impacts on Right Whale calving grounds. A critically endangered mammal, the Right Whale can ill afford additional stressors to its environment. More research needs to be conducted on the potential impacts of vibration/noise to birds and wildlife in the affected area.
  • Georgia’s barrier islands, including Cumberland Island, were recently designated as a Landscape of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.  Georgia’s coast is one of only 100 of these sites in the world. Cumberland Island is also a globally significant Important Bird Area. The nutrient-rich salt marshes surrounding our coastal barrier islands are of critical importance not only to birds, but also to other wildlife species, including mammals, fish, amphibians, invertebrates, and others. Atlanta Audubon is concerned about the potentially devastating impacts to the salt marshes and estuaries due to routine operations and/or catastrophic failures. 
  • The Georgia coast is a destination for birders, vacationers, wildlife watchers, and outdoor recreation. According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, tourism in Georgia is a $60.8 billion industry. In Camden County alone, tourism brings in $86.9 million per year in tourism revenue. The EIS does not take into consideration the potential impacts of the spaceport on coastal Georgia tourism, including the Colonial Coast Birding Trail, the Georgia Bluewater Trail, Cumberland Island visitation, or other outdoor-oriented tourist destinations.

​Georgia Audubon opposes the Camden County Spaceport and encourages the Federal Aviation Administration to reject this proposal. 
Past and Ongoing Conservation Issues
PictureRed Knot by Dan Vickers
Georgia Audubon has spoken out on the following conservation issues:​
  • Wetlands and Clean Water
  • Neotropical Migratory Birds Conservation Act
  • Endangered Species Act
  • Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
  • Transmission Lines/Wind Power
  • Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • Neonicotinoids in plants that affect birds and other pollinators
  • Marsh Development Setback rules on Georgia coast



Support on Local Issues

While there are many worthy causes that warrant attention, due to limited resources Georgia Audubon has a decision-making rubric we employ to determine conservation issues on which we will speak out. Generally, we will only offer support on issues that will have broad impacts on Georgia birds and their habitats. We do not get involved with local property issues. If you have an issue that you would like to bring to our attention, please email Dottie Head, Director Communications. 
 
If you’re looking for additional support, here are some resources that might be helpful: