Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Society Celebrates 20 Years
by Rayna Holtz
Our Beginnings
1989 was the year the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. But on the hopeful side, and not just coincidentally, it was also the year a new Audubon chapter started on Vashon-Maury Island. Aware both of the growing environmental problems of the day and the beauty and diversity of Vashon’s wildlife, Islander Emma Amiad conferred with Hazel Wolf, the famous Seattle Audubon secretary, and initiated the process in September, 1989. An idealistic dynamo, Emma tells the story modestly:

Hazel and I spoke several times on the phone and she told me to just go for it.  She sent me a copy of the list of Vashon members of the Seattle Audubon and National Audubon and that became my first mailing list.

Hazel was a friend of Esther Robbins Hutton who was also a friend of mine.  Hazel called Esther and asked if she would host a meeting to discuss the forming of a local chapter.  Esther agreed and that way Hazel was able to stay overnight with Esther and Esther would pick her up and take her home.  Esther was still working in Seattle then.

You were at that first meeting I’m sure when Hazel gave us the lowdown on how to get started and what to do.  She got back to me with samples of other chapter bylaws and I think I just wrote out our first constitution and by laws myself, just to get started.  We worked on them more later. We petitioned the National and I got the required number of signatures of Vashon folks asking for their own chapter.  They asked for a little more paperwork and then we were set.

As fall flowed into winter, people who felt passionate about birds and wild living systems began to organize their first field trips and programs, sharing their knowledge, concerns, and curiosity.  Each gathering has had its own chemistry, out of which have come years of partnerships, memorable moments, activities, and projects.  Surely we all carry many vivid personal memories that still give us pleasure. Mine include these field trip highlights:

• The thrill of seeing Western Grebes through a scope for the first time, regal and serene as they float on Quartermaster waves

• Marveling at the brilliance of yellow-orange plumage on a Townsend’s Warbler  on a cold bright winter morning at Pt. Robinson

• Discovering a Junco nest together in the grassy side of a road ditch

• Watching a pair of Flickers court each other with rituals of hopping in spirals around fir tree trunks

• Admiring a flock of Cedar Waxwings snatching insects from the air over Mukai Pond, sunlight shining in their yellow tailbands

• Following Steve Caldwell through brush and trees and learning a seventh different vocalization of the versatile Bewick’s Wrens.

Sharing excitement about the lives and habits of birds and other wildlife has been natural to Vashon Audubon members.
Carol Ferch, who taught about waterbirds and wetlands to 4th grade classes very successfully for many years, says: ” I am so delighted when I am able to share the sightings of birds with others. They are just so amazing and breathtaking that I want to share the experience with everyone.” 
The 4th grade waterbird program started in 1990 when Education Chair Wanda Fink collaborated with Susie Kalhorn and the WAVES project (Water and Vashon Ecosystems) to design a marine bird curriculum for the 4th grade. It has continued to thrive under the supervision of Sue Trevathan, Kathryn True, and Gary Shugart. In 2007 it received an Outstanding Education Award from State Audubon.

Other classes have started for adults. 
A Birding by Ear course was pioneered by Steve Caldwell in 1998 and classes in Basic Birding were started by Dan Willsie in 1999. With assistance from Sue Trevathan and now Alan Huggins the classes have continued and evolved into The Enjoyment of Birds. For a number of years Joy Nelsen, assisted by Rayna Holtz, offered March Amphibian Day activities for families, including viewing live salamanders and frogs she collected the previous day and walking around ponds to identify egg masses of different species.

Outreach and public education have taken many routes.
Ed Swan’s column in the Loop, “For the Birds” has provided detailed information about local birds twice a month for many years, and led to the first Vashon bird book, Birds of Vashon Island: a Natural History of Habitat and Population Transformation 1850-2005.  For several years, Conservation Chair Joel Kuperberg produced and emailed a conservation news digest, The Environmental Eagle Eye. The chapter’s website, www.vashonaudubon.org, was started by Morgan Holtz in 2004 and expanded by Dan Schuler in 2005. It is now filled with articles, species lists, news, and remarkable photos by Vashon-Maury photographers, all designed and maintained by webmaster Richard Rogers. Last year, Kathryn True and Jill Andrews won a grant and produced interpretive signs for the ferry terminals featuring local aquatic birds.

