Enduring qualities and ongoing change: these shaped 2024. Endurance and change are like the rocks and the water of a creek. Museum founders Bob Spear and Gale Lawrence shared these qualities with all who helped them. They opened their lands and barn-turned-museum to everyone and for decades shared their love of birds. They created museum trails that are free to wander year-round. You can walk or sit, listen or look, observe birds or the whole forest, reflect, meditate, open your senses, be inspired. You can help create an accessible route for everyone, from the museum building all the way to the Retreat. Staff and volunteers spent part of the summer improving accessibility on the trails, installing benches and pause points, and improving signage. But last July’s flooding in Sherman Hollow creek moved many rocks, rerouted water, and forced the closure of Bob’s Bridge. That made more than half the museum trails inaccessible, including the route to the recently opened Gale’s Retreat. Wanderers could no longer easily go birding nor explore the south section of the forest. How can we support people like you—of all ages and abilities—in the outdoors if we can’t reach it? We are raising funds for the specific goals of improved trails and a new bridge by 2026.
Your donations will fund hiring designers and engineers to help us design and plan construction and permitting. When complete, this phase opens the way to apply for grants to make it all happen. Last year many of you donated to our lighting project. That was so helpful: the birds in both Spring and Fall Wetland exhibits are more clearly lit, and the workshop is much brighter for woodcarvers and classes. Let’s be that successful again!
If everyone who receives this letter or sees this post contributes $75—either as a donation or a membership renewal—design phase would be completely funded and could proceed right away in 2025. We’d be well on the way to the next steps of permitting and lining up construction. Please help us “flow forward”!
To show our gratitude for your past support, the first twenty donors who give $300 or more will also receive a selection of items created by some exhibiting artists. You can send a gift using the button below; if your membership is due, please use the form on the membership page.
Thank you for ensuring the museum endures today, changes for tomorrow, and is ready for the future.
Erin Talmage, Executive Director