January 15, 2008. Identity Crisis –Or, Were we even there?

You would think that would be good publicity for our organization. Except for one critical part. The Southeast Volusia Audubon Society, which organized and conducted the events, was not even mentioned by name in the articles. In the Bidgood article, Mayor McKay was cited, and so was David Hargrove as President of the Halifax River Audubon. But no mention of us.

Now, I really like and respect David Hartgrove. He is a hard working environmentalist and frankly I don't know how he has time to do all of the great things he does for the effort. But he does not represent the Southeast Volusia Audubon Society.

I guess the implication is clear. The reporters don't know who we are. So if you have an opportunity to interact with reporters, please ask them to include the name of our organization in their article or report.

December 18, 2007. Announcing the January Speaker.

Gil and Donnadine Miller will present a slide show of their summer trip to the Galapagos and Amazon. As all our membership is aware, Gil is a dedicated and excellent photographer. His pictures and their commentary will be of interest to all.

December 17, 2007. Club sets date for Tag Sale Fund Raiser.

A fund raising yard sale will be held Saturday January 12th at the Oak Hill Flea Market. Lee and Catherine Bidgood donated a number of items when they moved to Gainesville and other SEVAS members have been collecting items for several months.

If you have any items to donate or can spare a couple of hours on Saturday, please call Dick Domroski @ 428-0447 to arrange pick-up of items and scheduling of workers. Five members have already volunteered to help but we could use a couple more. (NO CLOTHING OR LARGE FURNITUES ITEMS PLEASE).

The Northeast Florida Scrub Working Group is looking for enthusiastic individuals willing to participate in scrub-jay conservation and outreach. You are invited to attend a workshop on Saturday, January 19, 2008 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Harris M Saxon Community Center, 2329 California Street, Deltona. The workshop aims to increase awareness and knowledge while promoting conservation of the Florida scrub-jay and its habitat. Please bring a bagged lunch (due to time constraints) and your own coffee cup (for environmental reasons). This workshop is coordinated by the North East Florida Scrub Working Group Education Sub-committee. The sub-committee has members from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida State Parks, the Florida Scrub-Jay Consortium, Inc., and Volusia County Environmental Management. The sub-committee has three objectives: to provide educational outreach for the Florida Scrub-jay; promote conservation of the Florida Scrub-jay and scrub habitat; and to cultivate a regional Florida Scrub-Jay Festival. To get a copy of the proposed agenda, click here.

December 14, 2007. County meeting on dogs at Smyrna Dunes Park.

The County will hold a meeting of interested parties at the Smyrna Dunes Park on December 17th at 8:00 am regarding the rules allowing dogs at the park. It is the only part of the beach where dogs are allowed, and the only part of the beach where Piping Plovers rest and Wilson's Plovers nest. Allowing dogs to disturb these birds has been one of our concerns for a long time. If you can, please get out there and tell County officials to keep dogs off the beach. An alternative would be to allow dogs on other parts of the beach where driving is allowed.

December 8, 2997. Bidgoods feted at tree planting ceremony.

In the presence of over 25 friends and long-time associates, Lee and Catherine Bidgood were honored at a tree-planting ceremony in their honor at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach on December 6th, 2007.

"It is fitting that we should honor the Bidgoods with this ceremony and a tree that will be a lasting testimonial to their efforts to make SE Volusia an environmentally safe place in which to live and raise a family," said President Don Picard. Don went on to highlight some of Lee's most important work including convincing the Volusia County School Commission to choose Integrated Pest Management instead of the indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides that they were previously using in our school yards. The Bidgoods were among the first to install solar photovoltaic panels on their roof top as part of a program launched by the Utilities Commission of NSB. Don also noted the contributions to the club by Catherine who was Secreatry, Membership Chair, and Skimmer editor before computers.

Mayor Sally McKay remarked that she had known the Bidgoods for many years and was among the people to whom Lee showed their solar panels and Ms. McKay had them installed on her new home.

Also present was James Hathaway, city commissioner for zone 3.

Afterwards, guests enjoyed a reception at the Night Swan B&B.

December 4, 2007. Christmas Bird Count Press Release.

