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Welcome from New IRAS President Help Us Save the Scrub Jay on September 28 Audubon Assembly 2002: Florida's Water—Connecting Communities and Nature Meeting Program and Field Trip Schedule for 2002–2003
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Welcome from the New IRAS PresidentTom Atkinson Hello! As your new president, I’d like to welcome you back to an exciting program year for the Indian River Audubon Society. Your new board is in the process of outlining an action program for the coming year. I want to be able to look back at the end of the 2002–2003 year and say, “this is at least one good thing we did to ensure that there is some hope that our children’s children can enjoy the out doors, wild things, and maybe some birds.” Before I go on to the plans for this coming year, I want to thank our outgoing president, Don Garretson, and last year’s board for the outstanding job they did for your society. It takes a lot of dedication and personal sacrifice to carry on the duties of leadership and we all owe them a deep debt of gratitude. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Bob Paxson for his leadership in coordinating our field trips, and Hugh Nicolay for his dragging us into 21st century with our web page and e-mail lists. When you see Don, Bob, Hugh, and all the other members of the board at our meetings, say thanks. They all deserve our appreciation. For this coming year, Dee Fairbanks has lined up lots of great programs for our meetings. We are well into our plan for supporting the Scrub Jay festival on September 28. It is being coordinated by our own Amy Mosher. I urge you all to come and/or work on this great project to support the survival of this imperiled little guy. We are working on future field trips even though we don’t, at the moment, have a permanent coordinator. Doug Stuckey has volunteered to help out for the month of September. It looks like our main money maker will be one or two spaghetti dinners. Be on the lookout for these events to appear in our schedule. Carroll Holland, Barb Venuto, and Julie Seberry are revitalizing our education program. I’m sure that you will be excited to hear their new approach to our outreach to elementary school students. All of our bird counts are in place, thanks to a dedicated crew of Dan Click, Judy Dryja, Doug Stuckey, Nedra Sekera, and Dick Novier. Plans for the up coming year are well under way. I hope that you will ask yourself, “What one thing can I do this year to ensure that my children’s children can enjoy the out doors, wild things, and maybe some birds.” If that one thing is with Indian River Audubon Society, let’s hear from you. Respectfully, Tom Atkinson (Top) Help Us Save the Scrub Jay on September 28Amy Mosher The Indian River Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and Florida Native Plant Societies are organizing a Scrub Jay Festival for September 28. All proceeds will benefit Scrub Jay habitat protection and education. The Florida Scrub Jay Festival will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Fox Lake Park in Titusville, rain or shine. The ticket price includes an Old Fashioned Fish Fry from Dixie Crossroads Restaurant (fried catfish, boiled shrimp, crab bites, baked beans, coleslaw, lemonade) or vegetarian lasagna instead of seafood. The kids’ menu includes fried catfish or hot dog, crab bites, chocolate pudding, and lemonade. There will also be live music, free kayak and airboat rides, scrub habitat tours, activities for children, educational displays, and a native plant sale. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event. Kids tickets are $3 in advance and $4 the day of the event. Directions to Fox Lake Park: 1-95 to SR 50 east, left on SR 405, left on Fox Lake Rd to park. For Tickets contact Amy Mosher at abmosher@earthlink.net, Beverly at (321) 631-4004, or Johna at 242-7498. Tickets will be mailed to you. Make check payable to Turtle Coast Sierra Club and mail to Turtle Coast Sierra Club, Attention: Scrub Jay Festival, P.O. Box 061887, Palm Bay, FL 32906. Audubon members that are not able to attend the Festival, may send a donation. There is much we can do to protect the Florida Scrub Jay from its current decline, but we need funds to do it. Earlier this year the Partnership for a Sustainable Future and member groups, including the Indian River Audubon Society, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior to designate critical habitat for the Florida Scrub Jay, change its status from threatened to endangered species, complete and implement a revised Florida Scrub Jay recovery plan, and cease issuing incidental take permits until this is done. (Top) |
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