BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In a shift of emphasis from lobbying in Washington, the National Audubon Society is putting new resources into local programs. One is the creation of a statewide Audubon office for Ohio, led by executive director Steven Sedam in Columbus.
"We are helping define the future of conservation," he said. Immediate goals include identification and preservation of unprotected Important Bird Areas and creation of nature education centers around the Buckeye State.
Those vital areas will fulfill the functions of the Oxbow along the Ohio River on the Ohio-Indiana border, where migratory birds rest and others breed.
Audubon will create an Ohio scientific committee early next year and produce guidelines for identifying such areas. After that, Mr. Sedam said, local chapters in Oxford, Cincinnati and Hillsboro and others will be asked to nominate places worth preserving. However, nomination and eligibility will create no costly land rush, he suggested.
Instead, Mr. Sedam said, Audubon has learned that many landowners will cooperate with preservation efforts once they appreciate how important their acreage is to local and passing birds.
That's also consistent with Audubon's "non-regulatory, friendly approach," he added.
Nature education centers have become "incredibly magical" to ever-larger numbers of Ohioans, he said, and there is a "huge demand" for them despite their cost.
Cincinnati Nature Center serves that need in the Tristate, he said, but Audubon probably will buy and build others around Ohio. Some Important Bird Areas and nature centers might share land, but that's neither necessary nor mutually exclusive, he added.
Audubon's Ohio operation - begun in October - is the 19th state office nationally. Mr. Sedam, long executive director of the Ohio Environmental Council, has been on Audubon staff for the past eight years as Great Lakes regional vice president.
