From Our President--Water: Essential and Delightful
Posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021
Along with many other critical environmental problems, water is becoming one of the most crucial and scarce resources we need for life on earth. September is typically the driest time of the year in Oregon, and water supplies had already been very low throughout the state. Having a supply of water in the dry season is critical for people, the garden, and wildlife. It is important to conserve water to stretch the supplies into this hot-dry time of the year. Our property is at 1,000-foot elevation in the SW hills of Eugene, and we are on a well for water. Our growing season starts a little later than in the Willamette Valley, but stretches into October or until the first frost.
As with many other groups, Lane Audubon has struggled over the past sixteen months to maintain our educational and outreach activities due to the COVID pandemic. We were not able to visit schools and have special events as in past years. The Audubon in the Schools Program was the primary one that was suspended. We do hope that in the Fall if schools are open and if our volunteers feel safe, we can once again bring that program into classrooms. 
Some birding groups have held “Big Sit” events where participants gather in a birdy area and watch for any birds that fly, swim, or hop by in order to count them. A contest or a bird count tally might be included. Of course eBird users can also log in the tally for the specific location.
We can thank the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for eBird. Begun in 2002, this birding tool has transformed our abilities to record and share data about the birds we see, anywhere in the world. eBird’s goal is to gather each person’s bird sightings in the form of checklists with location, archive it, and freely share it to power new data-driven approaches to science, conservation, and education. Birders are able to manage their lists, photos, and audio recordings, access real-time maps of species distribution, and receive alerts that let them know when a species of interest has been seen, all through the eBird platform.
There are many reasons to love birding. It keeps your mind and senses active. Listening, observing, then trying to decide what bird you are watching are great exercises for the brain. It creates learning challenges for the visual, the sounds, and the memory of birds you know, to come up with a bird’s identification. 
First, I think I can speak for the entire LCAS membership in expressing our condolences to everyone impacted by the recent wildfires. Our condolences also go out to all those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, 2020 has been a tough year for everyone.
Our last Program Meeting was in late February and our last face-to-face Board Meeting was in early March. Since then, we have suspended our normal scheduled activities. I often think about our many volunteers and members who attend these Lane Audubon functions, people I only see at that time. Now months have passed and I feel the loss of normal contacts, hugs, smiles, and bird sightings that we would normally share when we see each other. I hope each of you is doing what you can to stay safe and healthy!
Due to the pandemic, we have learned enlightening essential practices to secure our families and ourselves from an infection affecting the human population of the earth. Precautions to ensure protection from disease have become daily rituals, changing our lives dramatically. This situation has also raised awareness of our basic needs for safe food supplies, safe water, and safe spaces for shelter. And it has also shown us the fragility of having safe and productive ways to make a living.
As I write this piece in early April, our future activities for the next two months are completely up in the air. We know that in May we will not have a Bird Walk and that cancellation of the Program Meeting is a strong possibility. Theoretically, at this point, June will be planned as the time gets closer and we know our ability to gather safely for community activities.