BHAS Hosted ACOW this Year
Kim Adelson
Every year, Audubon chapter leaders from across the state come together in an event called “ACOW”, which stands for Audubon Council of Washington. It typically takes place on a Saturday and is preceded on Friday by WSACC, the Washington State Audubon Conservation Committee. We hosted the two events this year, and they took place at the Lacey campus of the South Puget Sound Community College.
In the morning, we heard inspiring poetry from Washington State’s Poet Laureate Emeritus Rena Priest about cultural ways of understanding birds. Later, Teri Anderson – our point person with Audubon WA – interviewed Lisette Martinez, chief EDBI officer for National Audubon, who discussed how to build more inclusive birding communities. After lunch, we heard from two young Vancouver birders who founded the first Young Birders Club in the state; among other accomplishments, they are working with the Vancouver School for the Blind and local juvenile detention centers to encourage youth who might not otherwise be exposed to birding to participate in the activity, as well as other Audubon members working with educational outreach. Later in the day we broke into groups and had the opportunity to discuss education and inclusion with participants from around the state and to hear how their chapters were handling many of the issues that we face.
We were invited to show off our region, and so I began the meeting by going through my personal list of the best birding spots in western Washington. Before that, there was a short birding outing at KGY Point to look for water and shore birds, and on Sunday a nice-sized group of attendees spent the morning at the Billy Frank Jr. National Wildlife Refuge. (Thank you, field trip leaders!)
I find it very inspiring to meet with other active Audubon members and to hear about the great things they are doing to promote an interest in protecting birds and their habitats. I came away from the day with a renewed sense of purpose, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
