FRIENDS of the ALASKA REFUGES

MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS WITH FRIENDS of the ALASKA REFUGE: Feb. 22 and 23
Representative of the Friends of the Alaska Refuges will meet with all interested to discuss how they are organized and get things done. They, like us, are Friends for a Refuge COMPLEX that is geographically scattered over a large area - a VERY large area. The Alaska Friends were honored as the Friends group of 2010 by the National Wildlife Refuge Association and this is an excellent opportunity to learn from their experience. Their timeline is:

Feb 22: 9 am field trip at Moapa Valley NWR. Drive to Pahranagat NWR for afternoon field trip.

6-9 pm Alaska-Desert Friends meeting: Alaska organization history and development to today. Q & A
US Fish & Wildlife Offices, 4701 Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV
.
Feb 23: 9 am field trip at Corn Creek. Drive to Ash Meadows NWR for afternoon field trip.

We're happy to entertain anybody who cares to join in the field trips. But the discussion at the Interagency office is sure to be informative and interesting. We hope to see you there!

Successful meeting and tours with the President and Vice President of the Friends of Alaska Refuges. We'll be holding a de-briefing at the Interagency office (4701 N Torrey Pines) on Friday 3/4 at 10AM. Please join us!

FRIENDS of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex - We realize this
is short notice, but we have an unexpected opportunity to talk with
Maribeth Oakes who works for the National Wildlife Refuge Association
helping coordinate public outreach around the USFWS vision process.
She will be in Las Vegas next Thursday, Feb 3, and offers to meet with as
many Friends who would like to get together that evening. The agenda would
be an informal update about the status of the vision process and ideas for
future involvement of Friends members.
Please respond to Bruce Lund by email at >blund@mvdsl.com< if you can
participate. We'll get back with a confirmation of the time and location
by Tuesday (Feb 1). Also, indicate if you prefer starting at 6 or 7 pm.
Bruce Lund

Time Travelers at Ash Meadows NWR

The Let's Explore event at Ash Meadows was HUGE. Check out this video demo of the event.

Ash Meadows events

Over on the right, within the 'Pages' links are flyers for upcoming Ash Meadows NWR events that you definitely need to check out!!! Make your plans now to be with us on these Saturdays. Don't miss the Let's Explore: Time travel event... it will be AWESOME!!! We'll see you at Ash Meadows NWR!!!

Autumn colors at Ash Meadows NWR

All photos curtesy of Cyndi Souza

Bird Song Loop trail

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all the folks who helped us with the trail construction over the past few weeks. That's the groups of the Red Rock Audubon Society, the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and the Southern Nevada Conservancy (arm of Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association). We were also joined on November 6 by members of Alpha Epsilon Delta and Chemical Interactions from UNLV. We wish to thank all these groups, their members and the independant individuals who joined us. Over the 3 days of trail construction we saw 82 volunteers who donated a total 434 hours to construct about 3200 feet of trail.

Here's a link to some selected photos of day 3

Here's day 2

And here's day 1

Ash Meadows NWR celebrates the Point of Rocks boardwalk Grand Opening next Saturday, October 30. Folks are welcome from 10 to 2. The boardwalk has new interpretive panels, cool custom made bridges, is ADA compliant and is a great way to immerse yourself in nature.

Click here for all the details.

Visit our table and say hi. And while you're there, sign up to be a member!!!

Need directions? Look in the 'Southern Nevada Wildlife Refuges' area below in the right side column, then click: Ash Meadows NWR.

The Friends and FWS say THANK YOU to 32 of the most AWESOME volunteers in Las Vegas!!! Special thanks goes to Kurt Kuznicki and his crew from the Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Bob Wilkin and members from the Red Rock Audubon Society. Also thanks goes to Blaine Benedict and the Southern Nevada Conservancy for the food. Your hard work and attention to detail completed about 1500 feet of trail and it looks STUNNING!!! GREAT JOB!!!

Phase II continues Saturday, October 30th. We'll see you there!!!

You're invited to Corn Creek this Saturday!!!

on Desert NWR

Trail building / Membership drive!!!
FREE Food / Kids activities!!!
Make a difference - Make new friends
Give back to your community - Lend a helping hand
Have an impact - Experience nature
Come help build the new Bird Song Loop Trail
Trail building from 8 am to noon
Co-sponsored by
Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the Red Rock Audubon Society
Lunch for participants courtesy of the Southern Nevada Conservancy and refuge staff
Kids activities for the little ones
It's a membership drive
Sign up for Friends of the Desert NWR Complex membership
Trail building continues after lunch for the more ardent.