ELIZABETH RODRICK
Elizabeth Rodrick was born in Tacoma but spent most of her growing-up years in various locations with her Navy family. She returned to Tacoma for high school and then went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and a Master’s in Wildlife Biology, both at the University of Washington.
The most memorable place she lived as a child was on Midway Island in the late 1950s. She was able to return there fifty years later to help with an albatross census project.
Elizabeth’s career was spent with the WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife where she specialized in identifying and protecting habitats for endangered and threatened species. She retired in 2013 and became very active with Black Hills Audubon. She first joined Audubon in the 1990s. Her biology background was welcomed by the Conservation Committee on which she has volunteered through to the present day. In 2014, she became a BHAS Board member and by 2018, she was Acting President.
As President, she started the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She also attended regional and state Audubon meetings, hosted our Zoom program speakers, submitted the National Audubon yearly reports, headed up the Nominating Committee, and continued her work on the Conservation Committee.
We are so happy to have Elizabeth as the recipient of the 2023 Volunteer of the Year. The office of the presidency is one that involves many moving parts and a substantial time commitment. Anyone who steps into that role deserves every available accolade. We honor Elizabeth for her past work and her continuing dedication to habitat conservation.
By the way, Elizabeth wants our members to know two things: one, she thinks our volunteers are a joy to work with and, two, she is not a morning person so even though she loves birds, she rarely makes it to our field trips.
THANK YOU, ELIZABETH, FOR YOUR YEARS OF SERVICE.
