Making Tracks

The Newsletter of the Friends of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Joyfully Connecting our Community with the Wonder of the Refuge

#GivingTuesday is November 30, 2021

Donate for a chance to win

Donations made online for #GivingTuesday will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win this beautiful photo of the Refuge taken by ou our Bjorn Fredrickson. The 11" x 14""photo is infused to a 3/64" thick aluminum panel.

Features a glossy coating and rounded edges
UV resistant ink prevents fading
Ready to hang

Donations must be made online via our website or Facebook between now and November 30, 2021.
Facebook donations must be tagged on the Friends of the Refuge page and indicate the donation amount.
Winner will be notified via email and our Facebook page on Wednesday, December 1, 2021.
Winner is responsible for picking up panel in the Sherwood, Oregon area by December 13, 2021
Minimum donation is $20.00 to be eligible
Donate $20.00 =1 Chance

Donate $40.00 =2 Chance

Donate $60.00 =3 Chance

Donate $80.00 =4 Chance and so on

One chance for every $20.00s worth of donations

Friends and Refuge Staff and Friends' Directors are ineligible for the drawing.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Holiday Market
December 4 2021 10AM- 2 PM
December 5 2021 10AM- 2 PM
Monthly Board Meeting
November 23, 2021 6:30 PM
January 25, 2021 6:30 PM

Take a look at our 2021 Annual Report. It is filled with the accomplishments the Friends have had over the past year. Your support through donations, membership and volunteering is the reason we can achieve so much.

We hope you enjoy this edition of Making Tracks. We will be happy to hear your feedback and what you'd like to see in the newsletter going forward.

President's Perch

Hello and welcome. My name is Tom Stibolt and I am the new president of The Friends of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex board. Although I have been involved with the refuge for more than 30 years (dating back to the period before it existed), I joined the Friends board a bit over a year ago. I am very excited and somewhat anxious about my upcoming year. One thing I would like to do is resurrect this monthly column for the newsletter which I hope you are all enjoying.

Despite the pandemic, this has been a great year for the refuge. The Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge is opening soon and the Chicken Creek restoration on the main unit of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is nearly complete. Both of these represent welcome additions to an already magical place, and the Friends have played key roles in these efforts.

I am looking forward to the reopening of the visitors’ center which is still some way off. I support the caution but will be excited once we can reopen.

The Friends group is providing comments opposing the expansion of a quarry that abuts a portion of the refuge. Said expansion would risk wildlife habitat and water quality in Rock Creek. We are hoping this can be prevented. The letter can be located in this newsletter.

I hope many of you have been able to come and walk the refuge even though the visitors’ center is closed. On weekends, I have seen large numbers of vehicles filling the parking lot and the lower circle. I am glad the refuge is providing such outdoor activity opportunities.

-Tom

News From The Board

While there weren’t any “News form the Board” in our October newsletter, it doesn’t mean that the Board was idle over the past few weeks. Specifically, the Nominating Committee was busy recruiting, interviewing and selecting candidates for the slate of officers for this new 2021-2022 Fiscal Year. READ MORE BELOW

Outside Holiday Market at the Refuge and Donate Gifts for Local School Children

Nature’s Overlook invites you to do your holiday shopping with us, either online or at our in-person outdoor Holiday Market on the Refuge on December 4^th and 5^th.

Items ordered online may be picked up at the Refuge on Saturdays or Wednesdays at specific times, or other times by appointment. We will also ship items going outside the immediate area.

This year, we are partnering with two organizations to make it easy for you to donate gifts for low-income children in the area. We will be collecting toys purchased in our store for the SHARE Family Resource Center at the Sherwood School District and for Greenway Elementary School in Beaverton. Purchase the gifts either online or at the Holiday Market, and we will deliver them to one of those programs on your behalf. Gifts for SHARE or Greenway will need to be purchased before Friday, December 17 to be included.

We also want to remind you that Friends’ memberships make great gifts for people with whom you want to share your appreciation for the Refuge. Purchase a gift membership online or at the Holiday Market. We’ll send the recipient an acknowledgement, a membership card, and a small welcome gift.

Happy November from the Biology Team at the Refuge!

Protective River Otter chases Bald Eagle pair away from her pups in the wetland.

