Written by Janelle Wicks, FOMR Director
Sunset at HQ photo by Crane’s Nest Volunteer Sharon Vail
Every year volunteers come to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to engage in on-the-ground conservation stewardship efforts. It is a way of giving back to this place that gives us so much in the way of creative inspiration, personal reflection, and of course feeding our curiosity and wonder of the natural world.
Signing up to be a Stewardship Volunteer with the Friends of Malheur can be equal parts rewarding and surprising. Who can know for certain what Alice and Donna, our Project Committee Co-Chairs have in their minds to accomplish on any given weekend. You can almost bet that it will involve barbed wire.
This year FOMR coordinated 5 Stewardship Weekends beginning with the first ever work party associated with the Harney County Migratory Bird Festival in April and ending with the last in mid-October. FOMR volunteers also managed or assisted with two Biological Stewardship efforts; Bat Surveys of Refuge HQ and the relocation effort of western ridge mussels in preparation of the removal of Dun Dam.
In total, 615.5 hours were logged for stewardship activities by 41 volunteers. Several of these volunteers attended more than one work weekend or also volunteer in the Crane’s Nest Nature Center and Store.
I am going to attempt a list outlining just some of the 2024 Stewardship Accomplishments:
- Care taking of the newly established Desert Rock Garden
- Construction of a Picnic Shelter at the Volunteer Campground (this happened in stages and took all year to complete!)
- Clean-up of natural and unnatural debris at P Ranch and around the Long Barn
- Care taking of the Worthy Pollinator Garden
- Site clean-up and preparation of Sod House Ranch for its OPEN season
- General up-keep of the Marshall Pond Wildlife Observation Blind and Trail
- Planting and caging native plants around Crane’s Nest Nature Center
- SO MUCH weed pulling!
We expect next year’s list to include more planting, mulch spreading, weed pulling, and barbed wire removal. Habitat enhancement is no small task when the Refuge is 187,000+ acres, but our group is eager to take it on when and wherever we are able to!
A HUGE thank you is owed to our 2024 Stewardship Volunteers for the effort you give, the time you shared, and of course all that you contributed that could never be captured in a list or log. THANK YOU.
Rob & Mary Quackenbush – Clay Crofton – Robin Rose – Brian Johnson – Steve Daggett
Lace Thornberg – David Vick – Ann Hescher – Karen Edmonds – Chris Freiss – Linda Craig
Lois & Dale Derouin – Michael McKeag – Larry Hill – Cheryl Hunter – Jennifer Devlin
Shani, Roger, & Ollie Hodge – Craig Walker – Michael Imel – Bob Luce – Sarah Kessler
Emilee Gooch – Mickey Weaver – Al Huntley – Linda ‘Bo’ Bonotto – Mike Braet
Viviane Simon-Brown – Katherine Hagerty – Josh Cline – Dan Streiffert – Berta Verble
Chris Moore – Rob Neyer
Board Members: Donna Owens, Alice Elshoff, Jerry Moore, and Jen Haynes
Stay tuned for your chance to join the fun in giving back to a place that gives us so much.
The 2025 Stewardship Schedule will be available soon.