How Do I Get My Town Bird Town Indiana Certified? Getting your town or city certified as a Bird Town Indiana through the Indiana Audubon Society is an enjoyable process and will teach you a great deal about the community in which you live. The most important part of this process is YOU! Most community and municipal leaders are extremely busy individuals and having a passionate and knowledgeable champion for the Bird Town Indiana program that can do a lot of the heavy-lifting researching and completing the application will be greatly appreciated and will significantly increase your town’s chances of achieving this honor. If you would like to be the project lead for the process, go to the Indiana Audubon’s Bird Town Indiana webpage at: https://indianaaudubon.org/bird-town-indiana/ Read more about the program, what it entails and download the application. After you’ve reviewed the application, think about the various criteria listed that would qualify your town. Don’t worry about fulfilling all of the requirements yet, just brainstorm and do a little research on the Internet for programs, ordinances, or natural areas within your community. As you search for information, create a document to cut and paste your research into in order to have all of your data in once place when you start completing the application. At this point, fill in as many sections as you can and review the number of requirements each section must have in order to qualify your town. This will give you a great starting point and will help you know where your town’s strengths are, and what areas need additional research. Looping in park staff, community leaders, or local birding, conservation or gardening clubs might be a consideration. Content experts in those groups might give you ideas you hadn’t considered to complete various sections. If you have friends or contacts within the town’s governmental structure, such as the town council or parks department you might pitch the idea to them at this point. You will want to have some basic information ready to present such as how important birding can be to a town’s local economy that the program speaks to the town’s awareness for the environment and is concerned about quality of life issues for its residents. There are a number of studies by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that detail statistics for economic impact and quality of life issues directly stemming from bird and wild life viewing. These studies are available for both national and state data and the Bird Town coordinator can provide these documents to you. Most municipalities are excited about becoming a Bird Town, but may be concerned about costs, both initially and annually, who will spearhead the effort, and what impact it may have on their community. Fortunately, becoming a Bird Town Indiana is a very low cost initiative that portrays communities in a positive light and may generate news coverage reflecting that fact. Since a town’s participation in the National Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA program is a

qualifying element, comparing the two programs may help town leaders understand the concept behind the program a little more clearly, especially if they are a Tree City USA municipality. They may not be a Tree City USA participant, but most town officials are aware of the program and its requirements. At this point, you should have the majority of your application complete, you have gotten support from local parks or environmental groups and have gotten buy-in from your town’s officials. Contact Jeff Canada, Bird Town Indiana Coordinator and Brad Bumgardner, Indiana Audubon Society President to address any additional questions you may have and have them review your draft application. They are wonderful at guiding you through the application process, and you should feel free to contact Jeff anytime throughout the process for assistance. Once you have been approved, the real fun begins! If you town would like, you can begin working to hold a Bird Town Indiana ceremony to commemorate the achievement. The Indiana Audubon Society will help you create a press release to raise awareness within the media – newspapers and television, – provide a flyer with information promote the ceremony, and get Bird Town signs to post on your town’s welcome signs. Make the Bird Town coordinator aware of potential ceremony dates in order for IAS representatives to attend and present the designation. The ceremony is a great time to celebrate everyone’s hard work to make this achievement happen! You will note that the designation couldn’t happen without many collaborators’ actions, both during the process and in years past. A conservation group’s efforts to preserve a natural area decades ago and a town’s newly enacted ordinances on natural lawns or pet control should all be recognized. Invite representatives from those that enabled your town to become a Bird Town, as well as inviting local State legislators that represent your town in order for them to know that town and community leaders are forward-thinking individuals who are concerned with the environment, their local economy and providing a comfortable, healthy place to live. Synopsis of Efforts: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

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Familiarize yourself with the Bird Town Indiana initiative. Be prepared to lead, or form a committee to lead, the process to conclusion. Download and thoroughly review the application. Research your community’s efforts that might enable them to qualify to become a Bird Town and create a file of potential qualifying criteria. Complete the draft application as completely as you can. Meet with local groups whose missions are relevant to the program such as conservation groups, gardening clubs, parks, governmental entities, and neighborhood associations in order to get additional information, ideas and support. Coordinate a meeting with local officials, parks board or town council to present the opportunity, to explain the benefits of becoming a Bird Town such as environmental, economic or quality of life advantages, and to gauge their interest for participation in the program and/or holding a ceremony to celebrate the achievement. Submit a draft application. Upon approval, plan ceremony if desired.

a. Invite representatives from supporting groups, local governmental officials, State legislators, media (newspaper/television), town residents and Indiana Audubon Society representatives. b. Work with the Indiana Audubon Society and your town to issue a press release about the ceremony and the designation. Don’t forget to promote on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc. c. Hold the ceremony in a building that can accommodate a number of people large enough for the anticipated attendance. d. Create a banner at the ceremony location promoting time and date of the ceremony as well as posting flyers around town. e. Inquire about bird programs such as the Kestrel program, or if you have a local park or bird rehabilitation group, perhaps they would like to present a bird-related program at the ceremony. f. Have refreshments and decorate the location – make it fun! g. Take photos to submit to IAS and for post-event social media use. Enjoy your efforts knowing your community values its feathered residents and the people who live within its boundaries! Contact Information [email protected] Mailing Address 3499 S Bird Sanctuary Rd. Connersville, IN 47331 Phone: 765-827-5109