Over the past 48 hours 53 organizations (see below) signed on to a letter to the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture strongly opposing any attempt to repeal The Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Many thanks to all who are supporting our efforts to ensure that we preserve and protect endangered species. We encourage every conservation organization to take action! Last year 72 organizations supported this effort, so please consider reaching out to your network and asking them to sign on. Ask them to please email kheymann@massaudubon.org to sign onto the letter. Next Monday, November 4th at 1pm, the Joint committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture will hold a hearing that includes two

bills Mass Audubon strongly opposes. These bills would result in a repeal of endangered species protections in the Commonwealth. Last session, the Environment Committee passed a similar bill favorably out of committee.

Environmental groups and the business community alike have supported the standards the program currently uses to protect endangered species. The effort to gut endangered species protections is coming from a limited, but very vocal few.

Please consider taking action today by doing the following:

1. Last year, you joined 72 sportsmen and conservation organizations in voicing opposition to the repeal. Please join us again by letting us know to add your organization’s signature to the attached letter by COB Thursday October 31. You can read S.345 here and S.411 here.

2. We urge you to contact Chairman Pacheco and Chairwoman Gobi today – by phone, email, or mail – to ask them to protect endangered species and halt Senate Bill 345and Senate Bill 411. In addition, you can let your own Representative and Senator know where you stand, and ask them to speak to the Chairs as well. Ask your organization’s members to do the same. Find out who your legislators are and how to contact them: www.malegislature.gov/People/FindMyLegislator

3. Please also express your support for An Act Relative to the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, H.756, filed by Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington). Mass Audubon supports this consensus bill, which would improve the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act rather than repeal it. You can read more about the consensus bill here.

Thank you for stepping up to protect endangered species! Best regards,
Karen

 
Karen Heymann, Legislative Director, Mass Audubon
Joan LeBlanc, Executive Director, Saugus River Watershed Coalition
Brian Butler, President, Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists
Alison Field-Juma, Executive Director, OARS: For the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord Rivers
Chris Mancini, Executive Director, Groundwork Somerville
Charles Knox, Executive Director, Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition
Elizabeth Saunders, Massachusetts State Director, Clean Water Action
Debbi Edelstein, Executive Director, New England Wild Flower Society
Dennis Regan, Berkshire Director, Housatonic Valley Assocation
Edward Becker, Executive Director, Essex County Greenbelt Association
Ed DeWitt, Executive Director, The Association to Preserve Cape Cod
Ed Himlan, Executive Director, Massachusetts Watershed Coalition
Ed Khalsa, Mystic River Watershed Association
Elizabeth Ainsley Campbell, Executive Director, Nashua River Watershed Association
Eugene Benson, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions
Parker River Clean Water Association
Heather Clish, Director of Conservation and Recreation Policy, Appalachian Mountain Club
Ian Cooke, Executive Director, Neponset River Watershed Association
Ivan Ussach, Coordinator, Millers River Watershed Council
James McCarthy, Administrator/Land Manager, The Dennis Conservation Trust
Jane Winn, Executive Director, Berkshire Environmental Action Team
Jennifer Ryan, Board Member, Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters
Joe Dorant, President, The Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists
Plymouth County League of Sportsmen
John Linehan, President, Zoo New England
Julia Blatt, Executive Director, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Kathy McGrath, Coordinator, Mass Land Trust Coalition
Kristin DeBoer, Executive Director, Kestrel Land Trust
Kurt Buermann, President, Sharon Friends of Conservation
Lee Roscoe, Cape Cod Walks
Leo P. Kenney, President, Vernal Pool Association, Inc.
Kevin Essington, Director, The Trust for Public Land New England
Lisa Vernegaard, Executive Director, Sudbury Valley Trustees
Mark Rasmussen, President, Buzzards Bay Coalition
Mark Robinson, Executive Director, The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, Inc.
Matthew R. Burne, Conservation Director, The Walden Woods Projects
Matt Patrick, Executive Director, Westport River Watershed Alliance
Mettie Whipple, Eel River Watershed
Michael W. Lach, Executive Director, Harwich Conservation Trust
Robert L. Zimmerman, Jr., Executive Director, Charles River Watershed Association
Nancy Goodman, Vice President for Policy, Environmental League of Massachusetts
Peter Shattuck, Director of Market Initiatives, ENE (Environment Northeast)
Pine duBois, Executive Director, Jones River Watershed Association
Richard Potts, Pepperell Natural Resources Association
Mass Climate Action Network
Bob Perschel, Executive Director, New England Forestry Foundation
Ryan Black, Chapter Director, Sierra Club of Massachusetts
Susan Reid, Vice-President and Director of MA, Advocacy Center, Conservation Law Foundation
Steve Long, Director of Government Relations, The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts
Priscilla Chapman, Taunton River Watershed Alliance
Wayne Costonguay, Executive Director, Ipswich River Watershed Association
Rick Roth, Executive Director, Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team
 
Karen Heymann, Ph.D.
Legislative Director, Mass Audubon
6 Beacon St. Suite 1025 Boston, Massachusetts 02108
(o) 617-523-8448 (c) 781-392-7548
www.massaudubon.org