This month, the executive director for Audubon Nebraska, Kristal Stoner, met with representatives in Washington, D.C. These meetings resulted in positive actions for birds and the state of Nebraska.
Kristal and the CEO of Audubon, David Yarnold, met with Senator Ben Sasse’s staff to discuss the extension of the Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program (PRRIP). Shortly after their meeting, Senator Sasse signed on as the fifth federal representative to co-sponsor the extension in the Senate. This is critical because the PRRIP addresses issues for threatened and endangered bird species like the Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, and Whooping Crane. The PRRIP is important to ensure habitat is maintained for these highly imperiled birds, while creating a framework that allows irrigation and recreation projects to continue. Sasse now joins Senator Fischer and Congressmen Bacon, Fortenberry, and Smith as Nebraska supporters of the PRRIP extension.
The wide-sweeping support for Platte River conservation is due to the collaboration with our PRRIP partners including Audubon Rockies, Crane Trust, Headwaters Corporation and The Nature Conservancy.
While in D.C., Kristal also met with Congressman Don Bacon who, in June, signed on as a co-sponsor for the BEST Act (H.R. 2986), a bill to invest in research, development, and deployment of cost-effective energy storage technology—innovation that will be key to making our grid more efficient, resilient, and reliant on clean energy. At the meeting, Congressman Bacon agreed to support renewable energy tax extenders. These extenders would temporarily prolong the tax credits that have helped grow the utility-scale renewable energy industry over the last decade. This was a significant win for Audubon Nebraska’s climate strategy.
Kristal met with Congressman Fortenberry’s staff to thank him for his leadership on the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). They discussed how to continue to build support for this important legislation that would change wildlife conservation from being reactive to proactive.
These policies would not be possible without the support from our federal representatives. Audubon Nebraska would like to thank the representatives from our state plus those from Colorado and Wyoming in support of PRRIP and all state representatives who cosponsored the BEST Act and RAWA.
Audubon Nebraska received multiple wins in D.C., but there is more to be done. To learn about our work across the state, visit our website www.ne.audubon.org or email nebraska@audubon.org
Media Contact: Allison Christenson, Communications Coordinator, allison.christenson@audubon.org