Fabric and art have provided especially creative ways to share Vashon Audubon concerns.
Through a local art grant for nonprofits, Audubon received elegant bird costumes including a Western Tanager, a Swainson’s Thrush, and a Purple Martin sewn by artist Bonnie Wilkins. Audubon members have worn them at events conveying the problems of Migratory Birds, representing the chapter in Strawberry Festival parades, and for teaching about shadegrown coffee. Concern about the coffee issue also inspired artist Sandi Noel to design a Shadegrown Coffee t-shirt that advertises the importance of protecting Latin American forests for habitat, instead of replacing them with coffee plantations. Over the past two decades Sandi has created art for Audubon posters, shirts, and articles for many educational purposes.  Artist Judith Pearce designed our Western Grebe and Landmark Trees logo.

Field Trips
Every year the group has held field trips both locally and to great places in the region, such as the Dungeness Spit, the Nisqually Reserve, the Skagit Flats during the winter influx of raptors, Gray’s Harbor/Bowerman Basin during spring shorebird migrations, and Westport to travel offshore by boat and observe pelagic species seldom seen in Puget Sound.  In the winter of 2003, Dan Willsie led one of Vashon Audubon’s most successful field trips out to the coast for a weekend. Participants looked at birds all afternoon, enjoyed a delicious dinner and charming rooms at the Tokeland Motel, and then birded in the morning before heading home. Starting in 2004, the chapter has provided a local outing on the second Saturday of every month.

Conservation
The chapter has also actively pursued conservation goals. Dan Willsie worked with National Audubon Society to designate Quartermaster Harbor an Important Bird Area, ranking it with top areas in the country for breeding, migrating, or overwintering birds. Its importance is due to the large number of Western Grebes (a State Candidate Species) that have traditionally overwintered here, plus the 35 other species of waterbirds that use it for rest and forage during winters and migration times.  Our Recycling Committee, very active for over a decade, started a recycling program at the elementary schools, expanded recycling options at the landfill, in 1992 started the chapter’s Adopt-a-Road cleanups along Vashon Highway south of town, produced several editions of a Vashon materials exchange catalog, and presented recycling and worm bin information at Strawberry Festival booths for many years.

Projects
Vashon Audubon has provided a supportive matrix for many committees and projects. Susan White and Eugene Smith started a Landmark Trees program in 1989, to acknowledge old, beloved, beautiful, large, and rare trees on Vashon. The project was later championed by Nancy Silver, who created maps and lists of trees and shared local tree lore in school classrooms .  The Vashon Wildlife Inventory project produce a first checklist of Vashon birds in 1995, followed by lists of  mammals, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, and shoreline species.  The Vashon Stream Survey committee raised money in 2000 and 2001 to help pay for a survey of all Vashon-Maury streams by Washington Trout, establishing correct water typing maps and showing which streams are able to support fish.  Dan Willsie and Rich Siegrist started a teaching collection of bird skins in 1999 under the supervision of Gary Shugart, curator of birds at the Slater Museum in Tacoma. Since then many members have salvaged dead birds found in yards and along roadsides and passed them to Gary, who enables them to have an afterlife enriching classes for adults and for 4th grade students.

Local birds who have suffered the loss of nest holes due to competition from Starlings and House Sparrows have received assistance from several islanders. Dan Willsie began building boxes for Violet-green Swallows in 1990, and later Steve Caldwell headed work parties to generate many more.  In 1994, Conservation Committee members assembled and put up several Purple Martin boxes, after noting that a pair had nested in pilings the previous year.  As Martins began using the boxes, Rich Siegrist pursued the project almost single-handedly, annually cleaning boxes and adding more to suitable pilings. Numbers increased and achieved a peak of 86 pairs nesting in 2005.  Bluebirds returning to nearby Fort Lewis boxes inspired Ed Swan to lead a bluebird nest box project in 2002, which we hope may yet attract the intended species.

