Audubon at 100.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

On Christmas Day 1900, Oregonian Herman T. Bohlman was one of 27 people in the U.S. to participate in a "Christmas Bird Count" promoted in the pages of Bird-Lore magazine by Frank Chapman, bird curator of the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Sunday, about 100 birders in the Eugene-Springfield area were among the estimated 55,000-plus people nationwide participating in the 105th annual Christmas Bird Count, the longest running bird survey in the world. A preliminary tally indicates the dozen teams of counters in the Eugene area identified 134 different species of birds.

Most of the birders are members of the National Audubon Society, which celebrated its 100th anniversary Wednesday.

As indicated by that first bird count, however, people have been concerned about bird conservation for more than 100 years, and Oregonians have been in the thick of battles to protect birds from market hunters, the ravages of chemical pollution and the insidious effects of habitat loss.

In fact, "Audubon Societies for the Protection of Birds" - named after distinguished naturalist and bird artist John James Audubon - first surfaced in the mid-1880s.

The incorporation of the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals on Jan. 5, 1905 simply united numerous state groups that had sprung up around the country and gave them a national voice. In 1940, the association shortened its name to the National Audubon Society.

Oregon was in on the ground floor of the national bird conservation movement. Oregon naturalist William L. Finley - after whom a national wildlife refuge south of Corvallis is named - was one of Audubon's original national board members.

Oregon has also been a battleground for three of the seven birds that, according to the centennial edition of Audubon magazine, "define Audubon's mission."

The first of those was the great egret (which eventually became the "official symbol" of the National Audubon Society).

Around 1900, egrets and many other birds with beautiful plumage were being hunted relentlessly to provide feathers to adorn ladies hats.

"The egret in Oregon was really hunted down to the point where only a couple dozen breeding pairs remained," said Dave Eshbaugh, executive director of Audubon Oregon, the national organization's state office.

In an effort to help save the birds, a committee of state Audubon societies in 1903 paid the wages of two deputy state game wardens and provided a boat to ensure there would be enforcement of bird protection laws on Lower Klamath and Tule lakes.

"Oregon stands out nationally for having significant bird conservation happening early on," Eshbaugh said.

In 1907, the Oregon Audubon Society made direct written appeals to every woman listed in "Portland's Blue Book," a society register, urging each woman to boycott plumed hats due to the destruction of native birds, especially egrets, that was taking place.

Now, Christmas Bird Counters routinely spot egrets in Lane County, which is outside the historic range of these birds. (This year's counters also found some other "unusual" birds for this area - including a falcated duck and peregrine and prairie falcons).

A second bird symbolic of Audubon's first century of conservation is the bald eagle. Audubon Magazine first sounded the alarm in 1945 about the potential hazards for wildlife from the pesticide DDT. But it was another 25 years before the federal government banned the substance that caused eagle reproduction rates to plummet. That, eventually, led to a population rebound.

Oregon, of course, not only has a significant population of resident bald eagles, it serves as a winter home to hundreds of northern birds that gather in the Klamath Basin.

To help raise awareness, appreciation and protection of the largest wintering population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states, several Audubon chapters in Oregon in 1980 organized the Klamath Bald Eagle Conference, the first "birding festival" in the U.S.

Twenty-five years later, the event is still put on by the Klamath Basin Audubon Society.

In 1980, however, there was no Audubon chapter east of the Cascades.

"I ran the (Bald Eagle Conference) registration from here the first three years," said Dick Lamster of Eugene, one of the original board members of the Lane County Audubon Society and a past chapter president.

Lamster's Eugene home was also the site of one of the meetings of regional Audubon leaders at which it was decided to recommend the national organization fight to save the Northern Spotted Owl, another of Audubon's seven signature birds.

"We hashed it out around my pingpong table - does national want to get involve or not?" Lamster recalls. "It was quite a big decision because it was going to cover several issues - habitat, old growth and wilderness as well as the spotted owl itself."

As Audubon gears up for its second century, Lamster said the focus will likely continue to be on the "need to protect habitat - that's the key. And the more habitat that's protected, the better."

