1982_04 The Daily Collegian April 1982

              it Daily Colletian-April IS, IN]
Audobon Society stresses conservation
Even at first glance the Fresno Audubon
Society does not live up to its stereotype of
being comprised of little old ladies in tennis shoes laden down with binoculars and
a guide book to birds. A variety of ages,
accurate reflection of the internal workings of this local chapter.
The concerns of the organization can be
broken down into three main categories:
those interested in conservation, those interested in educating the public on conservation and those interested in observing
wildlife.
One of the society's most adamant
members in conservation, Dave Selleck, is
a retired Wildlife Management Supervisor for the Fish and Game Department.
He is also, along with his wife Helen, one
of the longest standing members of the
local chapter: they joined in 1965 when the
local chapter was started.
"Conservation is becoming more and
more important,* Selleck said.
He stressed the importance of being
aware of the major conservation issues for
this area. Interests such as the preservation of Mono Lake, working on the Sierra
forest plan, and the Peripheral Canal
occupy not only Selleck's time but also
other members interested in theconserva-
tion part of the Audubon.
The Audubon, however, is a rather passive organization. While the society does
have its conservation-oriented objectives
it relies more on education of the public in
matters of conservation to keep wildlife
habitats intact.
The primary objective (of the Audubon) is to preserve wildlife habitats,* Selleck said. "To do this, education of the
public is very important. Most people
think that the forest is where all wildlife is
found. This is not true. Wildlife, in the
general sense—including plants, is everywhere and everywhere it should be taken
care of. Our concern is not just with the
Selleck was quick to add that conservation measures weren't based on a hands-
off policy.
"A virgin forest is not a good habitat."
he said. "Trees grow large and choke off
other vegetation. Some thinning has to be
Also, what started as an organization to
save birds has developed into a society
that houses members such as Selleck who
advocate the extermination of certain
species of birds.
"Some birds should be exterminated,"
Selleck said. "The Starling, for instance, is
a good example. It crowds other birds out
of their homes. We're also opposed to
bringing in exotic wildlife (plants and
animals) because they crowd out natural
wildlife."
As for the educating-of-the-public side
of the Audubon society, a project at Lost
Lake is currently underway.
Mary Scully, education chairperson for
the local chapter, has been working on a
ail hopefully to be
ner. Although the
ible, no signs have
ail-goers. Currently
Lake
completed this su
been put up to guide
local Audubon mer
schoolchildren froi
Bussed out to Lost Lake foi
lesson in wildlife habitats i
chuckled. "1 suppose I'm one of those little
old ladies in tennis shoes, but boots are
much more comfortable."
Franklin explained the origin of the
stereotype.
"There are a lot of retired people in the
society," she said. 'We do get quite a
number of them and it's these retired people who have time to simply spend their
time looking for birds."
Although the majority of the 640
members of the local Audubon'chapter lie
between the ages of 40 and 70, there are
members who are high-school age.
"We're a very broad spectrum group-
both in ages and interests." Edholm said.
'When we go out on field trips, half the
people are looking up at the birds and half
are looking down at the flowers. There are
guides for
io typ.ca
mbers.'
them
dfor
Although Selleck agreed with the need
for a self-guiding trail, he voiced his
doubts about the cost of installing signs.
The public is very destructive,* Selleck
said, lamenting the fact that the sign might
be torn down or vandalized. 'Also, nature
never stands still. We can't just put up a
signpost in one spot and leave it there
season after season and say such and such
a plant is there; nature keeps changing.*
Scully also develops a multi-subject
worksheet for the Fresno elementary
They're not biased towards the society's views in that we've presented both
sides,* Scully said. 'Basically, they deal
with basic principles such as the food
chain. We're also trying to educate the
general public with various seminars
through the year.*
Tom Edholm, president of the local
chapter, entered into the discussion on
public education.
'People must be educated (in these matters)," Edholm said, "otherwise laws don't
make any difference."
Conservation and education aside, when
the weather is clear and cool, those stereotypical little old ladies in tennis shoes do
come out in search of wildlife typical and
atypical of the area.
