Jeff Hullstrung, Green Mountain Audubon Society President
I have the good fortune to monitor a Peregrine Falcon nesting site through a program managed by Margaret Fowle of Audubon Vermont. Each spring for the past several years I have traveled to a cliff site called Upper West Bolton Notch to check on a pair of Peregrine Falcons. The site has been productive, with chicks fledging each year. It is wonderful to be one of the few people who get to see the fastest animal on Earth training its young to become one of the fastest animals on Earth. In graceful flights the parent shows its offspring how to use all of the tools available - body, wings, tail, talons, bill - to maximize its chances of thriving. In this way, one generation ensures that the next generation may be successful.
Educating the next generation has always been central to the mission of the Green Mountain Audubon Society. We have a long-standing tradition of providing funding for young people, from scholarships for kids to attend Audubon summer camps to the Haidee Antram scholarship for a young adult to pursue their career path. In 2021 we tripled our funding of Audubon summer camps in response to the challenges that many families of young children were facing. We renewed that financial commitment in 2022 based on the impact that our support had on families within our community.
For the past several years we have provided grants to schools to support outdoor education focused on conservation. We launched this program after being inspired by a similar program of the Otter Creek Audubon Society. Our grants have supported field trips, optical equipment, plantings, and other conservation-oriented activities at K-12 schools. This year we expanded our program beyond schools to include other non-profit organizations providing outdoor activities to children. We increased our overall funding and increased the maximum grant amount to $1,000 to increase our impact.
As we continue to support educating the next generation, we are purposefully working to include community members who have been underrepresented in the Audubon family in the past. We have reached out to organizations providing services to New Americans. We have also reached out to the original inhabitants of the region, via representatives of Vermont’s Abenaki tribes. We welcome your ideas for expanding our support of educating the next generation and growing the Audubon family.
As a non-profit with an all-volunteer board, the Green Mountain Audubon Society has always relied upon the generosity of our members to advance our mission. If you are planning on making any year end charitable gifts, I’d ask you to consider a donation by clicking the green button below to support our efforts to make connections and build a community of people who care about birds, the earth and other people.
May you have a peaceful and healthy holiday season and a joyous start to the new year. Thank you, as always, for your support and happy birding!
An adult Peregrine Falcon (left) flies with it’s recently fledged juvenile (right).