First Tuesday Program: Birding in South India and Sri Lanka
February 6th, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Twisp River Pub (the pub will open at 6 p.m. for food and drinks). Dave Chantler will share amazing photos and stories from a recent expedition. Join us in the middle of winter for a fantastic trip to a land of Great Birds, Interesting People and Places, Super Food, Wondrous Animals and a few Creepy-Crawlies.

Free and open to everyone as always! For more information contact Mary at 996-2870 or info@methowconservancy.org

"Phenology" Conservation Course Update
What do torpor, crepuscular, kleptoparasitism, ruminants and neoteny have in common? They are all things we have learned about in the first two classes of our Phenology course! The Methow Conservancy's third annual "Methow Conservation Course" began Monday January 22nd with excellent introductory presentations by Danica Kaufman, Course Coordinator, and Scott Fitkin, District Wildlife Biologist for the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife. January 29th we were wowed by Julie Grialou, a wildlife biologist who specializes in amphibians, and Libby Mills, a renowned Northwest birder and naturalist.

In our first class, we learned that Charles Morren termed the word phenology - the study of recurring natural phenomena (e.g., deer moving from summer to winter range or ptarmigan molting their brown feathers for white feathers) in response to seasonal and annual climate cycles. We were introduced to many concepts of how animals and plants live and survive, including why and how they change things like behavior; the way they look; what they eat; where they live; and how they save and spend energy.

Migration is mostly about moving to food at the right time and place, so it depends on phenological cues such as daylight, temperature, and in turn what their food source is doing because of these cues. Bears follow the receding snow line because they are following new plant growth. Hummingbirds arrive at the first blooms to get fat on nectar to prepare for giving birth, then switch to feeding on insects in order to feed their young protein, then switch back to nectar and sugar sources to fatten up for their seasonal migration.

Surviving involves much more than being smart and tough. Insects and amphibians change their morphology (the form or shape of an organism) to exploit different environments and food during their development. Elk, like many animals, do something called, "predator swamping:" all of a herds' calves are born all at once and predators can't possibly get all of them. Chickadees grow their brain by 30% every Fall in order to remember the hundreds of places they cache food for the winter. In the Spring, their brains shrink again! Who knew?!

We also touched on climate change and how it might affect certain species. In the Methow and North Cascades, boreal species (those that live in northern, subarctic forests) will be affected first and most. Lynx need deep, soft snow because their primary food source, the snowshoe hare, needs the same. If warmer, lower water flows become common, Anadromous fish (those that live mostly in the sea, but travel to and from fresh water to breed, like salmon) will be negatively affected as well the 140 species that are interdependent on these fish.

In our second class, we focused on two groups of animals: amphibians and birds. Amphibians are cold-blooded and therefore very inflexible to climate change (seasonally or broadly). Though frogs, toads and salamanders do have lungs, when they hibernate (generally burrowed in the ground in the muddy bottoms of ponds) they respire through their skin. Phenological cues such as rising temperatures and soil saturation via spring rain or snowmelt trigger their emergence.

Did you know that all birds, from tiny Golden-crowned kinglet to the Golden Eagle, are all trying to maintain a body temperature of 104 to 110 degrees all the time? Chickadees better remember where they stored their food and Eagles need to eat at least 1 lb of food during the day. If they are having trouble doing that they may resort to kleptoparasitism - stealing food from other animals (usually other birds). Or, when they join together at night at their communal roosting sites, they check out which of their buddies appears to be eating well and they follow them in the morning.

Migrating birds, from songbirds to waterfowl, not only go to the same nesting spots every year, but usually the same wintering and stop-over spots, so changes in climate and therefore habitat and food sources matters everywhere for them, not just where they breed. Perhaps that is why the theme for International Migratory Bird Day (2nd Saturday in May) this year is "Birds in a Changing Climate."

Read more about the course and get materials and resources here. Contact Mary at info@methowconservancy.org or 509-996-2870 if you have questions.

Good Neighbor Workshop: Practical Advice for Building and Living in the Methow Valley
Sunday, February 18th, 4 - 6 p.m. at the Winthrop Barn
This year's program will feature presentations from local experts Ellen Lamiman and Rob Crandall on energy efficiency (building, design, lighting and more) and on site planning and restoration in the building process (evaluating your site, setting practical goals, planning for ways to reduce disturbances and how to control certain weeds).

