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FALL 2023 CALENDAR

FALL TERM 2023 BEGINS Sept 7:
Academic year presentations: Sept - May; All events begin at 9am unless stated otherwise

PRESENTATION: Sept 7; 9-11 am
Speaker: August Jackson
Topic: Bees of Steens Mtn

BIO:
August Jackson works as the Interpretation/Coordinator at Mount Pisgah Arboretum in Eugene Oregon. In addition to his work at the Arboretum, August has expertise in the native bees of the Pacific Northwest and is an instructor with the Oregon Bee Atlas out of Oregon State University. He has authored a comprehensive guide to the bees of the Willamette Valley and has discovered bee species new to the state of Oregon. August is a passionate science communicator and frequently delivers talks and leads classes on native bees and pollination ecology around the state.

Bird Walk: Thursday, 9-Noon, Sept. 14, 2023
LEADER: Priscilla S.
DESTINATION:
Delta Ponds along the river.
Park near the Maury-Jacob bike/pedestrian bridge near Valley River Center. We will meet on the bridge at 9am and begin by birding there. Next we will walk the east bike path(VRC side of river) downriver; stopping at numerous places according to the "action". Eventually we will reach the place where there is another large pond on the right and culverts passing beneath the bike path. That will be our turn-around point.

PRESENTATION: Sept 21; 9-11 am
Speaker: Paul Englemeyer
Topic:Sharing Conservation Efforts and Successes

BIO:
Paul Engelmeyer’s love of fishing and forests brought him to the NW in 1975. After working in the woods all over Region 6 - OR, WA and Idaho - from tree-planting to tree climbing for cones he transitioned to being a part of the OSU Marbled Murrelet research team. When the first Murrelet nest was found in Oregon’s forests in the early 1990s he made another shift to full time advocacy. Salmon recovery as well as protecting habitat the ESA listed Murrelet and other species dependent on older forest habitat became the focus - protection and restoration. He was also on the Salmon Advisory Subpanel and Habitat Committee for the Pacific Fisheries Management Council dealing with salmon management within the PNW.

He has years of experience managing the Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary (located near Yachats) for the Portland Audubon. During his service on Oregon’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC), he helped with the advocacy for and the development of the system of marine reserves and protected areas in Oregon’s territorial sea. He helped form the Cape Perpetua Collaborative which includes federal, and state agenices as well as business partners on the central coast.

He has also managed lands for The Wetlands Conservancy located in Alsea Bay, Beaver Creek and Yaquina Bay. 25 years ago he and few coastal community members intiated the MidCoast Watersheds Counci. Their working footprint includes Salmon River/Cascade Head in the north to Heceta Head in the south approximately 1ML acres with about the Siuslaw NF being the major landlowner. Sharing conservation efforts and successes thru field trips and presentations with students and potential partners is one of his passions.

BIRD WALK: Thursday, Sept 28, 2023; 9-Noon,
LEADER: Janet N.
North Delta Ponds:

PRESENTATION: Oct. 5; 9-11 am
Speaker: Cal Penkauskas
Topic:Cal Penkauskas: "This presentation shares findings from Cal's graduate work that investigates how birds utilize hazelnut orchards and how landscape context affects bird diversity."

BIO:
"Cal moved to Eugene in 2012 to pursue a college education and has since received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oregon. While working in the Hallett Lab, Cal has spent the last 5 years investigating how agricultural practices in the Willamette Valley can align with habitat conservation goals. Almost all the hazelnuts grown in the U.S. are found in Oregon and the industry is in a period of expansion - understanding how bird communities change in relation to orchard age and wildland habitat is key to sustainable agriculture production in the region for the coming decades."

BIRD WALK: Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023; 9 a.m. to 1? or 2? p.m.,
LEADER: Betsy H.
DESTINATION: Snagboat Bend (near Peoria)
(BOGS has not yet walked the trails at this site. We attempted to last year but the river had been running high and trails were flooded).

