by Darcy Thomas
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday rich with love, peace, and joy. May this coming year give you happiness, health, and wondrous outdoor adventures! May it also be a great year for birds!
I have great news to tell you. After many years of hard work, keeping fingers crossed, and partnering with amazing conservation organizations, namely Flathead Land Trust and Flathead Lakers, Owen Sowerwine Conservation Easement was approved unanimously by the Montana State Land Board. Our efforts on behalf of birds, fish, and wildlife have paid off. This was an effort made by many people including our members and friends who made donations and who deserve a special thank you.
The Whitefish Community Foundation merits recognition and appreciation for awarding Flathead Audubon a Community Grant of $50,000 towards the conservation easement. For believing in our vision the Montana Land Board gets a round of applause. Gael Bissel and Pam Willison deserve our sincerest thanks for the hours of work they donated to see this come to fruition. The behind-the-scenes work they accomplished that led to this success is beyond what anyone could expect of unpaid volunteers. The next time you see them please take a moment to thank them personally. I know the birds would clap their wings if they knew what love and dedication these two women have poured into this effort. We are looking forward to the May 13 general meeting, to celebrate Owen Sowerwine, its beauty, birds, flora and fauna, our hard work in the area, our fun field trips, and our history. I hope you all will join in the celebration.
For further reading, check out Flathead Land Trust’s article here and the wonderful article on the approval in the Flathead Beacon written by Micah Drew.
This year Flathead Audubon is looking forward to other great things as well. Our conservation education program is expanding to meet student and teacher needs and instill a love of birds and nature into young minds in the Valley. We have a lot of dynamic field trips planned throughout the year. Be sure to join a few of them. Once again, we look forward to Warbler Weekend and the Birds of Prey Festival. We are forming a Junior Bird Club and planning a baling twine clean-up event to protect Osprey. We will also have a couple of Birds & Brew nights where we can socialize, meet new friends, and talk about our favorite bird stories.
Our annual election will occur in May so please be thinking about how you can help. If I could wish upon a star and have my dream come true it would be to have someone step forward to be vice president. We are also in need of an Education Committee chairperson. Pam has been double booking herself as our secretary and committee chairperson for the Owen Sowerwine area for a long time. She would love to dedicate her time to Owen Sowerwine, so we need to elect a new secretary to replace her. If you are not quite ready to serve as an officer, we would love to welcome you to sit on our board of directors or co-chair a committee. There will be many more volunteer opportunities available as our year progresses. Our work with Flathead Audubon is vitally important and there are so many ways you can help birds, wildlife, and the places they live by joining us in the daily tasks that make our chapter vibrant. If you are interested, see me after the meeting, call me, or email me at darcy@flatheadaudubon.org.