Bird Counts
To help with national efforts to monitor population trends in species, Vashon Audubon also participates in a number of counts.  Carole Elder has been making a Breeding Bird Survey count in late May/early June for us since 1995.  Sue Trevathan started chapter participation in the Christmas Bird Count in 1998.  Rayna Holtz led the first 4th of July Butterfly Count in 1996, and Alan Warneke in recent years has expanded it into a dragonfly survey as well.

VMIAS Efforts
Since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, Vashon Audubon has supported a number of efforts to help shoreline species, starting in 1992 with VIBRA (Vashon Island Bird Rescue Association), which prepared Islanders to help respond to oil spills and oiled birds. After the Dalco oil spill of 2004, when over 72,000 gallons of crude oil fouled water and beaches around southern Vashon, many Audubon members attended a Spill Awareness Class held by Washington Department of Natural Resources. Many also began to participate in the COASST beach surveys (Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team) to monitor Island beachs for dead seabirds in an effort to understand which species were experiencing high mortalities and figure out why. This is a joint effort by the University of Washington and NOAA.

Beach awareness has perhaps grown over the past twenty years on Vashon, both because of problems and because of enhanced knowledge and interest in beach ecology and aquatic species. Following National Audubon’s designation of Quartermaster Harbor as an Important Bird Area in 2001, the Washington Department of Natural Resources included it in its new state aquatic reserve program to protect significant marine resources. WaDNR formally established the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve in November, 2004. WaDNR also became a sponsor of the first Low Tide Celebration at Pt. Robinson in 2006, along with Vashon-Maury Island Audubon, the Vashon Park District, Washington Scuba Alliance, People for Puget Sound, Keepers of Pt. Robinson, and VMI Land Trust. For four years now this annual celebration has taught about beach life and ecology. It has become a vehicle for communicating about the importance of Vashon shorelines in the life cycles of revered northwest species, the salmon and orcas, as well as less known key species such as surf smelt, herring, and sand lance. Conservation Chair Michelle Ramsden, partnering with Rayna Holtz, has extended the opportunities for Islanders to learn about shoreline life by setting up an Ebbtide Ecology series of beach walks since 2007.

Looking Ahead
As Vashon Audubon moves forward into the next few decades, we are increasingly able to recognize not only birds and their calls, but also the trees and shrubs they sit in, the seaweeds and living creatures on which waterbirds forage, the effects of cold summers on insect populations that are vitally important for martins, swallows, and many other birds. We are recognizing more of the connections in the web of life, and taking pleasure in helping to protect them. We have been sharing these pursuits with neighbors and teaching each other new things for twenty years. Find out more at www.vashonaudubon.org and feel welcome to come to a second Saturday field trip some time soon.

Our founder Emma Amiad says,
“The birding that gives me the most pleasure is the birding I do right here on the Island and mostly on my own property. That is the gift to me from our local Audubon Chapter and the people who make it up.”
CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE


All the people who came to Esther Robbins-Hutton's house for the very first meeting, called by Emma Amiad (left end of the middle row) and addressed by Hazel Wolf, the white-haired matriarch seated in front.


1990 Earth Day celebration in the old Vashon Elementary School Gym. Hazel Wolf was our guest speaker, and she is shown here with our first secretary, Charon Scott-Goldman.


Tree planting ceremony at Earth Day 1990, in front of the Vashon Elementary Gym. Hazel Wolf is in the center of the photo, holding a child's hand. Behind her and the child is Jim Waldo, the former Vashon resident who, in 1990, achieved a brilliant success around that time of negotiating a $102 million settlement with the Puyallup Tribe that settled land claims over gov't authority. He also managed the State Water Resources Planning Program in 1990, a process where state and local govt, Indians environmental groups, commercial and sports fishermen, and agriculture interests resolved water resource planning issues through a cooperative process. To the right is Jay Holtz from the rear, in the process of planting a tree. To the left in a long skirt and purple shirt is Carol Ferch, who later initiated the Vashon Audubon 4th grade birding program, based on the WAVES curriculum. Joel Kuperberg is partly visible behind her.


