KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The topic of the upcoming Redbud Audubon Society meeting on Thursday, Oct. 18, will be the challenges of solar/wind energy in California.

The meeting will take place at the Presbyterian Church Social Hall, 5430 Third St., Kelseyville.

It starts at 7 p.m. with refreshments and program to follow. The public is invited.

Audubon California and local Audubon chapters all worked hard in 2006 to pass AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act.

The law set a renewable energy portfolio standard that, by 2020, 33 percent of California’s energy would come from renewable resources.

This ambitious goal aims to reduce the impacts on climate change from greenhouse gases from coal and oil.

This law and federal stimulus funding unleashed a “green rush” on California lands in places with significant biological vulnerabilities, especially in California’s fragile desert habitats that cannot be restored.

The rush of renewable energy projects has created challenges throughout the state between two highly valued – but sometimes competing – environmental goals: renewable energy and bird conservation.

As an advocate for birds, Audubon California has responded by providing input to the development of several major policies that regulate where renewable energy projects are sited.

The Bureau of Land Management’s solar program sets out policies guiding where solar projects can be located in six Western States, including 15 million acres in California.

The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan provides for conservation of species and habitat while expediting renewable energy permitting on 24 million acres of public and private lands.

Impacts of wind energy on Golden Eagle, California Condor, and migratory birds brought Audubon into participating on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Working groups on Golden Eagle in California and Nevada, and on condor and wind conflicts in the Tehachapis.

Wind and photovoltaic energy projects on private lands are permitted by counties, bringing a number of Audubon chapters into the mix on projects in their backyards.

Garry George, Audubon California’s Renewable Energy Project Director, will bring us up to date on the policies and projects in California, including the proposed Walker Ridge wind project on BLM land in Lake and Yolo counties.

For more information, go to www.redbudaudubon.org , call 707-263-8030 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .