Floods, Flowers, and Feathers Festival

FFF 2014 Can You Find that Bird 512x312

Over 30 agencies, private organizations, schools and individuals partnered with Turnbull to make our 3rd Annual Floods, Flowers and Feathers Festival another successful event. Above - Many children and adults participated in Spokane Audubon's "Can You Find that Bird?" activity, a family-oriented scavenger hunt designed to help people learn about the local birds and their habitat.
 


Over 30 partners from numerous agencies, private organizations and individuals participated or contributed in other ways to make this another successful event. In addition to hosting informative and interactive booths, partners assisted with planning, advertising and logistics, led activities, provided photographs, lent equipment, and completed trail restoration. The booths and activities were very well designed and executed. The information tent contained numerous booths on many subject areas including weed management, waterfowl habitat protection, endangered species, Ice Age Floods, Spokane parks, birds, beavers, land protection, native plants, and bees. Children and adults enjoyed the many hands-on activities. Some beautiful duck decoys were a given a life of their own at the Ducks Unlimited booth by some very creative children who painted and went home with their very own decoy. Eagle Scout candidate Peter Erwin from Troop 325 brought kits for participants to build their own bluebird nest box at the festival, and 65 happy individuals walked away with their very own nest box. Some very unique and creative bookmarks were made at the Cheney Library table. Spokane Clean Air had kids build their own air pollution catcher and displayed photos of the dust storm that occurred in September of 2013. Individuals also made their own animal tracks out of Plaster-of-Paris at one of Turnbull’s booths. This activity went well with the one provided by Exploring Families about the clues animals leave behind including scat.
  
Staff from the Friends of Little Pend Oreille brought owl pellets for people to dissect and get a glimpse of the diet of a great-horned owl. Inland Northwest Wildlife Council had a very informative touch table with numerous skulls, furs, and antlers for participants to examine. Eastern Washington University hosted a “Sounds of the Night” booth which demonstrated spectrograms and waveforms generated by different animal species common to the refuge. There were even some live animal booths to go with all those animal signs, sounds and skulls. West Valley Outdoor Learning Center brought 3 beautiful raptors. You could hear the kestrel announcing his presence from some distance away. EWU and Turnbull hosted a live animal booth with two different species of snakes, salamanders, and frogs. Mobius Science Center wowed people with their nefarious bed of nails and electricity generated by their Vander Graaf generator. Ice Age Floods Institute brought an impressive interactive display related to the floods, including modelling a glacier and investigating the Spokane-Rathdrum aquifer. Interactive fire and federal law enforcement booths were also a very big hit. Attendees got a chance not only to learn about fire management and protection of communities, they also got a chance to handle fire suppression equipment. There were a lot of children squirting down cones with a fire hose. The federal law enforcement booth was impressive with several vehicles and equipment used daily to protect the public and natural resources. There were several animated wildlife decoys that children could touch and operate including deer and a black bear.
 
Other activities provided throughout the day included a songbird banding demonstration, an aquatic invertebrate study, a soil activity, a bird scavenger hunt, refuge management and Ice Age Floods tours and presentation, and bird watching, nature, photography and wildflowers walks. Each activity was led by energetic and very knowledgeable partners and staff.

Our deepest gratitude and many thanks to the following partners for their contributions without which this event would not have been possible:

Boy Scouts of America
BLM
Channeled Scablands Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA)
Cheney Library
Cheney Merchant Association
Cheney Parks and Recreation
Ducks Unlimited
Eastern Washington University Biology Department
Eastern Washington University Transportation Department
Ecological Services
Exploring Families
Friends of Little Pend Oreille
Friends of Turnbull
Ice Age Floods Institute, Cheney-Spokane Chapter
Inland Northwest Land Trust
Inland Northwest Wildlife Council
Master Hunter Program
Mobius Science Center
Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)
REI
Spokane Audubon Society
Spokane Clean Air
Spokane Conservation District
Spokane Parks Foundation
Spokane Valley Camera Club
The Lands Council
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (Biology, Environmental Education, Fire, & Law Enforcement Programs)
Upper Columbia Academy
US Fish and Wildlife Service – Federal Wildlife Officers
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife – Private Lands Program
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife- Community Relations and Public Affairs
Washington Native Plant Society, NE Chapter
West Plains Beekeepers Association
West Valley Outdoor Learning Center

Individuals

Robert Griffith
Tom Munson
Ken Swedberg
John C. Kerkering
Brian Maebius