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ANNUAL REPORT 20221CONTENTSOUR VISION is to inspire conservation through birding. OUR MISSION Travis Audubon promotes the enjoyment, understanding, and conservation of native birds through: • Inclusive environmental education • Habitat protection • Conservation advocacyWELCOME FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 2HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY, TAS! 3PROGRAMS BAKER SANCTUARY 5 BLAIR WOODS NATURE PRESERVE 7 CHAETURA CANYON SANCTUARY 9 COMMONS FORD METRO PARK 11 ADVOCACY & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 13 EDUCATION 15 TRAVIS AUDUBON BY THE NUMBERS 17PEOPLE 19FINANCES FINANCIAL STATEMENT 20 OUR MEMBERS & DONORS 21 OUR PROGRAM PARTNERS & SPONSORS 25TRAVIS AUDUBON TIMELINE 27JOIN US! 29In the first Travis Audubon newsletter in 1952, a member shared this quote attributed to French essayist Joseph Joubert: “We have received the world as an inheritance. None of us has the right to damage it and everyone has the duty to leave it in an improved condition.”To my (or Wikipedia’s) knowledge, Joubert never found his way to Central Texas, but how applicable his words are to our corner of civilization and the natural wonders it contains. And how striking it is that in 2023, especially in this country, we still need to be reminded that the world is not for us to consume and ultimately destroy, but to protect and (perhaps most of all) enjoy for its own sake.Birds are a big reason how we know that we are not doing a great job of leaving our ecosystem in an improved condition. And Travis Audubon and its members have been paying attention to this very problem for more than 70 years now. I am grateful to those conservationists and birders who saw the changes that were happening around them in the 1950s and did something about it. We can still hear the buzzy song of the Golden-cheeked Warbler with relative ease, but will Central Texans in 100 years be able to do so? They will if Travis Audubon has anything to say about it!I hope our founding members would be proud to see how our membership has grown, how willing we are to speak up for wildlife as our city grows, and how forward-looking we must be to protect birds into the twenty-first century. And I hope our members and friends are as enthusiastic about our future as we are. After all, you, Dear Member, are the reason for our success, and we thank you for your support.70 times around the sun is a real achievement for any organization. We’re glad to have you with us, and we hope to be good ancestors for those who will continue this good work for the next seventy years and beyond. Thank you for doing what you can to protect our beautiful Central Texas inheritance.With appreciation and best wishes,Nicole NethertonExecutive Director, Travis AudubonDEAR MEMBERS & FRIENDS2“What I remember most vividly is all the great people I have met through Travis Audubon. The birds come and go each spring, but these memories are always with me.” – Eric Stager Former TAS Board PresidentTravis Audubon’s first meeting was on March 18, 1952 when a group of birding enthusiasts gathered at Mrs. Magnolia Greene’s house to talk about putting together a birding club. Back then programming consisted of bird walks and film screenings—$2.50 for five film tickets, what a steal! Fast-forward 70 years and we still do the odd film screening, but our organization has evolved and grown. And 2022 was a great year to celebrate those decades of TAS history and conservation that were born out of that very first meeting. TAS staff kicked off our year-long birthday celebration in January with a new monthly email series—Soaring at 70: Reflections, where our members and friends were invited to reflect on and celebrate Travis Audubon. Thank you to each person who participated in the series: Valarie and Jennifer Bristol, Frances Cerbins, Shelia Hargis, Paul and Georgean Kyle, Clif Ladd, Jane Lyons, Chris Murray, Chuck Sexton, Eric Stager, Jane Tillman, and Jean Warneke. Readers were transported back to years past with these heartfelt musings. In March, we commemorated the date of our first meeting with week-long celebrations, starting on March 22nd with an old-fashioned screening of Birders at Doc’s Drive-in in Buda. We held morning bird walks at each of our Sanctuaries, and ended our birthday week with an office warming at our new digs at the Baker Center and a happy hour at Batch Craft Beer and Kolaches. After so much time spent apart during the pandemic, it was a joy to have our members to celebrate with us in person again.