Chapter Meetings

When: Saturday, December 3rd, 6:00 pm
Where: The Firehouse Dance Hall, 44 North Front St. Medford, OR, 97501

Come and enjoy great food (potluck) & community as we raise money to support the RVAS mission and programs.

Potluck: Bring a dish to pass and your own place settings. Dishes, drinkware, and cutlery will *not* be provided.

RVAS will provide non-alcoholic beverages. Please note that no alcoholic beverages are permitted at this venue.

Jim Livaudais will be entertaining us with more great photos from his world travels.

We will have an exciting auction full of exceptional donated items: birding field trips, artwork, dinners, wellness & beauty, wine, and more. The auction host is TBD.

Member donations are very encouraged.

Help is always needed: Table set up at 5:00 pm, assisting with pot-luck set-up, helping with the payments, item runners, and being part of the evening clean-up.

This venue has a capacity limit, PLEASE RSVP. There is lots of parking nearby and the event is ADA accessible.

Send your RSVPs, questions, auction item donations, or volunteer sign-ups to Zoë Templeton at zoe.e.templeton@gmail.com.

Hybrid Program: Cannabis cultivation and the environment: lessons and opportunities
Thursday, January 19, 7 pm
Presenter: Dr. Phoebe Parker-Shames

Join us for a research presentation and discussion about cannabis land use change in Southern Oregon and its ecological implications for wild flora and fauna. Dr. Parker-Shames will present some of her work studying outdoor private land cannabis farming in Josephine County during the early phase of recreational cannabis legalization. She will share some of the ecological lessons learned, ongoing research gaps, and opportunities to improve conservation outcomes in the cannabis industry.

Location: Southern Oregon University, Science Building, Room 161 (watch party). This program will also be provided as a zoom for folks who cannot attend in person. To register for the zoom: https://bit.ly/npso2022-23talks. This is a program of Rogue Valley Audubon Society and Siskiyou Chapter Native Plant Society of Oregon.

IMPORTANT: This program is jointly sponsored by Rogue Valley Audubon Society and Siskiyou Chapter Native Plant Society of Oregon, and is in lieu of our usual 4th Tuesday chapter meeting pro-gram. Please note the special date, time, location, and Zoom link.

Bio: Dr. Phoebe Parker-Shames (she/her) is an interdisciplinary researcher who grew up in Southern Oregon and studies the ecological outcomes of cannabis legalization. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley working with Drs. Justin Brashares and Chris Schell. She is also part of the Cannabis Research Center at Berkeley.
https://www.drphoebe.org.

We will explore the ins and outs of Oregon sparrow identification. By taking a detailed look at 15 different species, you should leave this program with the skills you need to take on this challenging bird group. Most of these species can be found, at least part of the year, in the Rogue Valley.

Chuck Gates Bio
Chuck is a retired school teacher, former Board Member Oregon Field Ornithologists (Now Oregon Birding Association), Founding Board Member of the East Cascades Bird Conservancy (Now EC Audubon Society), creator and editor of the online Oregon Birding Site Guide (Now under revision), creator of the Central Oregon Bird Database, creator of the website Central Oregon Bird Nests, Eggs, and Young, volunteer at the Crooked River Wetlands in Prineville, and leader of the Prineville Bird Club.