As part of the National Audubon Society's 108th Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the Southeast Volusia Audubon Society will conduct its count on the 29th of December 2007. Participants will meet at the Brannon Center (on Riverside Drive in NSB, just south of Canal Street) at 7:00 a.m. to start the count, and again at 5:30 p.m. at the Main Street Grill for dinner and tally the results. Dick and Gail Domroski are coordinating the event this year so contact them at 428-0447 if you are interested in participating.

November 29, 2007. December speakers announced.

Our speaker for the December meeting will be Linda Evans of the University of Florida Extension Services located at the Volusia County Fairgrounds office on State Road 44. This office is dedicated to Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences and is there to help US - the taxpayers of Volusia County. Linda's formal education is in the field of Chemistry and she is a trained Clinical Chemistry Specialist. She ran her own business for ten years before starting with the University of Florida, Volusia County Extension in 1998 as a Program Assistant in their "Yards and Neighborhoods" program. Since 2000 her title has been Management Specialist which covers a wide range of topics and responsibilities including giving presentations to groups such as ours.

Linda's topic will be "What's Bugging You?" She will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of the insects which we encounter in our yards, gardens and travels. Linda is the producer of a really neat display on the subject which you may have seen in their office over the last several months.

We will also have a brief presentation by a representative from the "Florida Hometown Democracy" initiative explaining the reason for their action and the current status of their petition. PLEASE BRING YOUR SIGNING PENS!

November 16, 2007. December Field Trip Schedule Change.

The December field trip will be to Hawks Preserve in Edgewater on December 8th.. It is behind the YMCA on Turgot Ave. Here is a chance to learn about a Scrub Jay habitat in our own back yard. The Florida Scrub Jay is listed as a threatened species under the Threatened and Endangered Species Act. Volunteers will talk about the scrub habitat, the plants and other animals that live there, the special requirements needed for Scrub Jays to live there and why they are no longer there.

For the last year we have been working with the city Director of Parks and Recreation, Jack Corder, to get the city to fulfill its responsibilities to preserve the small Scrub Jay habitat there. They agreed to preserve it as part of a mitigation agreement when the YMCA was built but they failed to live up to the agreement. Their neglect and the failure of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to enforce the terms of the federal mandate resulted in the deterioration of the habitat and the loss of the Scrub Jays that once lived there.

We will see other birds and animals there. Meet at the Market Square parking lot in Edgewater, Ridgewood and US 442 between Dunkin Donuts and Chik-fil-A. Trip leaves at 8:00 a.m.

November 8, 2007. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

At the November 7th meeting, Jean McNeil volunteered to be the club's Secretary. We really appreciate your volunteering for this important position.

October 21, 2007. Speaker announced for November 7th meeting.

The guest speaker will be Adam Kent who is employed as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)'s Scrub-Jay Conservation Coordinator. Adam's interest in nature started when he was a small child. A love of
sharing his passion about the natural world led him to travel and lead nature
tours across the hemisphere from Alaska to southern South America. He has
written a guide to the shorebirds of Baja California, co-authored a paper
about birds of the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia, and made recordings in
southern Mexico that led to the description of a new species of bird, the
Nava's Wren.

While with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC),
Adam developed Bird Detective, a bird-identification activity guide for
Florida that was later adopted by Seattle Audubon. Also with the FWC, Adam
worked on the Great Florida Birding Trail and made bird lists for many of the
state's Wildlife Management Areas.

August 31, 2007. Speaker announced for October 3d meeting.

The guest speaker at the October 3d meeting will be Mr. Eric West, who will speak on the unreasonable development in East Central Florida. Eric is an environmental advocate who is well known for studying the issues, proposing alternative solutions and rebutting developers' arguments with a passion. His views regularly run counter to the claims and desires of Volusia County Council, Saint Johns River Water Management District, and other local governments, not to mention Florida's land developers. Click Here to read his bio as well as a letter he wrote in response to "The Final Report of the Committee for a Sustainable Treasure Coast." This was distributed to several members of the media, Volusia County Council members and other local leaders. Mr. West will speak on the subjects of widespread development, our finite water resources and the need for awareness on all our parts. He will then open the floor for a question and answer session.

August 25, 2007. Central Florida is gearing up to withdraw millions of gallons of water from the St. Johns River.

Click Here to see important information about Florida's (and Volusia County's) future water supply. It is reproduced from an email by LegalSandy@aol.com.

August 16, 2007. Good News! Florida Stops a Polluter!