AUDUBON SOCIETY PROMOTES EDUCATION, ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS

The Four Seasons Audubon Society is one environmental organization that walks softly but doesn't carry a big stick.

Members said they are more interested in promoting education about the outdoors and conservation than promoting activism on the subjects.

"So many people expect to be preached to when they join an environmentalist club, but we're really not about that," said Bill Eddleman, president-elect for the local chapter of the National Audubon Society. "Our main interest is public education."

To help promote that interest, 118 letters were mailed to school libraries in early January informing teachers the club was giving away copies of the Encyclopedia of North Amrican Birds. Judy Watson, education chair, said the letters went to public and parochial schools in the chapter membership area, which includes the counties of Perry, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott, Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin and Pemiscott. Sixty-nine schools responded to the letter, and representatives picked up their books Saturday at Sunny Hill Gardens.

"We were very happy with the response from the schools," Watson said. "Probably more schools will wish they had responded after this weekend."

Watson said the organization spent a total of $2,400 on the books, an amount that was possible because of the club's annual bird seed fund-raising. The books were bought with the profits of birdseed sales from the last four years, she said.

Four Seasons meets every third Wednesday and Saturday of the month, and Eddleman said the group discusses much more than birds. He said the Wednesday meeting includes a short business meeting and program, and then the group meets Saturday for an outdoor activity using what they learned in the program. "We use birds as a focus, but our programs deal with different topics about the outdoors," he said. "We also have programs on trapping, marking methods and bird and butterfly gardening."

Eddleman and Watson said right now birdwatchers have plenty to see in Southeast Missouri. They said the bird sanctuaries and local parks in the area provided a variety of birds to view, but many homeowners also have something to offer.

"In the winter, it's a lot easier to coax birds out with food," Eddleman said. "There are some really excellent backyard habitats in town."

Four Seasons has about 35 active members at one time, but the club's roster is much bigger because of local membership in the National Audubon Society. Watson said a number of people have membership in the national organization, which makes Four Seasons their local affiliate. The eight-county membership area also accounts for the large number of inactive members, she said, because of the travel factor.

"There's probably 200 members on paper, because if you join the national society, you automatically become a member of the local chapter," she said. "If all you think you're doing is subscribing to the magazine, you're still a member, but a lot of our members can't travel so far for a meeting, and the weather this year has also affected attendance."

According to Eddleman, the move from agriculture to suburban development in the area is having an adverse affect on local wildlife. The agricultural birds in the area basically become homeless, he said, and cannot find a new habitat.

"A lot of people have the mistaken attitude that the birds will go somewhere else," he said, "but they can't. Any other place they would want to go, there are already birds there. It would be the same as taking us out of our house and burning it, and telling us to go somewhere to find a house without any money or credit or anything. We couldn't do it."

Eddleman said the organization would like to work with the city in the parks system to spread information about natural habitats and the outdoors in general. The club could help by providing interpretive materials about the trail systems, he said, to help some of the people who don't really understand what they are seeing.

"We don't try to preach at people; we just want them to understand more about the environment and the outdoors," Eddleman said. "I think with a little more effort we'd be able to educate more people about nature."