The little old lady in tennis shoes is a
stereotype—an extreme." Terri Franklin.
suit the range of interests of its membership. April 24 and 25 are the dates slated
for a bird-a-thon. The bird-a-thon involves
members seeing how many species of
birds can be found in a 24-hour period
(last year Edholm, with the help of Scully.
found 141 species).
For those who simply want to relax and
enjoy identifying animal and plant species, there are the rather informal Wednesday walks. Three to 10 people meet
every Wednesday morning and either go
to one of the local parks or head for the
hills and observe the wildlife.
The meetings and field trips of the
society are open to the public. The
Audubon Society meets every second
Tuesday of each month at the Unitarian
Church of Fresno at 4144 N. Millbrook
Ave. The last meeting is set Tor May
before taking a summer break.
With most of the membership participating in the local chapter only by receiving the subscription to the magazine that a
membership entitles each member to. it is
not a close-knit group. Each member is
individual, taking part in the organization
to fulfill some personal goal. And it is this
factor that leaves the direction of the
society open.
The group is involved in education,
conservation and. of course, there are the
stereotypes." Edholm concluded. The
society can be anything that the group
Free music workshop today
A master class featuring clarinetist
Richard Stoltzman and bassoonist, pianist and composer Bill Douglas will be
offered jointly by the Department of
Music at CSUF and the Fresno Musical
Club Friday.
The free workshop will be held at 10:30
a.m. in the CSUF Music Building Recital
Hall, the day after the two artists perform
in the Fresno Convention Center's William Saroyan Theatre as the final concert
in the Musical Club's 1981-82 Artist
Series.
Both youngartists have been acclaimed
by critics for program which are "out of
this world.' Their workshops cover both
classical and jazz music.
Stoltzman has been described as "a
wonder.' "an artist of indescribable
genius" and the "greatest clarinetist of the
century." He will be making his first
Fresno appearance and, during the 8 p.m.
Thursday concert with Douglas, will be
performing works by Bach, Poulenc and
Douglas. He also will present a jazz
improvization to a series of slides by John
Pearson.
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April IS, 1982 -the Daily Collegian-Page 7
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Dormant bicycle regulations to
be rejuvenized on campus
A four-person task force has been organized in response to numerous complaints to confront the growing bicycle/
pedestrian problem on campus.
CSUF Police Leiutenant Virgil Cope,
Tim Johnson, Paul Wetzel, and Judy Best
are currently planning to rejuvenate a now
dormant bicycle awareness program to
slow down bicycles and keep pedestrians
out of existing bike paths.
About three years ago the problem was
kept in control by the mailing ofa safety
brochure to all incoming students. The
brochure, which will be updated and
revised by the committee, instructed students on parking areas, traffic laws and
basic safety rules to follow while riding
their bike on campus.
Cope is in charge of revising the pamphlet and he hopes to have them done in time
to mail out with the fall semester schedules. Cope hopes that funding will be
granted to allow the program to get
underway immediately. If Cope receives
funding as hoped, he wants to have five
trained students working in the department stationed in the free speech area to
hand out brochures and stop violators
and explain the regulations to them.
With the new policy a violator on a
bicycle who has not heeded a traffic law or
is in violation of a campus regulation will
receive a warning from the officer on the
first offense. Vital information will be
taken down by the officer on a field
contact card and kept on file. Cm the
second offense, whether the violator is
stopped by the same officer or a different
officer, he will be cited for the offense^
"First time offenders will be handed a
brochure covering campus rules," Cope
said. "It is up to him to read the brochure.
listen to the officer, and heed what he is        The majority of the complaints being
saying. If they don't they will pay for it in brought to the attention of the committee
the long run." deal with inconsideration on the bicy-
Fines for a bicyclist running a stop sign clist's part, and their failure to obey traffic
may run $20 - $30. a high price to pay for laws'on the campus and on the streets,
ignoring a campus regulation. *We are        The committee will meet early next
trying to be as lenient as possible to start week to discuss the problems, and resolve
with,* Cope said. "The warning period, the issues concerning the
however, will stop in time.* program.
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