A Letter from Lori Danielson, Board President

The year is off to a good start and I hope the same is true for you. On January 13, the EAS board participated in a day-long retreat to talk about roles, goals and priorities. It was a productive meeting, held at the beautiful Cedar River Watershed Education Center in North Bend. It was a good opportunity to discuss the areas in the chapter that need attention, both from the board’s point of view and the executive director’s. Among the topics discussed were:

Board President’s Priorities:

Recruit more volunteers for the chapter so we can continue to offer the education, conservation, and birding opportunities our membership and community expect.
Strengthen the board by insuring roles are clear, committee chair positions are filled, and necessary policies and procedures are in place.

Executive Director’s Goals:

Grow chapter membership to strengthen our voice in defense of birds and our natural ecosystems.
Diversify funding sources to increase Eastside Audubon’s sustainability.
Formalize our volunteer program to match specially skilled volunteers with fulfilling roles within the organization.
Create effective impact communications to share with members and our community.

The board also updated our strategic goals and brainstormed how we might celebrate Eastside Audubon’s 40th anniversary in 2021. I plan to write more about these in future newsletters.

The other news from the retreat is that we gained a new board member. Welcome to Cate Forsyth, who agreed to join as board secretary. Here’s our current board roster:

Board of Directors

Lori Danielson, president

Katherine Voss, vice president

Cate Forsyth, secretary

Tim McGruder, conservation chair

Pam Gunther, education chair

Antonio Montanana, equity, diversity and inclusion chair

Jan McGruder, volunteer coordinator and past president

Changing the subject to community science, you’ll see elsewhere in this issue a summary of the chapter’s annual Christmas Bird Count, which took place in December. I enjoyed participating on a team and was thankful for the dry weather. The CBC is the longest running community science project in the world and provides important data for monitoring the status of bird populations, especially in the face of climate change. I want to thank everyone who participated in the count, especially our CBC leader, Sharon Aagaard, and the trip leaders. And thank you to the volunteers who put on the dinner afterwards – it was a wonderful, warming meal!

Before I go, I wanted to share a different perspective on birding that intrigues me, which is to think local. It’s 5-mile radius birding, described by a Vancouver, Washington birder. Maybe you’d like to join me in giving this a try in 2019.

Sincerely,
Lori Danielson