In Our Nature

Saturday,  October 24 | Doors 5:30 PM | FILM  6:30 PM

What if connecting with nature could help build healthier, stronger, and more resilient communities?

Join us at the Historic Holly Theatre for a special screening of In Our Nature, a powerful one-hour documentary exploring how environmental education can enhance mental health, strengthen communities, and help bridge social and political divides.

From Emmy-winning director James Parker and southern Oregon producer Juliet Grable, a regular contributor to Jefferson Public Radio, the film follows educators and changemakers who use nature to create meaningful learning experiences and inspire a more compassionate, connected future. Their stories run from a flower farm on Chicago’s South Side to a forest school in rural Kentucky to a program for military families in San Antonio. An official selection of SXSW EDU, In Our Nature features Quilen Blackwell, CNN’s 2025 Hero of the Year, whose Southside Blooms farms turn vacant lots into flower fields and first jobs.

Tuesday October 27, 2026 at 7PM

Tracking Lewis’s Woodpecker Migration Using Motus Technology with Kaly Adkins

Virtual Zoom Presentation Only

Come learn about how wildlife biologists from the state, a variety of NGOs and Cal Poly Humboldt have collaborated to learn about migratory pathways of Lewis’s Woodpeckers throughout the PNW using Motus wildlife tracking technology. This technology can be expanded to a variety of small-bodied wildlife and is helping to unravel the mystery of migration for many of these species. Kaly Adkins is a Regional Wildlife Diversity Biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Bend that specializes in species of greatest conservation need east of the crest of the Cascades in Oregon.

Kaly Adkins, Regional Wildlife Diversity Biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Bend, specializes in species of greatest conservation need. She will be presenting the work of wildlife biologists from the State of Oregon, Cal Poly Humboldt, and non-government organizations and their ongoing efforts to collect data, with assistance from Motus wildlife tracking technology, about the migratory pathways of the Lewis’s woodpecker, yellow rail and silver-haired and hoary bats. To gain more information prior to the program, a podcast with Kaly and Northwest Nature Matters is available: https://myowf.org/nwnm

First Wednesday Bird Walk

Join RVAS for our monthly outing to Denman Wildlife Area. Walks begin at 8:30 am and end before noon, and are led by Jim Hostick. The gate will be open from 8:00 – 8:20 am. Participants need to purchase an ODFW Area Parking Permit at the ODFW Office, Sportsman’s Warehouse on Delta Waters and Highway 62 in Medford, or at Bi-Mart. We request that all participants be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Directions to meeting spot: We will meet at the entrance off Agate Rd. between 1/4 and 1/2 mile past the fire station on the left side of the road. Coming out Table Rock Rd., turn right on Antelope Rd. and go to the light on Agate Rd. and turn left. The fire station will be on your left at the corner of Ave. G and Agate Rd. Go 1/4 to /12 mile past the fire station and the gate will be on your left. Coming out on Highway 62 to Antelope Rd., turn left and go to the next light. Turn right and continue to the gate on Agate Rd.