Joy Nelsen and Dan Willsie looking at birds in Tramp Harbor on a field trip in 1990 or 1991.


Birding field trip group at the north end dock boat launch. Steve Caldwell is in the very back wearing a light colored jacket, and Joy Nelsen stands in front of him wearing blue jeans. Dan Willsie is in the middle in a beret.


Strawberry Festival parade entry from around 1993 or 1994, with Joy Nelsen and Steve Caldwell inside the truck cab and two members riding in the back of the pickup wearing Bonnie Wilkins' migratory bird costumes made for VMIAS, a Western Tanager and a Swainson's Thrush.


Amphibian Day early 1990's, showing Joy's hand-dug back-yard pond, created using a pond liner, and stocked with amphibians by means of transferring eggs from other ponds.


4th Grade Birding teacher Carol Ferch wearing a grey sweater and pointing out something in a field guide.


Nancy Silver and Rayna Holtz are measuring a large Coulter Pine in 1998, for the Landmark Trees Program.

CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Society - A Brief Chronology
by Rayna Holtz and Sue Trevathan

1989

Founded in September under Emma Amiad’s & Hazel Wolf’s leadership.

Newsletter began in October, on a monthly schedule (editor Lita Baum).

Membership meetings began in October, also monthly.

Field trips began in October and continued monthly (Joy Nelsen the first Field Trips Chair).

First unofficial Christmas Bird Count: eleven people found 47 species, 1,831 individuals.

The Landmark Tree Committee was started by Susan White and Eugene Smith.

1990

Organized Earth Day celebration at old Vashon Elementary outdoor gym. Hazel Wolf spoke, and we planted three trees between building and road. The Western Red Cedar and the Sequoia continue to grow.

Logging and forestry issues a concern (Vashon logging rate rose 30%) and we requested a moratorium from Public Lands Commissioner Brian Boyle, until a Vashon forest management plan could be written.

First Walk on the Wild Side programs co-sponsored by Friends of the Vashon Library, Vashon Park District, WAVES, and Vashon Rotary. Audubon provided volunteer help.

First VMIAS Birdathon found 68 species and raised $1800.

First book sales: National Geographic Field Guide to Birds

First swallow boxes made and sold by Dan Willsie

Wanda Fink’s Education Committee begins working with WAVES (Water and Vashon Ecosystems) to design a marine bird curriculum for the 4th grade.

Supported fund-raising for Mileta Creek heronry, the largest in King County.

Explored ways to protect KVI Beach, leading to the installation of wooden posts by Emmett Pritchard and the Island Corps. Lisa Gae Jones began designing educational signs to place there.

Recycling Committee split off from Wanda Fink’s Education Committee.

First VMIAS logo shirts were made & sold.

First Holly-Daze Bazaar booth.

1991

Education Committee volunteers came to a fourth grade class room with handouts to help students study seven aquatic birds, and guided them on a field trip.

Recycling Committee worked on a pilot paper recycling program at Burton and Vashon Elementary Schools, expanding recycling options at the landfill, and educating people about recycling.

Many articles about recycling, alternatives to packaged and toxic household chemicals, and ways to reuse items or avoid packaging.

First Strawberry Festival booth.

Many articles about protecting forests and wetlands.

1992

Big Birdathon success: over 125 sponsors, 26 volunteers, and over $4,300 raised.

First Place in Washington State, First Place in the Western Region, and Second Place award for chapters smaller than 300 members.

Recycling Committee initiated Adopt-a-Road on Vashon.

KVI signage almost created: Lisa Gae Jones was granted $2,845 by WDFW to make them, but her life took a different turn and she moved.

Poems, bird facts, and illustrations by 4th graders began to decorate Island Wings as Carol Ferch became Education Chair and brought new curriculum materials into her classroom. An insert was titled Vashon-Maury Island Junior Audubon Island Wings.

Trees are a focus: many articles on forests, forestry, and Landmark Trees.

VIBRA (Vashon Island Bird Rescue Association) was active, preparing to help respond to oil spills and oiled birds.

