“Exploring how we perceive rattlesnakes and other venomous reptiles” will be presented by Dr. Dan Beck, a herpetologist and Biology professor at CWU. Dan will base his talk on an ancient proverb: “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” He will illustrate that principle with true stories about rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, two of his favorite study organisms. Adding a few other “cool scaly critters” to the mix promises to make this program even more exciting! Dan grew up in Utah, studied at Utah State University, and worked at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. He earned his PhD from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and has traveled all over southwestern US and Mexico working with reptiles, mostly liz- ards and snakes. For over thirty years his studies have involved a group of venomous lizards, the Monstersaurs, which includes Gila monsters and Beaded lizards, and about which he has published a book. In teaching biology he has involved students in research pro- jects on rattlesnakes, and conducted field studies with them in Mexico, studying lizards in the tropical dry forest. Dan has lived in Ellensburg for almost twenty years with his wife, Kris Ernest (also a Biology professor at Central), and his two children, Abby and Langdon. PS: He thinks we invited him to speak because “birds are reptiles”... The Hooter “Rattlesnakes & Other Venomous Reptiles” presented by Dr. Dan Beck Membership Meeting - Thursday, April 18th @ 7:00 PM ~ Hal Holmes Center Kittitas Audubon April 2013 All Audubon meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Hal Holmes Center next to the Library, September through May (except December), and are open to the public, so feel free to come and meet with us. A brief business session pre- cedes the program. Stay afterwards for juice, treats, and conversation. Many thanks to the Ellensburg Public Library for co-sponsoring our meetings here! Kittitas Audubon on display at the Ellensburg Public Library!! Beginning April 4 th and through the month of April, check out the large display windows on the left as you go into the foyer between the library and Hal Holmes. Displays are next to the Washington Native Plant Society window. Enjoy! c. 1882 WDFW photo
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“Exploring how we perceive rattlesnakes and other venomous reptiles” will be presented by Dr. Dan Beck, a
herpetologist and Biology professor at CWU. Dan will base his talk on an ancient proverb: “Change the way
you look at things and the things you look at will change.” He will illustrate that
principle with true stories about rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, two of his favorite
study organisms. Adding a few other “cool scaly critters” to the mix promises to
make this program even more exciting!
Dan grew up in Utah, studied at Utah
State University, and worked at Hogle
Zoo in Salt Lake. He earned his PhD from
the University of Arizona in Tucson, and
has traveled all over southwestern US and
Mexico working with reptiles, mostly liz-
ards and snakes. For over thirty years his
studies have involved a group of venomous
lizards, the Monstersaurs, which includes
Gila monsters and Beaded lizards, and
about which he has published a book. In
teaching biology he has involved students in research pro-
jects on rattlesnakes, and conducted field studies with them
in Mexico, studying lizards in the tropical dry forest.
Dan has lived in Ellensburg for almost twenty years with his
wife, Kris Ernest (also a Biology professor at Central), and his
two children, Abby and Langdon.
PS: He thinks we invited him to speak because “birds are reptiles”...
The Hooter “Rattlesnakes & Other Venomous Reptiles”
presented by Dr. Dan Beck
Membership Meeting - Thursday, April 18th @ 7:00 PM ~ Hal Holmes Center
Kittitas Audubon April 2013
All Audubon meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Hal Holmes Center next to the Library, September through May (except December), and are
open to the public, so feel free to come and meet with us. A brief business session pre-cedes the program. Stay afterwards for juice,
treats, and conversation. Many thanks to the Ellensburg Public Library for co-sponsoring our meetings here!
Kittitas Audubon on display at the Ellensburg Public Library!!
Beginning April 4th and through the month of April, check out the large display windows on the left as you go into the foyer between the library and Hal Holmes. Displays are next to the Washington Native Plant Society window. Enjoy!
c. 1882
WDFW photo
Page 2 The Hooter
KAS BOARD MEMBERS President – Jim Briggs 933-2231 Vice President – Bud Rechterman 962-4508 Secretary – Diane Bullock 968-3175 Treasurer – Sharon Lumsden 968-3889 Conservation – Vacant Education – Judy Hallisey 674-6858 Field Trips – Steve Moore 933-1179 *Newsletter – Jan Demorest 933-1179 *Historian – Vacant Programs – Jeb Baldi 933-1558 Publicity – Gerry Sorenson 968-4857 Wildlife Habitat – Joe Meuchel 933-3011 *Bluebird boxes – Jan Demorest 933-1179 Past President — Gloria Baldi 933-1558
Membership – Tuck Forsythe 925-2356
*Christmas Bird Count – Phil Mattocks 962-2191 *Librarian - Ginger Jensen 925-5816 Social/Greeter – Kay Forsythe 925-2356 *NON-VOTING POSITIONS
KAS Board Meetings are held at 4:30
PM on the 1st Thursday of each
month on the third floor of the CWU
Science Bldg, Room 301 (above the
elephant desk). These meetings are
open to the public and all Audubon
members; please come and join in the
discussions. Meetings adjourn by 6:00
or 6:30, after which we all go out for a
sociable dinner ~ NO business discus-
sion allowed!
