Malheur Musings
October 2020
|
|
As the smoke lifts and the sun shines through bright skies dotted with stunning cloud formations the landscape opens up before us. The fields are beginning to turn and the activity is shifting from that of summer to the coming and going of fall migrants or mammals preparing for winter.
Photo by Joan Amero
|
|
If you get this eNewsletter and read it month after month or even just periodically, I presume it is because you have formed a connection with Malheur NWR. The awe and wonder, the appreciation and regard that you hold for Malheur is at once a deeply personal and widely shared experience.
It is not lost on me that the network of people who love and support Malheur is vast and diverse. As a matter of fact, it is a keystone element of my work to be thinking about this. But it doesn't stop with us, our Refuge, and our shared passion.
There are over 200 Friends groups supporting Refuges and Fish Hatcheries across the country. These organizations are supported by hundreds of thousands of Members and Volunteers in any given year. What an incredible source of energy that is all in service to conserving and appreciating wildlife and the wild spaces they depend on!
All of this is to say, it's budget season and with is comes planning for 2021! Even just by opening this newsletter, you are a part of the network that drives the work we and others like us do. Your annual Membership and donations make even more possible and enable us to plan for new and expanded stewardship projects, outreach opportunities and advocacy for this place that we love.
If you are unsure of your 2020 Membership status, please email me today!
|
|
As always, Thank you for being a Friend.
Janelle L Wicks
FOMR Executive Director
|
|
By Peter Pearsall
The unique wetland oasis of Malheur Refuge, surrounded by the sagebrush and juniper desert characteristic of the northern Great Basin, is well known for its migratory bird life. While a few of those bird species live year-round at the Refuge, most migrate with the seasons. By contrast, nearly all of the mammals occurring at Malheur Refuge stay put all year. Smaller mammals hibernate or otherwise go into torpor, while others weather the frigid winters by layering up under fat and fur and being resourceful. Read More
|
|
By Ryan Robles, HDP Intern
" “Oh, the places you’ll go,”(Dr. Suess, 1990). This quote often crosses my mind when I look back on my journey through the field of natural resources and conservation. Just last year I was the Refuge’s Vegetation Inventory and Monitoring Intern, where I got the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a myriad of projects." ... "But as this year's challenges arose early in the spring I wasn’t sure if there would be a chance to return to working in the field." Read More
|
|
By Teresa Wicks, Portland Audubon's Eastern Oregon Field Biologist
ʔa x̣est sx̣lx̣alt. xʷixʷey̓uł łu hi skʷest. Hello, good day. Throughout my life I have spent countless hours observing, learning from, and talking with our feathered relatives. This life full of birds has not only taught me much of what I know about the places that I have lived in, but reinforced much of my belief that I can teach almost anything through birds.
|
|
An Update From the Klamath Basin
|
|
Your generous support turned the intention of a $4,000 grant to Bird AllyX into nearly $10,000! These funds made an immediate positive impact by supporting the costs associated with hiring 3 Duck Hospital Interns and infrastructure for holding pens.
As of Sept 28th, the hospital has released it's last patients and closed for the season. Bird AllyX, Volunteers, and Interns worked tirelessly to care for over 3,000 patients. As temperatures cool, the worst of the outbreak is over, but the work is not done. In order to ensure that this does not happen again, we must all advocate for the Klamath Basin Refuges to receive adequate water to support the birds that depend on it.
Thank you for your support!
You can learn more about Bird AllyX through the content below and by visiting their website, www.birdallyx.net
|
|
Kenn Kaufman Presentations
|
|
|
East Cascade Audubon Society w/ Dan Streiffert
This presentation was also performed for Eastside Audubon Society on 8/27/2020
|
|
While travel remains a risk for many we are committed to our #HarneyatHome campaign:
|
|
|
The National Wildlife Refuge System is a system of public lands that have been set aside as wildlife habitat, with robust access for people when compatible with wildlife uses. Since its creation in 1903, the Refuge System has grown to 850 million acres spread across all 50 states and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We the undersigned are proud to be supporters of the Refuge System, the largest protected set of lands for wildlife anywhere in the world. Wildlife refuges provide a haven for songbirds, moose, beaver, turtles, and waterfowl, as well as places to recreate for tens of millions of Americans.
