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Audubon Minnesota has a number of volunteer opportunities available throughout the year. Hardworking members of the community help to keep Audubon Minnesota running smoothly. Volunteers perform a wide variety of duties ranging from working in the Audubon booth at the Living Green Expo to helping with our annual birdseed sale and special events. Please call us at 651-739-9332 if you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities at Audubon Minnesota.

August 8, 2009 - Volunteers Needed to Count Chimney Swifts
Audubon Minnesota is looking for volunteers to report sightings of Chimney Swift migration roost sites in Minnesota. Specifically, we need citizen scientists to participate in our Saturday Swift Sit on August 8, 2009. Volunteers will be stationed at a specific chimney or structure and will track their sightings. This data will allow us to get a better idea of the distribution of swifts throughout the state. It also is an excellent way to introduce friends and neighbors to a wonderful spectacle during migration. Email Ron Windingstad for more information.

Audubon encourages volunteers to participate in the nation-wide Swift Night Out, a national effort to raise awareness about Chimney and Vaux’s Swifts initiated by the Driftwood Wildlife Association www.chimneyswifts.org .

At the Audubon Minnesota Annual Meeting on November 8, 2008, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to LEE PFANMULLER to recognize her longtime work for the conservation of Minnesota’s natural resources. During her career with the Minnesota DNR, Lee was instrumental in protecting endangered species, studying forest birds, and expanding our Scientific and Natural Areas. She edited “Minnesota’s Endangered Flora and Fauna” the first book written on Minnesota’s endangered species. Lee has worked closely with Audubon to ensure wise forest management and to preserve wetlands. She was an early supporter of the Important Bird Areas program and provided the funding and staff time that allowed that program to get of the ground. While it is easy to get lost in the bureaucracy of state government, Audubon Minnesota’s board, staff, and our members have long appreciated Lee’s love of Minnesota’s birds and the time and effort she has given to their conservation. This award is but a small acknowledgement of Audubon’s appreciation for all that she has done and continues to do

At the Audubon Minnesota Annual Meeting on November 11, 2007, three awards were given out to four incredibly dedicated and committed Audubon activists. Lifetime Achievement Awards recognize members who have outshined their peers in the length of time and level of commitment through their volunteer work at Audubon.

PATRICIA AND JOHN TELFER have been active and effective members of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) since its inception. Pat and John have helped the chapter in many ways. As a professional artist, Pat has donated her beautiful watercolors of birds for chapter auctions. And, as an excellent cook, she brought food and goodies to meetings and chapter gatherings. Pat was the chapter’s Publicity Chair for 20 years. Jack, a woodworking artist, has donated wooden teddy bears, reindeers, bowls, medallions and ceramics to the chapter. He served as MRVAC’s vice president and chair of the Nominating Committee, Conservation Committee, and Communication Committee. Together, they have been actively involved with many of the issues the chapter has on from local initiatives to federal issues: Save the Bald Eagle Project (1974), Garrison Dam, and really spearheaded saving Highland Park form a proposed 4-lane highway in the 1970s. Today they are active on the chapter’s Natural Resources Committee which they’ve been involved with since its beginning, spearheading the MN River Valley Birding Trail Guide, coming to our annual Lobby Day at the state capitol and taking on national issues such as ANWR. Favorite bird: Jack – black capped chickadee; Pat – northern cardinal.

BILL BRUINS has been an Audubon member since the 1960s from his perch in Rochester. He has been active in the Zumbro Valley Audubon Society serving as its newsletter editor for 11 years, as conservation chair, seed sale coordinator and board member. He has participated in the Christmas Bird Count for 20 years and has served on a number of local conservation task forces, councils and committees, and as a volunteer conducting bird surveys and prairie restoration projects. On the state level, Bill has been a board member of Audubon Minnesota since 1996 and has served as vice-chair and chair of the Board. He is faithful in his service to our Environmental Issues Committee since the mid-1980s and was our representative on the Board of the Minnesota Environmental Fund. Bill’s interest in birding began in college when a friend took him on a weekend outing in Illinois to look for owls and watch the spring hawk migration. Favorite bird: Louisiana waterthrush.

MARY ELLEN VETTER studied early childhood education in college and is now a retired second grade teacher. She became interested in conservation during our nation’s first Earth Day in 1970 and served as Brooklyn Center’s Conservation Commission as chairperson for 10 years beginning programs in recycling, open space preservation, sign ordinances, and energy conservation. When the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis established a conservation committee, she got involved. She then went on to become a vice- president of the chapter and then its president. She has spearheaded just about every chapter committee or task except for the newsletter, and particularly enjoyed being chair of the Education Committee. She is now in her third, 3-year term on the Board of the Audubon Center of the North Woods. She became interested in birds from backyard birding and seeing an avocet wading in the Missouri River, which she found beautiful and extraordinary. Her favorite bird: American avocet.