CONSERVATION CHAIR
Lately, there have been notices in The Hooter about the need
for a Conservation Chair. So far
we haven’t been able to fill the position be-cause (and I’m hesitant to mention it) it is difficult to keep up with all the assaults on our environment. They come from every direction, often from the very agencies charged with protection.
And they are complicated. For example, most environmentalists/conservationists are concerned about the impact of the proposed Wymer dam on Lmuma Creek, just up from the Yakima Canyon. This was discussed at the last KAS board meeting where one
member said, “Looking at the big picture, is the dam really that bad?” This is because the long-term projection is for less snow-
melt due to climate change. Therefore if we want to have enough water storage for agriculture and other uses, we are go-ing to need dams to make up the difference. I was reminded (yes, it was me that brought it up) that the dam will destroy shrub steppe, compromise farmland on the Eaton ranch and re-
lease warm water into the Yakima River which would not be salmon-friendly. Duly chastened, I shut up. I’ll just say I was playing devil’s advocate.
This wasn’t necessarily the most important issue but it illustrates the difficulty for Audubon in addressing conservation issues. Right now club members serve as temporary conservation chairs on an issue-by-issue basis. Former chair, Janet Nelson, is still working on the swift chimney situation (with other members)
and Hal Lindstrom, another former chair, is monitoring the pro-posed National Recreation Areas for the upper Yakima, Manas-tash, Taneum and Teanaway Basins. This one is less controver-
sial—for us—because it provides for much increased off-road use. This is usually anathema to conservationists so we have no problem there. But it is still very complicated and I applaud Hal for keeping up with it. I hope to work with Hal on a summary for
a future issue of The Hooter.
There are other issues that should be monitored and possibly acted upon. There was the proposal by PacifiClean Environ-mental to put a garbage/sewage sludge/yard waste composting facility at Elk Heights. Fortunately they withdrew it before we had to weigh in. I wonder if the “Elk” in Elk Heights had anything to do with it?
Another issue is the impact of the two big fires we had last sum-mer. We got a report from Hawkwatch International about the
2012 Chelan Ridge migration. The observers were handicapped
by limited visibility due to smoke. I hope to report the findings later.
There are lots of other issues out there. Windmills and coal
trains anyone? We really need somebody to prioritize them and
bring them to our attention so we can do the right thing. So if
you have an active concern for our natural world, especially Kitti-
tas County and environs, please think about exploring this op-
portunity to be of service.
Jim Briggs, President KAS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Send in your stories & photos!
The Hooter is the newsletter of
Kittitas Audubon, published
monthly except for July.
~~~~~~~
Submissions from members &
other readers are most wel-
come and encouraged! The editor reserves the right to edit
BECOME A KITTITAS AUDUBON MEMBER!! (Or renew your membership)
Receive The Hooter ~ help support education and conservation activities and projects!
Two options are available:
OPTION 1: Membership in National Audubon includes a subscription to the magazine, Audubon, membership in the local chapter (KAS), and KAS monthly newsletter, THE HOOTER
____ Join as a new National Audubon member $20 (includes KAS membership)
____ Renew a National Audubon membership $35
Make check payable to: National Audubon Society Include this form and mail to: Membership Data Center, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235
Name ___________________________ Address __________________________________________
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Chapter Code COZY220Z
OPTION 2: Membership in only the local chapter, KAS, includes the monthly newsletter, THE HOOTER
____ Join the local Kittitas Audubon Society (KAS) chapter $20
____ Renew your KAS membership $20
____ Make a donation to KAS $______ (amount)
Make check payable to KAS and mail to: KAS, P.O. Box 1443, Ellensburg, WA 98926
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Kittitas Audubon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational society.
All memberships and donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
Membership forms are also available on our Web site: Kittitasaudubon.org.
For membership information contact Membership Chair, Tuck Forsythe ~ [email protected]
Check out BirdKitt!! Get the latest news on bird sightings in Kittitas County from our very own regional “BirdKitt”, an online “listserve” for all persons inter-ested in bird sightings in Kittitas County. You can post your own sightings and sign on to have new postings sent directly to your email address.
If you are not already signed up, here’s how to do it: send an email
to [email protected] . Reply to the first email about Bird-kitt that you receive from “yahoogroups”. To unsubscribe: send email to birdkitt- [email protected] . If you have difficulty, contact Chris Caviezel [email protected]