Othello gears up for sandhill crane festival

Late March event still looking for volunteers

By Matthew Weaver

Herald senior staff writer

OTHELLO - Organizers at one of Othello's premier events are urging residents to secure their participation soon, or risk missing out.

"We have a lot of new speakers this year and we've added a lot of tours," said LuAnn Morgan, spokesperson for the 11th Annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival. "Everything's right on track; we're ready to go."

The festival takes place March 28, 29 and 30, and includes lectures, tours and a variety of other activities.

Reservations are filling up fast, Morgan said. Several tours are already full and a banquet is half-full.

"If anybody wants a reservation, they better be calling now because they're not going to get in if they don't pretty soon," she said. "We have a lot of talks on cranes this year. That's kind of the focus this year, is the cranes. Those are always the popular tours, plus we've had a lot of requests for the burrowing owl tours this year."

Additional bus tours to view the birds were added, as well as many lectures, bike tours and a photography carpool.

During the Saturday night banquet on March 29, popular speaker Mike Denny, the riparian habitat coordinator for the Walla Walla County Conservation District, talks about owls found in the Columbia Basin.

The featured Friday night speaker is Chuck Gibilisco, a wildlife specialist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. This year, his talk will focus on the rare black-necked cranes of Bhutan.

The free Friday lecture takes place March 28 from 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the music room at Othello High School. Gibilisco will also speak at 1 p.m. March 29.

Other speakers include Steve Bouffard at 10 a.m. on March 29,when he introduces 15 crane species found around the world. He speaks of his travels in eastern Asia for crane conservation later in the day at 2 p.m.

Area photographer Teri Pieper gives a lecture on how to capture images of wildlife on March 29 at 10 a.m. and takes part in a carpool tour from 6 a.m. to noon on March 30.

Local bike enthusiasts Pete Perez and Shawn Urban lead a 20-mile tour through some of the wildlife viewing areas near Othello. The ride takes place March 28 from 3:30 p.m. to sunset and March 29 from 9:30 to noon.

Jessica Stocking, who worked with sandhill cranes for many years, will share some of her research on the ones found in Washington state. She is currently developing a master's degree project on the breeding populations of greater sandhill cranes in the Conboy Lake area south of Mount Adams. Her lectures take place at noon and 4 p.m. March 29.

Other new wildlife lectures to this year's festival include the biodiversity of north-central Washington's nature, living with rattlesnakes, declining populations among penguins, migration studies of the gray whale and the Important Bird Areas Program, an international effort to conserve birds based on landscapes critical to their survival.

General admission for the Saturday lectures and activities is $7 for adults. Seniors pay $5 and children enter free.

Tickets are available for the banquet, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the high school. Cost is $25 per person and includes a special menu prepared by Othello School District award-winning chef Lance Wells.

The banquet also includes a silent auction featuring a variety of wildlife items. Proceeds help support the festival.

Volunteers are still needed to help with this year's event. Anyone interested in participating on the committee is invited to attend the next meeting at 7 p.m. March 13, in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife building at 7th and Main streets.

"It brings in tourism money (and) gets our town's name on the map," Morgan said of the festival. "We get calls from all over the United States, we've had people from as far away as England coming to this. And most people seem to hear about it through word of mouth. A lot of people say they've been coming for years."

Why has the event lasted 11 years?

"Because people love birds," Morgan said with a laugh. "Watchable wildlife is one of the fastest growing tourism areas and it brings billions of dollars into the U.S. economy now."

For further information contact Committee Chair Dixie Fultz at 509-488-5061 or Committee Coordinator Marie Lotz at 509-488-2802. General information is available at www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org.