It is a country of 50 states that covers a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation's presence to the Pacific Ocean. The major cities on the Atlantic coast are New York, a global financial and cultural center, and the capital, Washington, DC. Chicago, the metropolis of the Midwest, is known for its influential architecture and, on the West Coast, Hollywood, in Los Angeles, is famous for its movies. Maine Audubon initiatives bring together elements of conservation, community participation, promotion and education.
The activities of the Audubon Society are responsible for many laws that establish gaming commissions and hunting guardian forces, or prohibit the sale of game. Even before Grinnell's Audubon Society was organized, the American Union of Ornithologists, founded in 1883, was aware of the dangers faced by many birds in the United States. The Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and the Audubon Center in Oyster Bay, New York, were donated to New York Audubon in 1923 by Emlen Roosevelt and Christine Roosevelt in memory of their cousin, who is buried in the adjacent Youngs Memorial Cemetery. The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, across the Americas through science, promotion, education and conservation on the ground.
Audubon's Important Bird Areas program has protected 370 million acres along migratory bird routes in the United States and is a key part of Audubon's work with BirdLife International and other conservationists around the world. Cory, the elected president of the AOU, refused to attend a meeting of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia stating that he does not protect birds.
