By Darcy Thomas
Kay Mitchell is stepping down from the FAS Board this month after serving there 17 years, nine years as Board Director and eight as Executive Committee member. Her Executive Committee tenure included two terms as President.
During her early years on the Board, Kay became involved in overseeing the development of two major projects – the Owen Sowerwine (OS) Project, and the FAS Education Program. Kay’s involvement in the OS Project went well beyond oversight to include monitoring OS vegetation, keeping research records, planning Work Days, canoeing volunteers to the Big Island, and donning a respirator mask and backpack sprayer to eradicate weeds.
During those years, she also upgraded Flathead Audubon’s outreach capacity. She transformed The Pileated Post from a black-and-white, scissors-and-paste, newsletter into the full color, digital publication you are reading today. And she worked with several other board members to learn website software, and then restructure and upgrade FAS’s original website.
Under Kay’s guidance as President, FAS added the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch to our scientific portfolio, and mounted a successful fundraising campaign that contributed $15,000 to the West Valley Ponds conservation easement. While President, Kay also helped steer the FAS Education Program through the recruitment of three Conservation Educators, building its capacity to provide the high-quality nature education it is known for today.
After her Presidency, Kay once again become a Board Director, and took on yet another project for FAS when she spearheaded Flathead Audubon’s participation in the Great Fish Community Challenge fundraising campaign, sponsored by the Whitefish Community Foundation. She completed the necessary applications to get FAS accepted, and coordinated Flathead Audubon’s participation in the program. Great Fish funding has enabled FAS to expand its Conservation Education Program to include a full-time employee this year. After stepping down, Kay will mentor our next Great Fish coordinator to ensure continued success in the campaign.
Kay’s calm, quiet manner and tactful approach made her an enormously effective Board member and President. She is a planner and a doer. Her eagerness to listen and learn from others and her lively sense of humor made her a pleasure to work with. Flathead Audubon has been extremely fortunate she chose to contribute her energy and talents to so many FAS efforts for so many years.
THANK YOU KAY for your many years of service to Flathead Audubon!