Lamster said that's why Lane County Audubon Society is opposing the proposed construction of a highway through a portion of the West Eugene Wetlands.

Eshbaugh, the state director, agrees with the assessment that habitat is all-important.

"Birds and other animals have to have healthy habitat," he said. "If they have that, they'll do well.'

"One of the biggest looming issues out there is invasive species and how they impact the habitat that is available" for native plants and animals, Eshbaugh said.

Ironically, one of the birds now threatened by declining habitat in Oregon is the Western Meadowlark, which Oregon schoolchildren voted the "state bird" back in 1927.

"We're seeing populations decrease, markedly so in the Willamette Valley," Eshbaugh said. "Our state bird disappearing is not what you want to see for a state with a wonderful environmental record."

A general concern for the environment is probably one reason Audubon Society memberships are plentiful in Oregon.

About 11,000 households are National Audubon Society members in Oregon. They are divided among 11 chapters, one of which (Portland) "is the largest in the country," Eshbaugh said.

In addition, all the chapters have some members who opt to join only the local Audubon society because they want all of their dues to be used for local projects. When the local-only members are added in, total Audubon membership in Oregon is "17,000 to 18,000 households."

The Lane County Audubon Chapter has about 1,100 members, Lamster said. Memberships cost $20 per person or $25 per family, with discounts available to students and senior citizens.

The local club sponsors a bird walk the third Saturday of each month and holds eight chapter meetings a year at which educational programs are presented.

Additional information about the Lane County Audubon Society is available by calling 485-BIRD or by logging on to www.laneaudubon.org. For information about the National Audubon Society, seewww.audubon.org.

AUDUBON IN OREGON

A conservation chronology

1898: John Burroughs Club of Portland, a predecessor to the Oregon Audubon Society, is formed.

1900: Herman T. Bohlman of Oregon is one of 27 people in the nation to participate in the first "Christmas Bird Count."

1902: Modern-era Oregon Audubon Society founded.

1903: Oregon Audubon Society convinces state legislature to adopt Model Bird Act, providing protection to non-game birds being slaughtered for food, plumage and sport.

1905: Oregon's William L. Finley is elected to board of newly created National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, later shortened to National Audubon Society.

1907-08: Oregon Audubon leaders help convince President Theodore Roosevelt to establish national bird refuges at Three Arch Rocks on the coast and at Malheur Lake in Eastern Oregon.

1910: Oregon's State Superintendent of Schools, an Audubon board member, makes it a requirement that "all school children in the state shall build birdhouses."

1927: Oregon Audubon poll of 80,000 school children results in selection of Western Meadowlark as "Oregon State Bird."

1968: Oregon Audubon Society becomes a chapter of National Audubon Society and changes its name to Audubon Society of Portland. It is the largest Audubon chapter in the U.S.

1971: Oakridge Audubon Society, the third of what is now 11 Audubon chapters in Oregon, is founded.

1973: Oakridge chapter changes its name to Lane County Audubon Society.

1980: Audubon chapters in Oregon sponsor an Klamath Bald Eagle Conference, the first birding festival in the U.S.

1987: Oregon Audubon chapters help originate a petition seeking protection for the Northern Spotted Owl under the Endangered Species Act.

2001: Lane County Audubon Society receives a Wetland Partnership Award from the City of Eugene for its long-running efforts in support for the West Eugene Wetlands.

2005: National Audubon Society celebrates 100th anniversary of its founding.

- Audubon Oregon

CAPTION(S):

Alan Contreras (right) leads a bird counting team in Zumwalt Park near Fern Ridge Lake on Sunday. Maeve Sowles (right) and her husband, Dick Lamster, were among those on the lookout during the Christmas Bird Count. Bold wordsand this is light text and this is more light text National Audubon Society Egrets and other birds were hunted to provide feathers for hats worn by women of that time period. Paul Carter / The Register-Guard Great egrets, the symbol of the National Audubon Society, are still around Oregon because of efforts made in the state in the early 1900s. Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard A sparrow is silhouetted in a bush in the fog Sunday, when members of the local Audubon Society held their annual Christmas Bird Count.