State Policy, National Impact | Audubon

 Conservation coverage isn’t restricted to what’s taking place contained in the Washington, DC beltway. 

 Throughout the nation, Audubon’s state and regional workplaces work with policymakers, companions, and group leaders to guard the locations birds and other people rely on. This work turns Audubon’s conservation priorities into lasting protections for habitat, main public investments in conservation, and insurance policies that produce outcomes on the bottom. 

 This 12 months, a few of Audubon’s greatest state coverage successes present what that community can accomplish by combining native experience, robust partnerships, and the voices of Audubon members and supporters. 

Defending Habitat at Scale 

New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session lasted simply 30 days, from January 20 by way of February 19, however Audubon Southwest emerged with several significant victories for water and wildlife. On March 11, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a state price range that included $13 million for the River Stewardship Program and $10 million for the Strategic Water Reserve, two packages that assist defend and restore rivers and water provides throughout the state. Lawmakers additionally handed laws finishing a years-long effort to modernize the New Mexico Division of Recreation and Fish. 

In neighboring Arizona, Audubon Southwest entered the 2026 price range course of dealing with a distinct problem: protecting conservation programs at a time when state funds have been tight. When lawmakers accomplished their price range work this 12 months, funding for the Arizona Division of Water Sources remained intact, together with $10 million for wildfire response and $30 million for proactive forest well being work in high-risk communities. Defending these investments helps safeguard forests and watersheds that communities and birds alike depend on. 

A long time of sustained strain by Audubon members in New York led state lawmakers to move a ban on the industrial harvest of horseshoe crabs – a significant meals supply for some shorebirds. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Horseshoe Crab Safety Act in December of 2025 and the legislation went into impact this 12 months. Horseshoe crabs face many threats, together with lack of habitat and overfishing, placing the shorebirds that depend on them in danger, too.  Their drastic inhabitants declines particularly imperil the Pink Knot, which depends on horseshoe crab eggs to gas its lengthy migratory journey from the tip of South America to the Arctic Circle. New York joins Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey in banning industrial harvests. 

In some components of the nation native motion was a response to a altering federal authorized panorama: Following the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s 2023 Sackett v. EPA determination to take away federal Clear Water Act protections from many wetlands and streams, Audubon helped construct a coalition supporting a state answer. After Colorado lawmakers handed a law in 2024 making a state program to guard waters not lined by federal legislation, Audubon labored carefully with accomplice organizations to make sure the state developed the principles wanted to make the legislation work. Over the course of 18 months, Audubon represented environmental organizations throughout the rulemaking course of and supplied technical suggestions on what’s required to successfully defend wetlands and streams. The Colorado Water High quality Management Fee approved Regulation 87 in early 2026, establishing the state’s new dredge-and-fill allowing program. Audubon is now serving to practitioners and decisionmakers perceive and implement these protections. 

Securing Main Coverage Investments 

In Florida, Audubon’s work mixed new protections for public lands and coastal habitat with continued funding in Everglades restoration.  After Audubon pushed for larger transparency following a controversial proposed land swap on the Guana River Wildlife Administration Space simply south of Jacksonville, lawmakers unanimously handed HB 441, requiring at the least 30 days’ public discover and larger disclosure earlier than the state sells or exchanges conservation lands. Legislators additionally handed SB 302, strengthening protections for Florida’s aquatic preserves and inspiring nature-based approaches to coastal resilience. Lastly,  The state’s 2026 price range additionally included $645 million in full funding for Everglades restoration, sustaining substantial state help regardless of a smaller general state price range and supporting tasks to revive water flows, enhance water high quality, and defend habitat throughout South Florida. 

Generally Profitable Means Blocking 

Not each coverage victory ends with a invoice signed into conservation legislation. 

Mississippi’s 2026 legislative session noticed three payments geared toward proscribing onshore wind vitality. Audubon supplied key legislative leaders and committee workers with concise technical assets combating misinformation in regards to the results of wind generators on birds and habitat. This supplied policymakers the information they wanted to guage the proposals and stop three measures from advancing that would have created pointless obstacles to responsibly sited renewable vitality. All three payments in the end failed.  

Native Work, Nationwide Influence 

Whereas Audubon’s state coverage victories of 2026 took totally different kinds and delivered various conservation outcomes, what connects them is Audubon’s science-guided method to policymaking. Audubon state and regional groups deliver an understanding of the political panorama, conservation wants, and communities they serve. This enables us to pursue alternatives and reply to challenges in ways in which make sense for every state. Collectively, they mirror the identical method: advancing sturdy insurance policies that defend the lands and waters birds want and delivering conservation outcomes that final.