January/February
2002
ARK
(Audubon Refuge Keepers) Update - Bob Germany
The
Whooping Cranes Are Now In Florida
Beautiful
Bird Pictures Now Available For Purchase at General Meetings
From
the President - Tomye Ann Mainer
Recorder's
Report - Amy Lambert
Friends
of the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge Organizational Meeting- Gail
Storey
ARK
(Audubon Refuge Keepers) UPDATE
Bob Germany, Conservation Chairman
DEEP FORK REFUGE GAINS
LAND THANKS TO TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND
The Trust for Public Land recently
acquired a 1/2 acre parcel of land to be added to the Deep Fork National
Wildlife Refuge, Okmulgee. The parcel has been a primary southern entry
point to the refuge and was being foreclosed by a mortgage company. TPL
moved to acquire the land and hold it until it could be added to the
refuge. TPL is a national, non-profit organization working exclusively
to protect land for human enjoyment and well being. Thank you, thank you
Trust for Public Land! Now, Deep Fork has permanent southern access.
Learn more about the Trust for Public Land at http://www.tpl.org
THE
WHOOPING CRANES ARE NOW IN FLORIDA
It took 51 days, 2 ultra-lites, one
Cessna, motor homes, trucks, SUV's, twelve people (countless others
along the way) to go 1223.8 miles -but- the 'Whoopers' finally made it
south from Wisconsin to their new Florida winter home December 4th !
They made the news on National Public Radio and CNN, and were visited by
President and Mrs. Carter when they were in Georgia.
You can see pictures, video, and read all
about it on the web http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.
Be sure to go to Operation Migration and read the daily reports from the
crew. Fascinating! Next spring, let's follow them from Florida's
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge back to Wisconsin's Necedah NWR
to see how well they learned to migrate.
BEAUTIFUL
BIRD PICTURES NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT GENERAL MEETINGS
Beautiful bird photographs, matted and
ready for framing, will be available for viewing at our General
Meetings. Elaine Renning will have samples of these lovely photographs,
from which you may order. They are economically priced at $15 and $20,
and will be delivered at the following meeting. Support Tulsa Audubon
and receive a great picture!
From
the President
Tomye Ann Mainer
The TAS Financial Task Force is working
to formulate recommendations to solve the problems caused by the
projected loss of revenue from National. This reduction is being phased
in over the next few years. At the end of three years we will be reduced
to only 25% of the income from National that we received for year 2000.
The loss of income does not present an immediate problem for our
Chapter, however measures need to be taken now before our surplus is
depleted.
Best wishes for the New Year.
RECORDER'S
REPORT
Rare and Out of Date Sightings
Amy Lambert, Recorder
Count Species Date Location Observer
Notes
1 Western Grebe R 11/2-20/01 Mohawk Park, Lake Yahola J.Arterburn, et al
1 White-winged Scoter R 11/10/01 Lynn Lane Reservoir G.Kamp Adult Female
1 Black Scoter R 11/18/01 Mohawk Park, Lake Yahola B.Carrell
3 Willet O 10/23/01 Mohawk Park, Lake Yahola P. Moser, et al
7 Bonaparte's Gull O 10/16/01 Keystone Area J.Loyd,et al
1 Rock Wren R 11/3/01 Mohawk Park, Oxley Nature Center J.Loyd First year
bird
2 Ovenbird O 10/11/01 Williams Center Green J.Arterburn Listserv
I am still begging for more reports! Why
not make a New Year's resolution to:
Begin a 'year's list' of all the birds
you see - then report monthly!
The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming
up in February, send me a copy of your report.
Start now, and send me a monthly report
of the highest number of each species seen at your feeders at one time
in any one day. You could just pick a few days each month to monitor
your feeders, (or your favorite spot in a park, or along the river) and,
of course, report!
Feel like a friendly competition? 'Tulsa
County Listers' starts again this month. Contact me if you want to be
included.
Thank you for your reports, we really
want to know which birds all of you are seeing. Amy Lambert, Recorder
Amy Lambert 272-4794, or Pat Seibert
747-4202
mail: Amy Lambert, 12006 E 80th St North, Owasso, OK 74055
PROGRESS
REPORT TULSA RECYCLING COMMITTEE
MICHAEL BIALAS, TAS REPRESENTATIVE
A couple of years ago we finally
convinced the Mayor and City Council that curbside recycling was a good
thing. We have over 7000 participants at the present time. That is low,
considering we had expected 20,000. But, remember that this is only one
option among many for disposing of Tulsa's accumulating waste. Also, I
must say, that recycling should be a means to an end (an education
process) preceded by a reduction in consumption and a reuse of goods as
a follow-up, so recycling ranks third in the waste handling solution
process.
As for other options, we have the m.e.t.'s
recycling drop-off depots, twice a year household hazardous waste
collection, yard waste disposal sites, composting bins distribution and
composting education programs, some new pubic park recycling drop-off
centers and school recycling programs. The newest is a multiple paper
collection program (magazines, catalogs, newspaper, office and school
papers and mail) in most schools sponsored by Tulsa World in cooperation
with Abitibi Consolidated. By paying schools for the paper, there should
be a great boost in paper recycling and an increasing interest in total
recycling for that matter; an aside would be engendered interest in
reducing and reusing all of our throw-aways.
