20th Anniversary Jamboree

20th Anniversary Jamboree Our annual event gets better each year. The entertainment was excellent and enjoyed by all in attendance. Many people took advantage of the river and paddled to their hearts content. The food was excellent and plentiful. A special thanks goes out to all who helped make this happen. It is a delight to see so many pitching in with their time and talents to make this event a success. I especially want to thank Robert and Linda Wheeler for opening their farm up and giving us full access to all the beauty and wonder on the

Figure 1 The Pilgrims on stage at the Jamboree

banks of the Huron River. Opossum was awesome again with his talent and generosity that brought me to the brink of tears. New performers this year were The Pilgrims and the Front Porch Swatters. I hope we will be seeing much more of them at FOWL events.

As an annual meeting we had an extensive agenda beyond the fun, food and entertainment. We stated our accomplishments for the previous year.

Among those were the Junk Raft competition, Vernal Pool Workshop, Marsh Monitoring initiation, several Sign-on Letters, Clean Water Act rules review, Support for the International Migratory Bird Act, Earth Day participation, and strengthening our networking with a variety of environmental groups that have overlapping interests.

Art supplies were provided and those inclined were invited to represent a wetland image. One product of that effort is the pickerel weed on the right created by Pat Krebs.

Thank you so much Pat! We made a shout-out for volunteers. Here are

Figure 2 Lotus by Pat Krebs

some ways volunteers can be of service; attend

NEON hikes, represent FOWL at the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership for Biodiversity, newsletter contributors, reviewers, photographers, investigative journalists, art work and graphic design, web site development, database management, tabling, workshops, events, junk raft, coastal cleanup with Old Woman Creek, mailing, citizen science, and additional board members.

It is often stated that our organization has a greater need for active members than money. We actually need both. With more money we would upgrade our display and presentation materials, pay for office supplies, and provide professional memberships, training and travel expenses. To stay connected go to FOWL.org and join our email list. We have specialized lists for a variety of interests; News, Citizen Science, Education, Policy Activists, and Governance. You can also 'LIKE' us on Facebook.

As advertised, this annual event is also a fund-raiser. Many people take advantage of this time to renew their membership and make donations. We also run a 50/50 raffle and an auction to raise money. Additional thanks go out to those who donated items for the auction. Wild, Native Harvest Rice and TShirts were also sold. All told, the fund-raising effort was a great success. The bottom line is that we have roughly enough money from the

Figure 3 Pickerel Weed by Pat Krebs

Jamboree to publish the next two newsletters.

If you have not renewed your membership lately, please take a moment and do so now.