March 18th E-Newsletter

Programs

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Bird Fest Registration Opens TODAY!

Tuesday, March 18th at 5:00PM

WRI and North Central Washington Audubon Society (NCWAS) are excited to present the 23rd annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest taking place May 15th-18th! Birders of all levels are welcome to join us to celebrate the return of Leavenworth's migratory birds with birding trips, workshops, and more! Registration opens TODAY (3/18) at 5:00pm. Some trips will fill quickly, so register as soon as possible. Check out the Bird Fest Schedule for full trip details. This schedule is a living document and will continue to be updated as Bird Fest approaches. Members receive 15% off on most Bird Fest events, so be sure to use your discount codes! Not sure if you're a member? Email Randee.

Registration is required for most field trips, workshops, the Keynote Address, and the Birders' BBQ. However, some activities do not require registration, including the Bird Fest Community Fair and some pre-festival trips for beginner birders.

Full Details Here

Pre-Order Your Bird Fest Shirt!

Pre-Order open until Wednesday, April 30th

Take home a piece of Bird Fest with you! These classic shirts will be available for presale through April 30 via Bird Fest Registration. There will be a limited size run available for sale at Bird Fest but we can only guarantee your size if you preorder! Front is as pictured. Back will include logos of our Bird Fest 2025 sponsors.

Red Barn Event: The Intricate Relationships Between Plants and Pollinators

TONIGHT, March 18th

7:00PM-8:00PM

Pollinator networks involve and impressive amount of plants, animals, and insects. Learn about the many interesting ways plants have evolved to attract pollinators at this Red Barn Event. Presenter, Lisa Robinson, will give examples of some of the most extreme pollinator-plant relationships. She'll also teach us about some specific relationships with our plants in Eastern Washington.

Pollinate Here

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Science on Tap with Johnna Eilers

Thursday, March 20th

7:00PM-8:00PM

Are you in the mood for more science? Join us at Ground Control in Wenatchee for casual and exciting science talks from local speakers. This month's speaker, Johnna Eilers, will teach us all about the wonderful wildlife we see in Chelan and Douglas counties. Johnna is a wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Tap in Here

Red Barn Event: Stories from the Trail

Wednesday, April 9th

7:00PM-8:00PM

Hear from four women and hikers and their contributions to the anthology, Stories from the Trail: Notes on Moving Through the Wild. We'll hear from Ana Maria Spagna, Abby Braithwaite, Iris Graville, and Claire Thompson as they share their combined trail experiences. This event is hosted in partnership with A Book For All Seasons. Copies of the anthology will be available for purchase.

Wild Out Here

Wenatchee Bird Walk

Thursday, April 10th

8:00AM-10:00AM

Wenatchee Birding is back with a brand new schedule! Enjoy a guided bird walk with knowledgeable WRI staff along the Columbia River. Meet near the bathrooms at Walla Walla Point Park for a one mile bird walk at an easygoing pace. This is a free event with no registration. Just show up and get ready to bird! Excited to do more birding? Keep an eye out for more trips through June!

Bird Here

An orange movie poster with a character who has a yellow mustache and eyebrows

Youth Film Series: The Lorax

Wednesday, March 26th

9:30AM-12:00PM

Enjoy a screening of the Lorax at the Snowy Owl Theater! This movie screening, partnered with Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, is open to all. The lobby will open at 9:30 with snacks and concessions for sale. The movie begins at 10:00AM. There will be an intermission with a fun activity as well. Tickets are $5 at the link below or Pay What You Can at the door.

Watch Here

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Spring Saunters

Saturdays, April 19th - May 10th

10:00AM-12:00PM

Take a two-hour Spring Saunter with one of our knowledgeable naturalists. Walk with us through Waterfront Park as warm weather returns to the valley. You will learn about the natural and cultural history of Leavenworth with many scenic views along the way! What are plants and animals doing as everything wakes back up after winter? Find your date and register below.

Saunter Here

Youth Programs

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After School Program

We are so excited to continue the After School Program (ASP) for the rest of the 2024/25 school year! Field Educators will meet students at Alpine Lakes Elementary and meander to WRI for a fun afternoon. Pickup is at 5:30PM on the WRI campus.

Registration for ASP is now open! This program will be Pay What You Can. ASP will run 4 days a week with registration split into 2 sessions - Tuesday/Thursday and Monday/Wednesday. You may sign up for one or both sessions.

Mon/Weds Registration

Tues/Thurs Registration

Spring Break Camp

Monday, March 31st through Friday, April 4th

Spend spring break outdoors with WRI from March 31st- April 5th! Registration for Spring Break Camp (for grades K-3) is now open! Find the registration link below.

Have Fun Here

A group of people learning from 2 teachers

Wenatchee School District STEM Nights

WRI Educators got to have 2 nights of fun helping out with STEM nights for the families of students who attended Wenatchee School District's After School Program. On the first evening families explored different tools, such as stereoscopes and hand lenses, used for viewing small objects up close. On the second night we oooh'ed and aaah'ed at the night sky in our Traveling Planetarium.

Place

We're Hiring - After School Program (ASP) Educator

We are hiring for an After School Program (ASP) Educator. The ASP Educator will work with WRI’s Youth Programs through our new After School Program. The ASP Educator will work alongside the ASP Lead Educator to facilitate After School Program for 12 students in grades K-3. The daily work schedule will be approximately 2:00pm-6:00pm for a minimum of 2 days every 2 weeks. This position run through the end of the 2024-2025 school year. There would be a possibility of summer work with WRI. We hope the ASP would continue at the start of the next school year.

Learn more at the button below.

Apply Here

Land Steward's Observations

The snow is (mostly gone) and the plants are popping back up! Spring is officially here! I'm so excited to see how the hundreds of native plants we planted last year grow and thrive and entice a multitude of bumblebee species to live their best life. One pretty unwelcome plant that seems to be doing especially well at WRI is sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta). It's a Class B noxious weed on the Washington State Noxious Weed List and is the final boss I'm working to defeat to really maximize diversity in our Native Plant Garden. The bad news: it is literally EVERYWHERE. The good news: the soil is super moist and soft, and they are VERY easy to dig up right now. I dug up over 50 plants in the span of an hour already! If you'd like to help me out and work to protect and increase the native species that call WRI home, keep an eye out for an announcement of upcoming volunteer Weed Warrior events. I would love for you all to join me and see how big of a pile we can make out of sulfur cinquefoil root balls.

Entry and photo by Tiffa Theden, Land Steward.

Thank you to our donors from the past 2 weeks!

Constance Cogburn and Andrew Day - Sustaining

Gro Buer and Bruce Williams - Sustaining

Annette Jouard and John Taylor - Sustaining

Chuck and Candace Egner - Sustaining

David Stoller and Diane Patterson - Sustaining

Kamuron Gurol - Sustaining

Lisa and Jim Osse - Sustaining

David Zazzo - Sustaining

Leavenworth Coffee Roasters

The Plant Ally