Pagosa Creation Care will be meeting on Thursday, March 26, in the Community United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
Please enter through the side door next to the parking lot.
We will start with a potluck dinner at 5:30 p.m.
Dr. Herb Grover, an active member of the Weminuche Audubon Society will speak on “Bird Conservation Across the Divide.”
Volunteers from the Weminuche Audubon Society in Pagosa Springs have contributed to a number of bird surveys and educational programs supporting bird conservation efforts in areas surrounding Pagosa Springs and at national wildlife refuges in the San Luis Valley.
As the context for this work, it is important to recognize that, with the exception of some waterfowl species, bird populations across North America and beyond have declined by more than 25 percent over the last century.
For the past three years we have contributed to shorebird surveys at the Monte Vista and Alamosa national wildlife refuges. Many of the bird species we observed there are in population decline but are being helped by careful management practices at these and other federal and state refuges.
Other citizen science projects our members have contributed to include the annual Christmas Bird Count sponsored by the National Audubon Society, a survey of American Dipper nesting sites along the San Juan River and a forest bird monitoring project taking place in the San Juan National Forest. The findings of these studies affirm continent-wide trends in declining population numbers of many bird species.
These results will be reviewed in more detail, along with the accomplishments of several complementary citizen science projects and educational outreach programs. Overall, the efforts and achievements of volunteers in these programs reflect an impressive level of dedication to conservation biology and environmental stewardship that is widely recognized across our region.
>