DETAILS:
This destination is roughly 30 miles Northwest of Eugene in Linn County. This region on the East side and adjacent to the Willamette River, was added to Finley Wildlife Refuge Complex (approx 2000?) some decades after the larger refuge was established (which was approx. 1955) on the West side of the Willamette River. https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/oregon/william-l-finley-national-wildlife-refuge-snag-boat-bend-unit "This extensive backwater slough, formed by the confluence of Lake Creek and the Willamette River, provides habitat for waterfowl, western pond turtles, black-tailed deer, and a large great blue heron rookery."
As is the case with Finley Refuge, Trails are closed from Nov. 1 to April 1 to protect the Wintering Wildlife.

Most people will very likely choose to drive there independently, with the intention of arriving at 9 a.m. (directions are given further down).
For those who wish to drive in a group together, we will meet BEFORE 8 a.m. in the parking lot for Jerry's Home Improvement, just north of Beltline on Hwy 99. Enter the lot and then turn left; then park at the side closest to Hwy 99 where we can easily find each other. We'll drive slowly and try to stay in a group. My estimate is that those of us in the group caravan will arrive at SNAGBOAT BEND around 8:45 to 9 a.m.

DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS:
We will drive to Harrisburg via Hwy 99W through Junction City and Hwy 99E from Junction City to Harrisburg. At the north end of Junction City we want Hwy 99E which splits off at an angle to the right, (while Hwy 99W would go off to the left). Hwy 99E crosses the Willamette River and enters Harrisburg. At the north end of Harrisburg, we turn left on PEORIA RD and take that to SNAG BOAT BEND, which is marked by a sign on the left side of the road.
Site and trail DESCRIPTION:
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Snag_Boat_Bend_Loop_Hike
TRIP DURATION:
There are some longer trail options, so this trip might easily run past Noon, returning to Eugene closer to 1 p.m. or possibly even as late as 2:00 p.m. (these are only estimates). We recommend you bring a lunch and water or beverages. Of course, people may return home at any time but we ask that you let the trip leader know you are leaving.

PRESENTATION: Oct. 19; 9-11 am
Speaker: Jeff Fleischer.
TopicWinter Birds of Prey & survey routes project
BIO:
I was born and raised in SE PA and moved to Oregon in 1969 to attend Oregon State University. I graduated in February 1973 with a degree in Wildlife Management. During three summers while attending OSU, I was fortunate to be selected to work as a Student Trainee for the US Fish and Wildlife Service on three different national wildlife refuges. Upon graduation from OSU, I was hired on permanently as an assistant refuge manager and spent 1.5 years at Malheur NWR in SE OR. I was promoted to another refuge in northern TX where I worked for 2 years before again being promoted back to the west coast where I worked as one of the primary assistant managers on the Klamath Basin NWRs Complex. I resigned in 1984 to work with the US Postal Service in Albany, OR for another 25 years before finally retiring from federal service.

During my Postal Service years, I became very active in birding throughout Oregon. Once my two sons went off to college, I found more time to devote to Winter birding in Linn County. It became apparent to me that the grass fields throughout the county supported hundreds of birds of prey each winter.

Drawing on my USFWS refuge days when I did a lot of wildlife survey work, I put together a few survey routes in Linn County and actively surveyed and reported to the OR birding list serve OBOL, the huge number of raptors that I counted. This caught the the attention of a lot of folks monitoring OBOL around the state and because of that, I initiated the Winter Raptor Survey Project which was and continues to be sponsored by the East Cascades Audubon Society is based in Bend, OR. The first year of the the project, I put together 79 routes throughout Oregon for folks to survey. Nineteen years later, the project now covers 551 routes covering more than 32,000 miles of survey transects surveyed by 450 primary volunteers throughout all of OR, WA, and ID and small parts of northern CA and UT as well as western MT. (My BOGS program) is entitled “Birds of Prey in the Pacific Northwest - East Cascades Audubon Society Winter Birds of Prey Project”, will offer the audience a look Into the Raptor Project as well as provide attendees with a collection of pretty stunning photos, taken mostly by project participants, of all the species that we have found on our surveys. Hopefully, by the end of the program, everyone will have a new grasp of the various species of birds of prey found in the northwest, where they can be expected to be found and in what numbers, and maybe address some of those tough ID situations that we run into from time to time in the field :)

BIRD WALK: Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023; 9-Noon,
LEADER: TBA
DESTINATION: TBA

PRESENTATION: Nov. 2; 9-11 am
Speaker: ---NONE SCHEDULED ----
Topic:--- NONE ---

BIO:
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