Photo Credit: Brian Rockwell

Waterfowl are starting to swoop into the wetlands in significant numbers, which means it's the time of year for surveys again! The eagles have been very active, and visitors have seen river otters, waterfowl, and other wildlife interacting with each other out in the main wetland. Our observation deck allows for some wonderful photography opportunities and action shots!

You may have noticed some rectangular structures out in the wetland consisting of t-posts and fencing. These are exclosure structures, which are meant to protect the native plants we are installing in the wetland from herbivory, giving them a chance to grow and establish themselves. You may have also seen some staff members out in the wetland spreading seed. We purchase seed from local nurseries, but we also collect and clean seed from wildflowers and wetland plants already found on our Refuge and redistribute them. This month, we dispersed over 100 lbs. of wetland plant seeds, including Wapato Arrowleaf. Exclosure structures out in the wetland are meant to prevent herbivory on native plants and allow them to establish .

First Friday with the Friends

Friends volunteers began a pilot program this year at Greenway ES in Beaverton, Oregon. On the first Friday of each month, Friends volunteers will be setting up a bird watching station for the students. The Friends have provided spotting scopes, binoculars and monoculars for the students to use during their recess time. These items were purchased through generous funding from the Community Asset Fund Committee/ PVURP. On November 5th, Bonnie Anderson, David Collin and Darlene Dumke spent time watching the skies on the Greenway playground. We were rewarded by spotting two bald eagles as our first siting of the program. Students kept track of all of the birds they saw. The program was well received by the students and each grade level had between 10-12 students who chose bird watching over recess. Looking forward to our next Friday with the Friends in December. Brian Smucker and Willem Stoeller will be a welcome addition to the volunteering crew.

Staff Greeting Volunteers at our Drive-by Appreciation Event

It was wonderful to be involved in the Volunteer Appreciation event at the end of last month and hand-out gifts to the volunteers. Even though we were not able to have our usual dinner due to Covid, we had a drive-by event where we were still able to see our volunteers in person.

News From The Board Continued

The proposed slate was approved at the October 26 Board meeting. It reflects the changes in the bylaws approved by the membership at the Annual meeting: the positions of past and president-elect were replaced with a vice-president and a parliamentarian. This will allow for more continuity on the board, as officers can now reapply for their positions for a number of years.

The officers for the current fiscal year are as follows:

President: Tom Stibolt. Tom has been on the board since September 2020. He has been a volunteer for the Friends since the creation of the Refuge since Tom and his wife donated the initial land that established the Refuge. He is our IT specialist and maintains our website.

Vice-President: Cheryl Hart. Cheryl has been on the board for many years. She has served as president and secretary in the past and is currently chair of the Store Committee. She also serves on the Board of National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) and if a founder of the Coalition of Refuge Friends Association (CORFA). Her involvement with the network of Friends organizations at the national level provides us with a meaningful voice on important matters.

Parliamentarian: Sharon Miller. Sharon has been on the board for many years and has served as past secretary. Sharon will be the first Board member to hold this position on the Executive Board. Sharon also volunteers as the manager of our Natures Overlook Store in the Visitor Center.

Treasurer: Willem Stoeller. Willem has already served as treasurer for several years. Willem also chairs the Governance committee. For many years he volunteered for the Photo Society and worked in the store in his spare time.

Secretary: Irene Vlach. This is my 4^th year as secretary. I am also a member of the Governance and Membership committees. Before the pandemic I volunteered in the store.

At the Annual meeting we had a nomination from the floor for a candidate for the board and Michael Dunlap was elected to the board by the members. Michael has a strong background in finances and will be volunteering in the Finance committee.

Regretfully, Michelle Miller, the President of the 2020/21 fiscal year did not present herself for reelection, needing a well-deserved break and time for other priorities. Michelle will be missed and we thank her for a year of effective leadership.

We have a strong board with many talents. However, despite of our awareness of the need to have a more inclusive board, we have not yet been successful in attracting board members that truly represent the diversity of the population that the Friends and the Refuge are serving. We are also struggling to recruit additional women to the board – the last four new board members are men. It behooves us all to think beyond our closest network in our search for candidates to the board. The talent is out there and we need to work harder at finding the people who can represent their diverse communities.

Friends of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex

19255 SW Pacific Hwy Sherwood, Oregon 97140

503.625.5944 x 15227

www.FriendsofTualatinRefuge.org