1993

Junior Audubon inserts continued in Island Wings.

Recycling Committee worked with King County Solid Waste and King County Arts Commission to redesign recycling area at landfill. Also set up Strawberry Festival booth with demonstrations and information, including Worm Bin.

More articles on forests and Vashon forestry.

Schedule changed to six membership meetings.

Island Wildlife Inventory started.

1994

VMIAS held a hilarious February auction to raise money ($1300).

Junior Audubon continued to provide some inserts for Island Wings.

VMIAS hosted a booth at Saturday Market to celebrate Migratory Bird Day and

teach about the plight of neotropical migrants. Focused on Swainson’s Thrush, & used Bonnie Wilkins’ bird costumes.

VMIAS volunteers participated in a study organized by Don Norman to investigate feeding behaviors of Great Blue Herons from the Mileta heronry.

Conservation Committee members made and put up several single hole Purple Martin boxes, because martins had nested in pilings in 1993.

Vashon Wildlife Inventory moved to an Access database.

Vashon forests and forestry, and the Landmark Trees program continued to receive emphasis.

1995

Vashon Wildlife Inventory produced the first checklists of Vashon birds, mammals, and herps. Ellen Kritzman created a field guide to Vashon’s mammals, in a limited edition of four.

Route for first Breeding Bird Survey was set up, and first survey conducted by Carole Elder.

Island Wings suspended publication after the April/May 1995 issue, until July/August 1997.

1996

Field trips, several programs, the Recycling Committee projects, the Landmark Trees committee, Wildlife Inventory activities, nestbox building, and other activities continued, but without a newsletter.

First 4th of July Butterfly Count held (unofficial).

1997-98

Recycling Committee activities continued actively, including a Strawberry Festival booth, a second edition of VIMEX (the materials exchange catalog), changes in the business recycling project, and initiation of paper recycling at the Post Office.

Shadegrown Coffee focus was initiated, with articles etc.

Vashon forestry news coverage and Landmark Trees walks continued.

Starting with the July/August issue, Island Wings resumed publication on a bi/monthly schedule, and the board and membership meetings began to alternate each month, so that there were six of each in twelve months.

Coverage in IW of Vashon forestry issues continued.

IW articles educated about Hanford Reach and advocated letter-writing to help save it.

The fourth grade waterbird program expanded to include watercolor painting with Marla Smith.

Rich Siegrist continued to add Purple Martin nest boxes to pilings around Vashon.

Steve Caldwell initiated his first Birding by Ear class in spring ’98.

Last VMIAS Birdathon held (last as of 9/5/03).

1998-99

Loomis Forest became a conservation focus, and we supported the fundraising efforts initiated by the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and shared by a number of nonprofits.

We created a Shade-grown Coffee brochure and wrote more IW articles about the issue. Sandy Noel designed shade-grown t-shirts for us to sell.

Forest practices received on-going attention as the Community Council’s Forest Practices Committee attempted to work with DNR to solve some of the worst problems happening on the island.

Vashon salmon and streams began to get coverage in IW.

Our first (unofficial) Christmas Bird Count was organized by Sue Trevathan.

Ellisport Creek’s mouth came up for sale to the Vashon Park District, and VMIAS helped write for grants, donated money, and offered monitoring help.

1999-2000

VMIAS began its teaching collection, under the tutelage of Gary Shugart, curator at the Slater Museum. He instructed how to prepare bird skins.

Lone Star/ Glacier gravel mining became a central focus of IW.

Vashon streams continued to get coverage, and IW also wrote about the Net Ban Initiative.

With a December program on Wintering Aquatic Birds, Dan Willsie started the first Basic Birding series he co-teaches with Sue Trevathan.

A Vashon Streams Forum started an educational and fund-raising effort to help VMIAS spearhead a Vashon Stream Survey.

Sue Trevathan assumed the 4th grade teaching responsibilities from Carol Ferch.

VMIAS began its fundraising and monitoring work at Christensen Pond.

We had our first nearshore education programs and articles.

Joy Nelsen hosted an Amphibian Day at her house, which became the template for others in later years.