But the Refuge System is vastly underfunded and needs at least $900 million per year in Operations and Maintenance funding. This funding covers everything from salaries for refuge managers, biologists, law enforcement, wage-grade staff, regional and national headquarters staff to planning for new refuges to equipment, building and vehicle maintenance, and supplies for law enforcement staff. Basically, this fund covers almost all the work completed on wildlife refuges, and lack of funding is driving the Refuge System to the brink.
For years, a lack of funding has meant that federal wildlife officers, the law enforcement staff on refuges, are staffed at one-quarter of the needed levels. The majority of wildlife refuges have no staff on site. Entire refuge complexes share one environmental education staffer with their entire state, or they rely on volunteers to run that program. The programs that staff an environmental educator bring in thousands of schoolchildren every year, an enormous resource for the community. Not one refuge in the system is fully staffed according to their needs, a direct result of a lack of funding for the program.
|
|
When filling out your Ballot this election season please consider choosing local, state, and federal candidates that will best protect wildlife, the environment, public lands, and who will best support National Wildlife Refuges. |
|
September's Most Popular
Every month there is excellent content on the Friends Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages. Here We will feature the most popular post of the month.
It's New York Fashion Week (9/17) Photo by Alan Nyiri
It’s #NewYorkFashionWeek and seasonal color schemes are de rigueur. Whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter, Malheur Refuge offers stunning patterns and palettes in its boundless vistas and diverse habitats. We’d like to think that public lands are always in fashion, especially National Wildlife Refuges.
|
|
This post reached over 4,200 people through Facebook and got 165 Likes on Instagram! Follow our pages, @Malheurfriends, to see more great content like this!
|
|
Membership Minute
The sustaining support of our members is more imoportant than ever.
If you are unsure of your Membership status you can email us at friends@malheurfriends.org today!
|
|
2020 Membership Appreciation
All New and Renewing Members will receive an exclusive FOMR Member 2020 clear decal.
Renewing Members that BUMP up a Membership level will receive a new Malheur BUMPer sticker. (Pictured below)
New and Renewing Members that sign up at the Patron ($200), Steward ($500) or Benefactor ($1,000) levels are eligible for specialty gifts! See Brochure
Gifts will include Malheur specialty coffee roasted by Clawfoot Coffee Roasters in Klamath Falls and 1 or 2 FOMR hand-thrown ceramic Mugs by Deneen Pottery. Benefactor Members will also receive a copy of the Malheur Symphony on CD.
|
|
|
Current Membership Total: 706! |
|
GIFT A MEMBERSHIP to the Malheur enthusiast and Bird lover in your life! Membership is a great way to keep up with and support the ongoing work of our organization! All you have to do is fill out THIS FORM with the recipient's name and contact information and they will be informed of their Membership!
|
|
We appreciate our Friends and know that much of what we accomplish in serving the Refuge can not be done without the physical presence of VOLUNTEERS.
Despite much uncertainty that remains, the Friends of Malheur NWR Project Committee has begun forming plans for 2021 and beyond. These plans may include the need for volunteers who are fully self-contained in an RV or Trailer that can be parked at Refuge HQ. There may not be access to the Volunteer Community Room & Kitchen or Bathrooms.
We are recruiting for the Crane's Nest Nature Center & Store (Monthly, March-October) Must be a couple working together who will be comfortable managing limited entry of the Store and enforcing Covid-19 safety procedures with all visitors.
All Volunteer opportunities are contingent upon and will be subject to any local, state, or federal health and safety guidelines. Volunteering may be cancelled at any point.
|
|
If you wish to be considered for a Crane's Nest volunteer position in 2021 please email Janelle, director@malheurfriends.org |
|
Crane's Nest Nature Center & Store
Unstaffed until further notice
The Online Nature Store is now operational and offering a selection of our favorite Malheur NWR and Friends of MNWR goodies!
|
|
What came first: The water bottle or the sticker?
This 17oz stainless steel water bottle is double-walled for insulation and will keep your cold drinks cold and warm beverages warm!
It also serves as a much needed canvas for all the stickers you have been collecting!
|
|
Malheur HQ Visitor Center
Unstaffed until further notice
|
|
36391 Sodhouse Lane
Princeton, OR 97721
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
