The Oregon Shorebird Festival, one of the longest running bird festivals in Oregon, will celebrate 20 years in September. Birdwatchers of all skill levels are encouraged to join us and experience firsthand the wonder of shorebird migration on the scenic south coast from September 8, 9, and 10. The festival is headquartered at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in the small fishing community of Charleston, OR. The festival usually attracts between 50 to 90 visitors from all over the nation but primarily from the Pacific Northwest. The Festival is small compared to the larger wildlife festivals that have premiered in the past ten years; keeping the festival intimate so visitors are able to interact more closely with field trip leaders, guest speakers and other festival attendees.

Activities include expertly guided field trips to Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, New River and the Coos Bay area; a Saturday pelagic trip hosted by The Bird Guide, Inc.; SEA watches for seabirds and marine mammals and evening programs on current bird research. The Friday evening presentation will be given by Ram Papish, Wildlife Artist, Seabird Biologist, and Bird Enthusiast. The photography-filled presentation is titled "The Birds' Turn: The wildlife of Tern Island" and will show glimpses of Tern's wildlife while describing on-going conservation efforts. The Keynote presentation on Saturday features Dr. Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus of the Slater Museum of Natural History and author of Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Paulson will present "Birds of the Wind and the Tides" a natural history of shorebirds, primarily those of the Pacific coast.

Bring your best pair of binoculars as Bandon Marsh and Coos Bay are renowned for shorebird watching and each year a few rarities have delighted festival attendees, rarities have included Ruff, Curlew sandpiper, Mongolian plover, and Hudsonian godwit. Regular migrants include Black-bellied plover, Semi-palmated plover, Pacific golden-plover, Western sandpiper, Least sandpiper, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Long-billed dowitcher, and Red-necked phalarope. Please join us on the southern coast of Oregon for a weekend of birding fun and challenges. To register for the festival or for more information please visit our website or contact Dawn Grafe at 541-867-4550.

The Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex has received a $43,390 grant from the Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund, through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). The grant allows the Oregon Coast NWR Complex to employ an Environmental Education (EE) Specialist for two years through the AmeriCorps program. The EE Specialist will develop, coordinate and implement a "Wildlife in the Classroom" project which will bring coastal-specific environmental education to schools on the Oregon north coast. Wildlife in the Classroom will greatly increase the scope of environmental education in Clatsop and Tillamook county schools by instructing both teachers and students about the ecology and conservation of seabirds, shorebirds and estuaries through in-class presentations, field trips, teacher workshops and traveling activity boxes. The goal is to increase the understanding and awareness of coastal wildlife conservation among students and teachers throughout these two counties. The scope of the project is limited to the Oregon north coast by the grant stipulations.

The EE Specialist will be utilizing nationally recognized U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) environmental education programs for grades K-12, including the Nature of Learning Program, the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program, and the International Shorebird Sister Schools Program. In addition, the EE Specialist will work with other agencies and conservation groups in Tillamook and Clatsop counties to provide a positive, consistent and unified message to school children about their role in conservation. The EE Specialist will also assist other groups conducting EE programs in the area, including the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and the Haystack Rock Awareness Program.

The EE position for 2006 has been filled by Amanda Gladics, a Pacific Northwest native with an extensive resume covering both E.E. and bird ecology. She has worked as a raptor center assistant and educator at the Glen Helen Outdoor Education and Raptor Center presenting formal programs to children and adults about raptor behavior and ecology, and the local flora and fauna of the area. She also worked with Aplomado Falcons as a hack site attendant for The Peregrine Fund in Kent, Texas. In addition, Amanda worked as a group leader for Advocates for Women in Science where she planned, organized and led science based after school meetings for middle school girls in Portland, Oregon. Amanda is also no stranger to AmeriCorps as she served an 11 month position through the VISTA program at Camp Stevens in Julian, California, where she planned and implemented experiential EE for middle school students.

Establishment of the Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund dates back to spring 2004, when the owners of the marine vessels named Spring Drake, Hoegh Minerva, and Agia Erini were charged with violating federal pollution laws. As part of these settlements, the courts ordered $1,300,000 in community service payments to be made to NFWF to be invested in conservation projects in the area of environmental impact. Together with USFWS, NFWF used the funds to establish the Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund as a grant making program to be used to finance: a) on the ground habitat conservation, restoration and management projects in and along the Columbia River below the Bonneville Dam and the adjacent coasts of Oregon (up to and including Tillamook Bay) and Washington (up to and including Willapa Bay) that may be affected by estuarine flows to benefit the fish and wildlife resources and the habitats upon which they depend; b) landowner outreach and incentive programs for restoration and management of natural resources in the same geographic area; c) public use and natural/cultural projects that benefit the Services National Wildlife Refuge System; d) collaborative projects from local communities seeking environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to natural resource problems; and e) applied research that is directly related to improvement of natural resources management in the same geographic area.