Check out our great raffle prizes this year! This is KAS’s one and only fundraiser, and it supports the bulk of our conservation work. We can’t do any of it without you. Please consider participating (and potentially winning some great prizes!).
Dear KAS supporters,
Through this strange and unsettling year of 2020, with the coronavirus compelling us all to stay closer to home, I think many of us have a renewed appreciation for the beauty and vitality of the extraordinary place where we live—from backyard gardens and forests replete with bird songs, to wondrous wild backcountry, big trees, dramatic vistas, unique plants, rushing rivers, and rugged shorelines. This special corner of Oregon that we call home inspires—and needs—our vigilance and stewardship, and so I hope that you will consider a generous donation to the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society (KAS).
Each year we strive to bring you birding and conservation news and to act on your behalf to protect Curry County’s natural environment through strategic local grassroots advocacy on important issues that affect our land, water, wildlife, and communities. For four decades now, I am proud to say, KAS has been the most active and effective local citizens’ organization concerned with habitat conservation issues on the South Coast, and we need your support to keep up our good work.
Over this past year, we’ve advocated for public lands conservation including more protection for our National Wild and Scenic Rivers and the unique botanical and wildlife values of our National Forests. We’ve participated in the Wild Rivers Forest Collaborative and continued survey work for marbled murrelets. We’ve tracked and pressed for the final steps of the Floras Lake land exchange (hopefully to be finalized by year’s end) and for Dark Sky lighting in the city of Port Orford. We’ve monitored local land-use decisions and wildlife policies, and have responded to a wide range of issues affecting our forests, rivers, fish, and wildlife at the local, state, and federal levels. Although we had to cancel our usual field trips, service projects, and kids’ camp this year owing to the coronavirus, we did some educational workshops to train volunteers to help track aerial herbicide spraying. Our award-winning Storm Petrel newsletter was published four times; we’ve sent monthly Hoot-Outs to hundreds of members and friends; and we upgraded our website—a great resource for visitors and residents alike—to be mobile-friendly. Finally, with an eye to the future in this 40th anniversary year, we launched our Nest Egg Club, a planned giving program that aims to lay the foundation for continued conservation of our special place for many years to come.
Kalmiopsis Audubon relies on this one November fundraising appeal and membership dues for our operating expenses, which allow for a whole range of volunteer activism and activities. This is the one time each year that we reach out to you for financial support. And following in our annual tradition, we are offering another funRAFFLE to make giving more fun! Please see a description of this year’s exciting and enticing prizes on the back of this page.
I hope that you will choose to give generously to KAS by buying raffle tickets and/or by sending a donation above the cost of the tickets. Thank you for being a part of our group and for supporting Kalmiopsis Audubon as a voice for conservation and the environment in southwest Oregon.
Stay safe and healthy, and best wishes for a joyful and wondrous holiday season!
Ann Vileisis, President, Kalmiopsis Audubon Society