Great Gray Owl sighting on Triangle Road a few hundred yards down from the one-lane bridge (near the Darrah Road intersection & on the Bootjack side of the bridge) on April 1, 2016 at 4:50 PM (Yosemite Area Audubon Facebook)
MOUNTAIN AREA — The season of giving continues and so far, we’ve profiled an educational foundation, a theater company, an artists’ coalition, radio station, and more, as we invite readers to join in celebrating twelve local community organizations and nonprofits, and the people behind them who are making a difference.
For our eighth spotlight, we focus on the Yosemite Area Audubon Society, a group dedicated to conservation, caring, and education.
Day #8 Yosemite Audubon Society
- What is it? The Yosemite Area Audubon Society is a local chapter of the National Audubon Society and Audubon California, covering Mariposa and Eastern Madera Counties. The Audubon mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. They are dedicated to the preservation of natural habitats and native species, and to educating and inspiring others to help protect those resource values.
- Who’s behind it? Lowell Young and Len McKenzie are currently President and Vice President, respectively, of the Board of Directors of Yosemite Audubon. Membership in Yosemite Audubon is separate from membership in the National Audubon Society or in Audubon CA. Yosemite Area Audubon is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with its own membership, budget and programs. Although they are a chapter of National Audubon, the organization relies on support from local members to carry out the programs. None of volunteers staff or Board of Directors is paid.
- Website. www.yosemiteaudubon.org
- Why we love it. Yosemite Area Audubon Society members are active citizen-scientists who participate in surveys contributing to raptor research, and maintain an ongoing and expanding nest box program. They also manage two Christmas Bird Counts in Mariposa and Oakhurst. They offer field trips in the local area and host monthly chapter meetings which always include a fascinating program on topics of interest about local habitat, birds, and conservation. The public is invited to these free programs. More than 400 school children have learned to appreciate the area’s unique habitat and identify local birds because of the work Yosemite Audubon does. $15 for an annual Membership.
