Lead Poisoning a Threat to Rebounding California Condor Population

Contact your Assemblymember by the end of Monday, April 25

The California Condor has been on the endangered list since 1967. As the western U.S. was settled in the 1800's, the condor's population began to decline. Since then, human interference nearly made the condor extinct.

Restoration efforts have helped the condor population grow since the 1980's, when there were only 9 condors in the wild; unfortunately, exposure to lead has become a critical problem for all wild California condors. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, lead fragments and pellets have been positively identified in the digestive system of several condors. The repopulation of the California condor has been one of the most successful such efforts since the passage of the Endangered Species Act; it would be a shameful irony for the use of lead ammunition—which can be easily replaced with affordable alternatives—to undermine the work done to date.

Assembly Bill 1002 would ban lead ammunition within the range of the California Condor. This bill will be heard by the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife committee Tuesday morning, April 26. Please contact the following committee members, especially if you live in their district:

• Lois Wolk (D-8, chair)
• Michael N. Villines (R-29, vice-chair)
• Joe Baca (D-62)
• Patty Berg (D-1)
• Rudy Bermúdez (D-56)
• Lynn Daucher (R-72)
• Mervyn M. Dymally (D-52)
• Bill Emmerson (R-63)
• Barbara S. Matthews (D-17)
• Bill Maze (R-34)
• Nicole Parra (D-30)
• Fran Pavley (D-41)
• Sharon Runner (R-36)
• Lori Saldaña (D-76)

See our sample letter for contact information and more details.

Celebrate Earth Day with CLCV!

CLCV will have a table at a wide variety of Earth Day-related events: See if we'll be in your area!

• Saturday, April 23, 11 am - 3 pm: West Contra Costa County Earth Day. For more information, see the West County Earth Day website.
• Saturday, April 23, 12 pm - 5 pm: Berkeley Earth Day, in Civic Center Park, at Center and MLK in downtown Berkeley.
• Sunday, April 24, 8 am - 6 pm: Earth Day Celebration in Lincoln Park in Los Angeles—see the flyer for more information.
• May 6-8: CLCV will have a table at the Whole Earth Festival at UC-Davis: see the website for more details.

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CLCV events:

Join Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez Friday, April 29, at noon for CLCV's Environmental Leadership Forum in Los Angeles: see the invitation for more information.

Find out how to use the California Environmental Quality Act to improve your community at an Environmental Justice Institute, Saturday, April 30, 2005 from 9:30 am - 2 pm, in Pacoima—see the flyer for more details.

CLCV's 23rd Annual Environmental Leadership Awards Dinner will be held Saturday, June 4, 2005 at W Hotel San Francisco. We will be presenting the 2005 Byron Sher Environmental Leadership Award to three incredible people who have proven that Californians can have both well-paying, safe jobs and a healthy, clean environment: Bob Balgenorth (California Unions for Reliable Energy), Carla Din (United Steelworkers of America, Apollo Alliance), and Assemblymember John Laird. For information on tickets and sponsorship, call Christina Ross at (510) 271-0900, ext. 305.

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