Rio Salado Center, Entrance

Rio Salado, NE, Constructed Wetland

Rio Salado, NW, Library and Wetland

Over 150 Audubon Arizona donors and guests visited the nearly completed Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center on April 23, to view the site and celebrate progress. In the words of Les Corey, National Audubon Society CDO, “The Rio Salado center has been over 6 years in the making, but the results speak for themselves. The April 23 event was magical and I wish everyone across Audubon who supported this project could have been there. The transformation of this location from a dump site to an Audubon Center is nothing short of remarkable.”

The highlight of the evening was the appearance of a great egret, proud emblem of the National Audubon Society. The bird soared over the new wetland at sunset, in full view of assembled guests. Many thanks to our generous event sponsors: Jim and Roberta Pederson, American Express, Riester and SRP. Thanks also to our fabulous architect Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore, our contractor, Okland Construction and to the City of Phoenix for our partnership at Rio Salado.

The Rio Salado Center opens for business in June; for information about joining the Rio Salado Founders Club, please contact Sarah Porter via email.

You may click on each image thumbnail above for a larger view of the new pictures.

Bald Eagle, © ASDM 1990 Paul Berquist

On March 19, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the release of the first ever U.S. State of the Birds report. Based on a new analysis of 40 years of data, the report was developed by a partnership among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, state government wildlife agencies and non-governmental organizations including the National Audubon Society. The report documents the decline of bird populations in many habitats due to habitat loss, invasive species and other factors. At the same time, it provides heartening examples of how sustained habitat conservation and other environmental efforts can reverse the decline of many bird species.

“Our collective ability to prevent extinction and reverse environmental degradation are reflected in this report, exemplified by the remarkable recovery of waterfowl populations across the continent and the comeback of species that were once endangered, including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon,” said Secretary Salazar. “This shows that we can meet these challenges and maintain the integrity of our nation’s natural resources.” Salazar goes on to mention that nearly 50 million Americans are bird-watchers, and each year more than 45 billion dollars are expended on some form of wildlife watching. He adds, “Americans love wild birds and are willing to spend their hard-earned dollars to see them in the field. This report provides actionable information that will help us secure a future for birds, and a future for the next generation of wild-bird lovers.”

To view the U.S. State of the Birds report, please click here.

Research on the effects and risks of lead exposure from spent bullet fragments and shot is now available online. The documents are proceedings from the conference, "Ingestion of Lead from Spent Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans," convened May 12-15, 2008, by The Peregrine Fund, Boise State University, Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine, and the US Geological Survey. The conference for the first time brought together professionals in wildlife and human health to share information on the toxic effects of this source of lead contamination.

Conference attendees offered a relatively easy solution: switch to non-lead bullets and shot. Such ammunition is available in most popular calibers and is considered by many hunters to be as good as or better than traditional lead ammunition. Experts said manufacturers will respond to demand, thus solving the problem.

Individual papers may be downloaded here.

Efforts by the Arizona Game and Fish Department to encourage hunters to voluntarily reduce lead exposure of condors influenced 90% of hunters in the 2008 hunting season to use solid copper bullets as an alternative to lead-based ammunition or remove all remains of their harvest from the landscape. As a result, no condors died from lead poisoning this season.

"If this result can be achieved throughout the condor's range, our data shows that condors could survive in the wild without the intensive and expensive management needed now to combat lead poisoning," said Dr. Grainger Hunt, a scientist for The Peregrine Fund and contributor to the conference proceedings.