Purple Martin boxes and articles continued, and Kevin Li presented a program. 

2000-01

The Vashon Stream Survey continued.

Christensen Pond acquisition work continued.

Shadegrown coffee education continued.

Opposition to Glacier and support for Preserve Our Island continued.

Quartermaster Harbor won Important Bird Area designation from National

Audubon Society as a result of Dan Willsie’s diligent research, and his work with Tim Cullinan to submit it for consideration.

There was much emphasis on streams and saltwater shoreline habitat (and less on forestry and forest practices).

Bud Anderson taught a class on raptors at the Vashon Land Trust Building.

The Basic Birding and Birding by Ear classes continued.

Ed Swan began collecting sightings, and writing a regular column about recent arrivals and departures, species profiles, and other bird information in The Ticket.

Francis Hogan became chair of a new Vashon stream-naming committee (later dubbed FISH, Finding Island Stream Histories)

2001-02

Ed Swan initiated a Bluebird nest box project, to build and mount bluebird boxes.

Joel Kuperberg started the email conservation news digest, Environmental Eagle Eye.

We continued to do the Road Cleanups, Christmas Bird Count, 4th of July Butterfly Count, Breeding Bird Survey (Carole Elder), Festival and Holly Daze Bazaar booths, 4th grade waterbird studies, additions to the bird skin teaching collection, Birding by Ear classes, six membership meetings, etc. Basic Birding was suspended for the year due to fewer registrations than desired.

We agreed to collaborate with VIGA and the Land Trust to put on the Walk on the Wild Side series.

2002-03

VMIAS board members held a day-long retreat in August at Sue Trevathan’s, facilitated by Merrilee Runyan, to develop priorities and an annual plan.

VMIAS began to cover workshops and information provided by the new nonprofit Vashon Forest Stewards.

Christensen Pond Bird Preserve’s 30 acres were paid off with a large final donation from Emma Amiad and Amy Carey, in the form of a donated real estate commission.

Dan Willsie led one of the most successful field trips in VMIAS history, when he organized an overnight trip to the coast, reserving rooms at the Tokeland Motel.

The board updated VMIAS by-laws.

The board recruited new members.

A Hospitality Chair, Marie Blichfeldt, and a Welcome Chair, Joy Nelsen, began drawing more members to meetings with their refreshments and warm reception.

A successful Beaches & Bulkheads program was co-sponsored with Katy Vanderpool, our Vashon Watershed Steward at King County DNR.

The counts, the six membership programs, at least six field trips, the 4th grade.

program, and both Basic Birding and Birding by Ear class series were held.

 

2003-04

Ellen Kritzman noted that Sustainable Vashon is assuming leadership in the promotion of many issues formerly tackled by the now inactive Recycling Committee, and proposed throwing support to Sustainable Vashon rather than re-starting Recycling.

The unusually warm dry summer led to spectacular results in the 4th of July Butterfly Count, with record numbers of species (10) and triple the usual number of individuals (176).

Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) held its first training session at the Vashon Library.

WA Dept. of Natural Resources held a public meeting to discuss the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve. Large turnout.

Rita Schenk presented on the Institute of Environmental Restoration and Education.

2004

Dan Willsie led trips to Tokeland and Samish Flats, taught Basic Birding Class with Sue Trevathan.

Amphibian Day was celebrated on March 7 with help from Rayna Holtz and Joy Nelson.

Began the monthly field trips, meeting second Saturday.

Chapter presented first Audubon Scholarship for high school seniors to Alyson McLain.

Alan Warneke performed damselfly and dragonfly and other invertebrate survey at Christenson Pond.

www.vashonaudubon.org was launched by Morgan Holtz.

Pete Murray and Mary Swanson presented on Birds of Florida.  Great turnout.

Seventy-four pairs of purple martins nested around the island this year, according to Rich Siegrist

October 14, 2004 will be long remembered for the Dalco oil spill, when in excess of 72,000 gallons of crude oil spilled, fouling the waterways and beaches around Vashon-Maury Island.

