Dear Audubon Members,

I’m a wild bird illustrator and the author of my county’s birding blog - Birding Sonoma County. I am writing to you today to urge you to investigate a devastating threat to California’s already-reduced wild bird populations.

In the fall of 2007, the California Department of Food and Agriculture aerially sprayed the Central Coast with a substance called Checkmate, classified by the EPA as a pesticide, as part of their statewide Light Brown Apple Moth Program. The substance is made up of 3 main components: a synthetic moth pheromone mimic, a host of so-called ‘inert’ ingredients which are documented mutagens, carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, and the delivery system which is made up of microscopic plastic spheres, 1/2 of which are smaller than the designation PM10. PM10 is the term used by the American Lung Association to describe particulate matter of a size small enough to be inhaled into the deep lung. Once inhaled, PM10 causes chronic disease and death.

Following the 2007 aerial spraying, residents, farmers, scientists and media reported the following damages to wild birds, wildlife and pets:

1) More than 650 dead sea birds washed up on the beaches of Monterey and Santa Cruz. The Bay, rivers and other watershed bodies, as well as the birds, were covered with a thick, yellow foam, which when examined under a microscope proved to contain the particulate microcapsules. Simultaneously, the Central Coast experienced a red tide the like of which had never been seen before in history. Red tides happen on the Central Coast in the spring, but this was in the fall and appeared directly following the spray. There is a theory that a surfactant in the spray washed the natural oils from the seabirds’ plumage and caused them to drown. Or, they may have died from PM10 inhalation. Whatever the case may be, hundreds died and among them was the federally protected endangered Brown Pelican - a bird which is only now beginning to make a comeback from near-extinction caused by the spraying of DDT.

2) The Central Coast is an area rich in wild bird habitat and residents greatly enjoy the diverse populations of migratory and year-round birds in their gardens. Following the spraying, residents reported that they awoke to a world without birdsong, that birds had vanished from their gardens and that seed and nectar feeders went unvisited for weeks. This absence of wild birds was noticed throughout the aerial spray zone and went on for several weeks following the spraying.

3) In addition to the deaths of wild birds, cats, dogs, rabbits and fish in landscaping ponds died following the spraying. Furthermore, Central Coast gardeners and beekeepers reported massive confusion in their honey bee colonies. The bees were discovered struggling on the ground, confused and unable to fly. Beekeepers reported a dieoff of their swarms.

I urge your Audubon Society to verify the accuracy of what I am relating by reading the following official reports:

Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) Eradication Program: Post Spray Effects on Animals and Pets
http://lbamspray.com/Reports/SprayEffectsAnimalsPets.pdf

Potential Effects on Pollinators and Implications for California Agriculture
http://lbamspray.com/Reports/Bees.pdf

Here is a video regarding the bird dieoff:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c5NMhVwWe3I

In addition to the aerial spraying, it is the intention of CDFA to use ground measures including toxic twist ties and permethrin coated telephone poles. Trees and telephone poles are the nesting and roosting habitats of so many of our wild birds. You may find additional information regarding the toxicity of the twist ties here:

here

here

As you may have heard by now, Checkmate caused hundreds of families to fall ill in the Central Coast, but others have taken on the task of documenting this information. I am writing to you because I know you share my terrible concern over our vanishing wild bird populations and that Audubon so strongly supports protection of bird habitat and health.

What happened in the Central Coast is a red flag for all of California as CDFA’s list of target areas now comprises 11 counties and keeps growing. If CDFA and the USDA had paid attention to the first die offs caused by DDT in the 20th century, the devastation to hundreds of bird species would not have happened. Only now have populations like the Western Bluebird and the Brown Pelican begun to show signs of recovery.

Now CDFA and the USDA have created a new threat to our wild birds - and to us. Per usual, they have gone on the record proclaiming the safety of their latest pesticide of choice, but my hope is that Audubon members have already learned the lesson of pesticide danger too well to be fooled by any assurance about any new pesticides. It is also worth noting here that CDFA has refused to acknowledge the damage that has already been done by Checkmate - just as they did for years with DDT.

