The American Robin, Wisconsin’s state bird, benefits from bird-friendly building ordinances that reduce risks of bird-glass collisions. Photo by Heather Tillema
(UPDATE: APRIL 1, 2022) American Bird Conservancy, Madison Audubon Society, and Wisconsin Society for Ornithology presentó una amicus curiae, o amigo de la corte, escrito el 1 de abril de 2022. Se presentó ante el Tribunal de Circuito del Condado de Dane como parte del desafío legal en curso a la ordenanza de construcción amigable con las aves de la Ciudad de Madison iniciada por un grupo de desarrolladores del área de Wisconsin el año pasado.
The brief provides important background information for the judge by summarizing the conservation crisis that window collisions pose to birds, and discussing how solutions like Madison’s building ordinance can save birds’ lives. It also highlights other municipalities that have enacted bird-friendly building ordinances without issue, and presents research showing that window collisions in Madison are a serious local threat to birds. If you would like to tell the City of Madison’s elected officials that you appreciate their efforts to protect birds and their willingness to fight the developers’ lawsuit, please visit Madison Audubon Society’s site to register your support.
For more background on the lawsuit, see the information below.
(July 22, 2021) A group of Madison, Wisconsin-area developers, led by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), is mounting the first-ever legal challenge to a bird-friendly building ordinance (Número de caso del condado de Dane: 2021CV001729). This is concerning news for conservation groups including American Bird Conservancy (ABC), which has worked diligently for years to promote life-saving bird-friendly building design legislation and to reduce the threat of window collisions to birds.
“We’ve long understood that suburban development is a threat to birds, but developers suing to attack bird protection is a new low,” says Mike Parr, ABC’s President. “People want to live around birds and nature, not see them wiped out by developers.”
On August 4, 2020, the Madison Common Council unanimously adopted Wisconsin’s first bird-friendly building ordinance, which was introduced by Alders Marsha Rummel and Keith Furman, drafted by city staff, and revised with input from ABC and Madison Audubon Society. The city-wide ordinance requires new large construction and expansion projects to use bird-safe strategies and materials. It has been in effect, without issue or contention, since October 1, 2020.
Each year in the United States, up to 1 billion birds die following collisions with glass — that’s approximately 2.7 million birds each day. These deaths are largely preventable through the use of bird-friendly design, a set of practices that includes reducing the total amount of glass, which also saves energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and using bird-friendly building materials that help birds avoid flying into buildings, including glass with subtle patterns or other properties that make it visible to birds, solar shading, and insect screens.
Veintidós pautas de diseño de edificios amigables con las aves Estados y municipios de EE. UU. y Canadá han adoptado estas directrices, y muchas más están pendientes de aprobación. El condado de Cook, Illinois (2008); Toronto, Ontario (2009); y San Francisco, California (2011) promulgaron sus directrices por primera vez hace más de una década. Diseño amigable con las aves También forma parte de muchas directrices de construcción ecológica, incluidas Programa LEED del Consejo de Construcción Ecológica de EE. UU..
This is the first legal challenge to any of these guidelines.
“WILL’s lawsuit is unfortunate,” says ABC’s Bird Collisions Program Manager Dr. Bryan Lenz. “Their first-of-its-kind challenge to a bird-friendly building ordinance is more or less a lawsuit aimed at overturning the will of the citizens of Madison, Wisconsin, so that the construction community does not have to take reasonable actions to keep their buildings from killing the city’s wildlife. Designing buildings so that they do not kill birds is the right thing to do because protecting birds is the right thing to do.”
According to Matt Reetz, Executive Director of Madison Audubon: “Birds matter. They contribute billions of dollars to our economy through nature recreation and provide free ecosystem services, like pest control. Plus, they bring joy and emotional health benefits to people everywhere. We have to invest in their protection — it’s not a luxury, it’s an absolute necessity.”
WILL’s lawsuit will be fought by the City of Madison in the coming months. Given the suit’s potential to influence similar future ordinances throughout the state, Wisconsin’s bird champions, including ABC, encourage the City in its effort to defend against the suit.
Members of the public are invited to sign Madison Audubon’s online petition to show their support for wildlife and birds in Madison and beyond: https://madisonaudubon.org/bird-safe-glass/#act
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Conservación de Aves de Estados Unidos Somos una organización sin fines de lucro dedicada a la conservación de las aves silvestres y sus hábitats en todo el continente americano. Con un enfoque en la obtención de resultados y el trabajo en colaboración, abordamos los mayores problemas que enfrentan las aves en la actualidad, innovando y aprovechando los rápidos avances científicos para detener las extinciones, proteger los hábitats, eliminar las amenazas y fortalecer la capacidad para la conservación de las aves. Encuéntranos en abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, y Twitter (@ABCbirds).
Madison Audubon es una organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Madison que presta servicios en diez condados del centro-sur de Wisconsin. Madison Audubon ofrece protección y restauración de tierras, educación ambiental para todas las edades y defensa basada en la ciencia en nombre de su tierra y su gente. Visite madisonaudubon.org Para obtener más información.
El Sociedad de Ornitología de Wisconsin es una organización voluntaria sin fines de lucro fundada en 1939. Nuestra misión es promover el disfrute, el estudio y la conservación de las aves de Wisconsin. Brindamos oportunidades para que todas las personas disfruten de las aves residentes y migratorias, a la vez que somos un destacado defensor y embajador de las aves de Wisconsin. La WSO patrocina excursiones de observación de aves durante todo el año, organiza una convención anual de observación de aves, publica una revista trimestral y un boletín mensual, ofrece becas de investigación y funciona como centro de recursos informativos sobre temas relacionados con las aves. Contamos con más de 1400 miembros de todo Estados Unidos y el mundo.
Contacto de prensa: Jordan Rutter, Director de Relaciones Públicas | jerutter@abcbirds.org | @JERutter