This free workshop is a great place to gain helpful information about the Methow Valley especially if you are thinking about building or are currently building in the Methow. Attendees will meet neighbors, share questions and perhaps similar situations, and learn about landscaping and restoration, energy efficiency and other property development concerns and opportunities. There will be lots of time for questions, and refreshments and snacks! Even not-so-new landowners could glean some helpful tips. Contact Mary at 996-2870 or info@methowconservancy.org for more info or just show up.

This second annual workshop is based on our two free handbooks, Good Neighbor Handbook: A Guide for Landowners in the Methow Valley, and Restoring Shrub-Steppe in the Methow Valley. If you can't attend the workshop but would still like a copy of our Good Neighbor Handbook or our new Restoring Shrub-Steppe in the Methow Valley, come by or call and we'll get one to you.

Action Call! Please Support Important Funding for the Methow Valley
The State Legislature is currently considering funding in the State budget for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP), and your support of this program will benefit several important projects here in the Methow Valley, including a 200 acre farmland preservation project that the Methow Conservancy has developed in partnership with Okanogan County, and several significant habitat conservation and recreation projects important to the future of the Methow. You can learn more about our farmland preservation project at: http://www.wildliferecreation.org/wwrp-projects/projects/Farmland_Preservation

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Send letters of support OR use the link below to send a quick note to your State Senator and Representatives urging them to fund the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program at the $100M level. Send your support now at: http://www.actionstudio.org/public/page_view_all.cfm?option=begin&pageid=7292

Thank you in advance for taking the time to show your support for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program and for helping to improve the quality of life for future generations in the Methow Valley and throughout our State! Click here for a list of all of the projects proposed for funding in the Methow Valley and elsewhere in Okanogan County: http://www.wildliferecreation.org/wwrp-projects/counties/Okanogan_county

Volunteer Opportunity: Rare Plant Monitoring
Are you interested in an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of Washington's rare plants and at the same time expand your familiarity with our state's flora? When summer draws to an end do you find yourself wishing you had ventured outdoors more often? You can do all that and more by volunteering as a rare plant monitor for the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation (Rare Care), a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving Washington's native rare plants through methods including ex situ conservation, rare plant monitoring, research, reintroduction, and education.

Each year Rare Care trains volunteers to monitor populations of rare plants. Volunteers visit the site and note the location and condition of the population. Monitoring is the "first line of defense" for Washington's rare plants: it addresses the question "What is needed to preserve rare plant species, their communities, and the ecological systems they rely on?"

Volunteers need some botanical training, a commitment to native plant conservation, good observation skills, a sense of adventure, a few days throughout the spring and summer, and their own transportation. Training is mandatory and will be held in Wenatchee on Saturday, March 31, 2007. Additional training for collecting seeds will be offered on Sunday, April 1st.

For more information, visit www.depts.washington.edu/rarecare or contact Wendy Gibble at 206-616-0780 or at wjgibble@u.washington.edu.

Notes from our Office
Do you have a lockable, fire-proof safe you no longer need? We have out-grown one and need another. Contact us at 996-2870 or info@methowconservancy.org. Thanks!

Look for our winter newsletter in February - the paper one that we mail twice a year! If you are not on our mailing list and want to be, just let us know. Also, our annual report will be mailed in the May window because we operate on a fiscal year that ends March 31st. Past reports and newsletters are posted at our website under Publications.

Events
Below, you'll find announcements about events or publications (ours and those of other organizations) that we think you might find interesting.

February 5th – April 2nd Coached Planning: Forest Stewardship Shortcourse for Eastern Washington Absentee Landowner’s. Course will be taught at the WSU/ King County Extension office. To Register, Contact Andy Perleberg at (509) 667-6658

February 26th: Public Hearing at the Okanogan County Planning Commission, 7:00 p.m., regarding proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to allow additional uses and smaller lot sizes for Planned Developments in the Methow. For more information, contact Ben Rough, Senior Planner at (509) 422-7122.

April 21st: Spring Amphibian Survey - Volunteers Needed This spring we are working again with amphibian expert, Julie Grialou, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct amphibian surveys in the Methow Valley. Like last year's survey local amphibian enthusiasts (like yourself!) volunteer to help us search ponds around the valley for toads, frogs and salamanders. Volunteers are needed again this spring On April 21st, all volunteers will be trained in basic amphibian identification, survey technique and methodology. Surveys will run from late April through early June, and will include one evening calling survey (you listen and try to identify species) and two daytime site visits to search for amphibians and their egg masses. Please email Mary if you are interested in this fun, educational and helpful survey.

Get on the ENews mailing list
If you got to this Newsletter through our website, but would like to get the link monthly in an email, let us know by emailing Mary.