Paramount Plaza Conference Center
Gainesville, Florida
March 26-28, 2010

Click here for more information on the schedule, workshops, and location of the Audubon Academy.

Are you saddened that Florida’s springs are becoming polluted and losing their flow? Have you wanted to do something meaningful to help save them? This is a way for you to make a difference.

Legislation to protect Florida’s springs was introduced but failed to pass in each of the last five legislative sessions. This was due, in part, to inadequate public support for meaningful protection. In order to demonstrate public concern for the health of Florida’s springs and support for significant regulatory protection, a special event, the Florida Springs Rally, will be held at the Capitol during a Legislative committee week Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

Thousands of Floridians from all walks of life will gather on beaches from Pensacola to Key West and Miami to Jacksonville Feb. 13, 2010, in a statewide coastal protest against legislative proposals to open Florida's waters to offshore oil drilling. The event will also take place in Tallahassee at the old capitol building as a symbolic "beach."

All you have to do: Go to your local beach at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time, for an hour, rain or shine. At 1:30 pm, hold hands creating human lines in the sand protesting oil drilling in Florida's waters. It is as simple as that. To find out what's being organized in your area, visit Hands Across the Sand. For more information on the fight against oil drilling, visit Protect Florida’s Beaches.

Audubon of Florida’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, home of the largest stand of Bald Cypress trees in the world, and the associated Panther Island Mitigation Bank (PIMB), has been listed as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention.

Read more about Corkscrew being named a Ramsar site.

For the latest in conservation news

Stay current on Florida’s conservation and wildlife issues. Learn about upcoming volunteer opportunities. Hear personal accounts of natural Florida. Interact with fellow conservation-minded individuals. Be a part of the Audubon online community. Audubon of Florida’s News Blog offers all this and more. It is updated daily and is a great way to stay abreast of all late-breaking conservation news in the state.

We have temporarily blocked the Texas oil companies’ attempt to pass legislation that would have put oil rigs three miles from our beaches. The Florida House of Representatives passed the legislation, but with your help, we were able to block the bill in the Florida Senate this year. The oil industry has indicated, however, that they will start a “continuing process” to bring back legislation next year to open Florida’s nearshore waters to drilling.

We need your help and the help of all Floridians to protect our coastal economy and ecology. Make a special contribution to our Protect Florida's Beaches Fund and help Florida protect its almost $562 billion coastal economy, its pristine beaches and extraordinary birds and wildlife. We have solutions that will help Florida end its dependence on oil, solve global warming, and create jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Please help Audubon protect Florida’s beaches. Make your contribution today.

The voice of conservation in Florida for 100 years, we connect people with nature to save birds and protect the places that make Florida special.

Audubon is rooted in the values of community leadership, science-based decisions and firsthand outdoor experience.

Please join our Audubon family of chapters, staff, volunteers, and sanctuaries in solving the conservation challenges of the 21st century.