Audubon Society to mark 50 years
From Mirror staff reports
The public and past members are invited to help the Juniata Valley Audubon Society celebrate its founding 50 years ago and attend the spring banquet April 16 at Jethro’s restaurant in Altoona.
The keynote speaker will be biology researcher and author Andrew Mack, who will discuss the conservation lessons that he learned from working with birds and indigenous people of Papua, New Guinea. Mack will also sign copies of his book “Searching for Pek Pek,” (Pek Pek is the New Guinea word for bird droppings) as he studied the Cassowary, a large, flightless bird.
The spring banquet/anniversary celebration begins at 5 p.m. with a reception followed by dinner at 6 p.m. The cost to attend is $20 per person. Checks should be made payable to “JVAS” and sent to Laura Jackson, 8621 Black Valley Road, Everett, PA 15537. Reservations must be made by Monday. For more information, call Jackson at 652-9268.
The program will include remarks from Greg Goldman, vice president/executive director of Audubon Pennsylvania, the state organization. The evening will include a ceremony to honor past society presidents and members. A booklet, written by club historian Mike Jackson, summarizes highlights of the organization’s environmental advocacy efforts and will be available.
JVAS has been recognized by the National Audubon Society as being among the first chapters to recognize the importance of tropical rain forests in the survival of song birds. Locally, the group has tackled conservation issues related to the Altoona watershed and worked with townships to adopt wildlife-friendly wind power ordinances.