Joel Kuperberg, Conservation Chair, passed away unexpectedly.  Joel served as chair for several years and also started Environmental Eagle Eye, the email conservation digest.  With his wife, Yvonne, Joel founded Island Stewards.  He is greatly missed.

2005

Dan Willsie led trips to Tokeland and the Samish Flats

A Spill Awareness Class was held by WA Dept. of Natural Resources.  Large turnout.

Marcy Summers presented program on Biodiversity in Indonesia.  The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (AlTo) is launched.

86 pairs of Purple Martins recorded nesting this year

Oversight of the Web site was passed to Dan Schuler.

Caitlin Bonner won the VMIAS scholarship.

Steve Caldwell stepped down as treasurer after 13 years, Dan Willie also stepped down as field trip leader after 13 years.  Dan was president of the chapter from 1990 – 1993.  Dana Hofman also left the board.

Sue Trevathan became VP and Sherry Bottoms became field trip leader.

Very successful butterfly count with 190 individuals and nine different species.

Ed Swan published The Birds of Vashon Island.

Our chapter led efforts to add flash tape to nets at the Golf Course to discourage birds from flying into the nets.

2006

Sherry Bottoms led another successful field trip to Tokeland.

George Steffan, conservation chair since 2003, passed away on January 7.

Kevin Li, Puget Sound’s purple martin hero and friend, died tragically in a diving accident on January 29.

Michelle Ramsden assumed conservation chair duties.

Shaylon Stolk won VMIAS scholarship.  (Update:  Shay has almost completed her ornithological degree at Amherst College)

Kathryn True began the Lorax Club for home-school students

Alan Huggins began the EOB series with an overflow of participants.

Don Norman and Jennifer Vanderhoff began surveys of bird use of madrona and mixed forests to test the premise that bird’s winter use of madrona forests is more extensive than that of mixed forests.  Several members participated in surveys.

Rayna and Jay Holtz passed the Island Wings editorial role to Ann Spiers and Barbara Chasan.

AlTo offers first eco-conservation tour of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

2007

Ebb Tide Ecology series, led by Rayna Holtz and Michelle Ramsden began.

Moria Robinson presented program on butterflies and nature photography.  She was the recipient of the VMIAS scholarship. Moria also worked with power companies to install flashing tape to power lines at Portage.

John Marzluff gave a talk on corvids, the largest member attendance of any program in our chapter’s history, at the Firefighters Association building.

Sherry Bottoms led kayak birding trip to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

Jill Andrew became temporary president, succeeding Ed Swan.  Ellen Kritzman steps down as secretary after 14 years, after leading the Recycling Committee and the Adopt a Road effort. Ron Simon passed membership duties to Randy Smith.

Fourth grade birding program received Outstanding Education Award from State Audubon.

2008

Dr. Dennis Paulson presented a program on northwest shorebirds.  Great turnout.

Mary O’Brien assumed Secretary chair duties, Sue Trevathan and John Friars became Co-Presidents, Amy Kitchener joined as Education Co-chair with Kathryn True.

Kathryn True and Jill Andrews successful at winning grant to produce interpretive signs for the ferry terminals.

Spencer Caldwell won VMIAS scholarship.

$2000 donation to State Audubon, initiated yearly donation of $1000.

Purple martin nesting success hits all-time low.

3rd Annual Low-Tide Celebration at Point Robinson was a huge success.

2009

Chapter launches new, greener, 1-page bulletin format.  This printed publication is coordinated by Mary Ann McCarty (editor), Judith Pearce (graphic designer) and Richard Rogers (website manager), with Vashon Audubon’s website where you can find the complete articles noted in Island Wings.

On the Wing screening provided on Earth Day at the Land Trust.

Peter Murray presented The Kenya Tour: Savannah, Valley Lakes, High Desert. Another well-attended program.

Bruce Barcott presented program on The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw.  Great turnout.

Sue Trevathan stepped down from board after 10 years, Randy Smith assumed President duties and John Friars became VP.  Amy Kitchener took over Membership.

Cody Turner was recipient of VMIAS scholarship.

4th Annual Low-Tide Celebration at Point Robinson continued with another successful event.