Sacramento Audubon Society activities were suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic. That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? Like many other organizations, we adapted and pursued our mission to educate and advocate on behalf of birds and birding. As we enter the New Year, I wanted to share the many ways we have supported and will continue to support our mission.
The big news is that our much missed field trip activities are back…with changes. Please take note. Trip size is now limited, online registration is required and participants must be vaccinated (see Field Trips on our website). I want to thank the Field Trip Committee and the Website Committee for working tirelessly to come up with a solution that allowed for field trips to resume in a way where both leaders and participants will feel comfortable.
For now our General/Monthly meetings will remain virtual. We’ve switched our online meeting provider from Webex to the more familiar Zoom with the hope that participants will find it easier to navigate. I’d like to thank board member and Website Committee Chair Mary Forrestal for administering these meetings. Anthony Asay, our Monthly Speaker Chair, continues to provide us with interesting speakers. Anthony is also our newest board member and we look forward to his contributions in this new role.
Sharon Wisecarver, our longtime editor of The Observer, stepped down this past summer. I’m very grateful to Sharon for her years of service to the Society. We benefitted from her high standards and excellent editing. Our new editor, Carla Resnick, has been doing an excellent job as well.
Our website continues to impress with its well thought out design, navigability, professional appearance and overall usefulness. Just look at these numbers for 2021: There have been 51,000 visits -- 38,000 of which have been unique visitors. There have been 181,000 individual page views. The most popular page continues to be the “Sacramento Area Birds Checklist” with 38,231 page views. In aggregate, the birding location pages have been viewed over 10,000 times. While The Observer remains a vital part of Sacramento Audubon Society (and for many of you the main source of information on SAS), it is our website that introduces people to SAS. The 4-person Website Committee deserves our many thanks for their excellent work.
Board member Paul Miller has been instrumental in bringing accessible birding to SAS. He created and chairs the Accessibility Committee. He worked with the Field Trip and Website Committees to create the “Accessible Birding” recommendations on our website. SAS’s first accessible birding trip, led by Paul, was in December. More are on the way. We are truly indebted to Paul for his leadership in this area.
Our sponsorship of Effie Yeaw’s “Nature in Your Classroom” program for Sacramento City Unified School District Title 1 schools continues. Since spring 2021, SAS’s Vice President, Daphne Reimer, has reached out to 35 schools with our offer of sponsorship. 11 schools have registered for programs. Several schools are pending. By the end of 2021, over 1000 students will have seen (or are scheduled to see) an Effie Yeaw Nature Center’s “Nature in Your Classroom.” (We’ve also been pleased that we are supporting Effie Yeaw by sponsoring these programs.)
Some festivals will be returning this year. The Galt Winter Festival, Walk on the Wildside, and Harvest Day are scheduled to return. Our Outreach Committee plans to participate in these events. On Labor Day weekend 2021 we were sponsors of Chalk It Up!, the hugely popular Midtown Sacramento art festival supporting arts education. The volunteer artist in charge of our chalk mural created a beautiful rendering of a Great Blue Heron. Our participation was part of an effort to expand our outreach into the larger community, not just birding events. We plan on participating again this year.
We continue to support the work of ECOS (Environmental Council of Sacramento) and Habitat 2020. They are focusing on the opposition of the Delta Conveyance Tunnel Project, challenging new development applications to annex targeted conservation lands at Natomas Basin, and, most recently, reviewing the EIR for the California Northstate University Hospital and Innovation Center slated to replace the Sleep Train Arena in Natomas.
SAS is currently working with the City of Sacramento Parks Department on the protection and restoration of habitat at Reichmuth Park. Sadly, off-road dirt bikers have damaged habitat by making unauthorized trails. City Parks Department plans are to restore habitat, prevent vegetation clearing, remove English Ivy, and to address other management issues. In the spring we will be checking their progress on these items.
National Audubon, with SAS’s support, approved a Feather River fish and wildlife habitat enhancement project at Bobelaine. River Partners along with FlowWest have submitted a grant application to the Bureau of Reclamation for project funding. Salmon and steelhead habitat restoration will be the priority. The plan is to use an old river channel that already goes through Bobelaine. If the grant is approved, the project time line would be 2 years for data collection, design and permitting; then 2 years for construction. The Bobelaine Committee was re-established to participate in design review, coordination and construction monitoring. The project grant is to include post construction monitoring. Visitor use of the sanctuary is to be coordinated with construction, so any closure would be at a minimum. Additionally, I’d like to thank the crew of dedicated volunteers that help maintain Bobelaine for all to enjoy.
This past year saw the departure of 3 board members: Elliot Chasin, Diana Hickson and, most recently, Heather White. Elliot was the SAS Conservation Chair for 4 years working with ECOS and Habitat 2020. His analysis of the EIR for the proposed California Northstate University Hospital next to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Center provided ammunition for the defeat of this project. Diana served on the board for over 10 years in various capacities. As Corresponding Secretary she not only wrote our many thank you notes to donors, but helped write and revise SAS policies and also served on many committees. Having had a long history with the board, she always offered sound advice. Heather was involved in the initial redesign of our current website. She also brought her design skills to her role as Corresponding Secretary with her creation of our thank you postcards. She looks forward to helping us with future design projects.
Although the pandemic has disrupted so many things for so many people, I am proud of our response as an organization. Even though we couldn’t bird together, we still encouraged birding with DIY field trips, suggested birding locations and virtual programs. The board never missed a monthly meeting but learned to adapt in a virtual setting. Financially, we are as sound as we’ve ever been thanks to our generous membership and outside donors.
I’d like to thank my fellow board members for helping steer the Society in these uncertain times. I’d like to acknowledge the work of Jane Van Kessel, our Membership Chair and Harriet Saeck, Treasurer, whose behind-the-scenes work can easily go unnoticed. I also want to thank all of the committees that work to make this a better organization. And finally, I’d like to thank you, SAS member, for your ongoing support.
- Bill Bianco, Sacramento Audubon President