I urge your group to get educated about this #1 threat to California’s wild birds and environment. In addition to being vigorously opposed by city councils, town mayors, supervisors, representatives and senators, the aerial spraying and ground measures have caused other groups to draft resolutions opposing the spray. For example, the East Bay Parks Association has just published a resolution against spraying their parks. Lawsuits and bills are being put into action, and the media is beginning to show signs of brilliant investigation of this issue. They have, in fact, caught CDFA Secretary, A.G. Kawamura, making deceptive statements to the public on film.

Unfortunately, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a very improper allegiance both to Kawamura and to the pesticide manufacturer - he has received hundreds of thousands in political donations from both parties and has stated that he feels obliged to them. Rather than being one with the people of California whom he was elected to serve, he is referring to himself as one with CDFA.

Lastly, CDFA has just been convicted by a Santa Cruz Superior Court for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by creating a false state of emergency in order to receive millions in funding from the Federal Government. In so doing, they were able to bypass all the safeguards of testing that are in place to protect humans, wildlife and environment. The judge found them guilty of illegal activity in declaring their phony ‘emergency’. So, we are dealing with lawbreakers when we are dealing with Kawamura and CDFA and everything they say is suspect.

Audubon’s action could be vital here in protecting our already-diminished wild bird populations from a second DDT disaster. The aerial spraying will be starting this summer across California and it will be happening up to 5 nights a month, 9 months a year for up to 10 or more years, resulting in chronic pesticide exposure for all of us. There is nothing more important your members could be doing right now in California than mobilizing against this spray, getting the ear of the National Audubon society and getting strong resolutions drafted against the entire unwarranted, terribly dangerous program.

Like me, I believe you feel a chill in your bones thinking of those dead sea birds and the gardens of the Central Coast being devoid of bird song. We must not let this happen to California.

To read more about this, please visit the following websites:
http://www.cassonline.org
http://www.stopthespray.org
http://www.lbamspray.com
http://www.dontspraycalifornia.org
http://www.veganreader.com

I welcome any questions you may have and would appreciate your reply.
Kind Regards,
&etc.
——————

*Note to Vegan Reader’s Valued Readers:

I have sent the above letter to the 43 chapters of California Audubon for which I could find contact information. If you abhor what happened to the Central Coast birds and don’t want any further wildlife to be harmed and exterminated by Checkmate and CDFA’s ground programs, I urge you to send your own call to action to Audubon. Here is a list of addresses for the 43 chapters:

wba@acm.org
jdhuckabay@sbcglobal.net,
jacknjanet@bigvalley.net,
rcongersky@conejovalleyaudubon.org,
apples@thegrid.net,
pcpumphrey@schat.net,
John.Hlavac@alumni.ucr.edu,
bhill968@scccd.org,
emurdock@goldengateaudubon.org,
madielsea@aol.com,
brubakerfros@aol.com,
mariomagician@hotmail.com,
LAAS@laaudubon.org,
bsalzman@worldnet.att.net,
djensen@mcn.org,
asoleado2003@yahoo.com,
jansurbey@earthlink.net,
jedgar@AG70.younglife.org,
kmauro2@yahoo.com,
cheryleharris@sbcglobal.net,
pagpeg@aol.com,
pennybirder@juno.com,
willo2001@earthlink.net,
cevaughn@pacific.net,
dguthrie@jsd.claremont.edu,
president@redbudaudubon.org,
icteria@hotmail.com,
k.wag@comcast.net,
drew-f@worldnet.att.net,
redfern@sandiegoaudubon.org,
aKotin@earthlink.net,
k1mize@aol.com,
dchirman@starband.net,
scvas@scvas.org,
lucienplauzoles@aol.com,
aljanetbaumann@aol.com,
carolmasterson@sbcglobal.net,
rheathwakelee@cs.com,
froba@comcast.net,
xchiker@sbcglobal.net,
marianneslaughter@yahoo.com,
bxoliver@c-zone.net,
kris_randal@yahoo.com

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