In a consumerist society we have a long
way to go, but new ideas and solutions are coming forward. As it is, we
now have two important goals: We must make waste collection fees more
equitable., such as with a 'pay as you throw' system. This would make
the second goal tenable: to keep the landfill option at a minimum. As we
attempt to close-out our air polluting incinerator by 2007, we must
consider reducing our waste, come that year of reckoning.
Lastly, on "American Recycles
Day", Nov 15th, I received a 'Recycling Hero' award at a dinner,
sponsored by many recycling advocates and businesses. It was an unusual
'Picasso' type trophy made from recyclable materials. Awards are not as
important as the deeds accomplished; however, they do recognize the
combined efforts of a lot of people who make progress possible. Many
thanks to my loyal cohort, Laurel Upshaw, who comes to mind as one of
those people. She was an able representative at meetings when I was not
available. Thank you again, Laurel Upshaw .
FRIENDS
OF THE DEEP FORK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Organizational Meeting, November 10, 2001
Gail Storey
Under the guidelines of National's ARK
(Audubon Refuge Keepers) TAS has adopted Deep Fork NWR
The Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge in
Okmulgee is the closest wildlife refuge to Tulsa. It was established in
1993 to preserve a prime area of Oklahoma bottomland forest. For several
years, members of the Tulsa Audubon Society have conducted surveys of
wintering and breeding birds in the refuge. These surveys have provided
important data for the refuge. Last year TAS adopted the Deep Fork as
part of the Audubon Refuge Keepers Program. This year, the Fish and
Wildlife Service agreed to budget a sum of money to conduct a winter
survey and a breeding bird census at the refuge. A group of dedicated
members of the Tulsa Audubon Society conducted these counts. In August,
TAS received a check for $1500 in payment. The board of directors agreed
that we would use this money to help with projects at the refuge when
needed.
We are very fortunate to have a great
staff at the refuge. Darrin Unruh is the manager. He has been assisted
by Ron Price. They are dedicated to improving the refuge and gaining
support from the community. In recent months, Darrin has worked toward
the establishment of a friends group for the refuge. Many other national
wildlife refuges have friends groups and through their efforts, dramatic
improvements have been achieved.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association,
which is an independent organization, has a mentoring program to assist
in the start-up of friends groups. Darrin was able to get George and
Dorothy Hoffman, a husband a wife mentoring team, from LaCrosse,
Wisconsin to come to Okmulgee and conduct an organizational meeting.
This was quite an honor because the mentors are limited to only a few
such trips a year.
The meeting was held on Saturday,
November 10, 2001 at the Student Union Building of the OSU Okmulgee
Campus in Okmulgee. We were fortunate to have Steve Lobuda, manager of
the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas, as a
special speaker. Also present were Darrin Unruh, Ron Price, and two new
members of the staff at Deep Fork, Mike Oldham, assistant manager, who
comes to Oklahoma from the Bosque Del Apache Refuge in New Mexico, and
Kevin Vaughn, law enforcement officer. Representing the local community
were Lenard Thomas, John La Chance, Carolyn Mathews, Pat Dolan, Jack
Blair, and myself.
Darrin presented an overview of the Deep
Fork National Wildlife Refuge. He discussed the history of the refuge,
it's current status, future acquisitions, and goals. Dorothy and George
described what friends groups are and ways in which they have helped to
protect and improve the refuges. The Hoffmans are currently active
members of the Friends of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife
Refuges and the Friends of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Steve Labuda discussed the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and
some of the activities of the friends group there.
At lunch time we drove to the refuge. The
weather was perfect and it was a pleasure to be in the beautiful forest.
We had a delicious barbecue lunch at the education area, which currently
consists of a large wooden table near the pond. After lunch we toured
the new boardwalk which is nearing completion. It is beautifully
constructed, with Pat Dolan supervising the construction, and refuge
staff members providing much of the labor. It will wind through the
forest and connect the parking lot area to the pond.
Returning to campus we resumed our
meeting. We were asked to write down projects that we would like to see
at the refuge, then we prioritized them. Getting a visitor's center had
the highest priority. Many of the other projects were dependent on that.
Darrin reported that one of the immediate needs of the refuge is a
bathroom of some kind at the education area near the pond. School
children arrive on buses and predictably need a bathroom. We decided
that this would be a worthwhile and achievable first project.
We then discussed the necessary steps in
forming a friends group. These included selecting officers, obtaining
non-profit status, choosing a logo, and soliciting members. During the
break, George asked various people if they would be willing to serve as
officers. It is a tribute to George's powers of persuasion that he was
able to fill the offices quickly. They are Jack Blair, president, Bruce
Mayberry, vice-president, John La Chance, treasurer, and myself as
secretary. George then proclaimed that we were witnessing the birth of
the Friends of the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge.
Tulsa Audubon Society was instrumental in
the formation of this group. The Society paid for dinner on Friday, for
beverages, and for the barbecue lunch. The money for this came from
payment received for conducting the two bird surveys in the fall of 2000
and spring of 2001.
It is hoped that in the months ahead,
more people will want be a part of the Friends of the Deep Fork National
Wildlife Refuge and add their efforts to improving and protecting this
wonderful place. |