“I’ve seen it transition from a wonderful volunteer organization to an even stronger one with staff.” – Jane Tillman TAS Volunteer, Educator, and Friend To mark the occasion, we also created special birthday t-shirts—a reissue of our classic “Bird Nerd” tee as well as a stunning “Soaring at 70” Crested Caracara design from our friend and artist Toni Taylor. All the proceeds from these sales supported Travis Audubon’s operating costs. Our early members invited bird walk participants to “be there with your field glasses, your bird book, and your sunniest disposition for a couple of hours of inspiration, excitement, and fun.” After 70 years, we were happy to see that energy and sense of welcoming fun has not changed. Inspiration and excitement brim at every event—especially for our birthday. May we continue having fun and enjoying birds for the next 70 years and beyond!HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY, TRAVIS AUDUBON!34BAKER SANCTUARY2022 was a memorable year for Baker Sanctuary, and the management of 715 acres takes a lot of hands from a lot of happy volunteers (and one dedicated Steward and his family)! Here are some of our accomplishments at Baker:VOLUNTEER PROJECTSOur dedicated corps of volunteers makes the maintenance of the Sanctuary possible. Last year, 180 volunteers invested a total of 946 hours on projects from brush management to trail maintenance to Golden-cheeked Warbler (GCWA) monitoring. Baker Sanctuary was also the recipient of ten excellent Eagle Scout Projects: four new Chimney Swift towers, four picnic tables, and eleven trail benches. Many thanks to Troops 70, 202, and 271 for all their hard work.PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATIONMore than 1,000 members and their friends explored our many trails in 2022, and an additional 400 folks attended one of our many organized public events, including the Baker Nature Day, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and guided hikes. In addition to events hosted at Baker, approximately 450 students were educated with presentations at elementary and high schools in Leander and Austin ISD.“I am most proud of the active role Travis Audubon has played as a vanguard in conservation efforts in Central Texas. Leading by example, the acquisition and expansion of Baker Sanctuary set the tone for the larger conservation efforts which the community would undertake in the 90s and 2000s.”– Chuck Sexton Biologist and longtime TAS MemberBIOLOGICAL MONITORING AND MANAGEMENTBaker Sanctuary was founded in the 1960s as the first GCWA preserve in the world, a good thirty years before the species was listed as endangered by the USFWS. Now, as a member of the Balcones 335Canyonlands Preserve (BCP), Baker Sanctuary continues to provide high quality breeding habitat for approximately 70 pairs of GCWA. Since 2017, we have undertaken a project to determine the distribution and density of GCWA throughout the entire preserve, an endeavor which had not been accomplished before. The survey of the north side of the Sanctuary is nearly complete with just one more season to go—then the work on the south side will begin. Along with territory mapping and monitoring, fifty GCWA point count stations have been installed at the Sanctuary and will help to correlate known GCWA densities with point count data for future population tracking.HABITAT RESTORATIONWhen managing for GCWA, the best we can do to influence survivorship and productivity is to properly manage habitat. Our guiding principle is that if ideal habitat is present, a healthy population will flourish. For the GCWA, that means mature, closed-canopy woodland of approximately a 70:30 mix of Ashe Juniper to hardwood species. While Baker Sanctuary falls within the current definition of high quality habitat for GCWA, there is plenty of improvement possible when it comes to removing non-native invasive plants and recruiting hardwood species into the canopy layer. In 2022, 493 non-native invasive plants 6were removed from Baker Sanctuary in a rather intensive process: we pull it out by the roots or cut it to a manageable stump, flag it, GPS log it, and apply a small amount of herbicide. 70 percent of all herbicide treated stumps die within a year, but sometimes it takes a couple of tries.A hike anywhere at Baker will reveal that the canopy layer is composed mostly of Ashe Juniper and oak, usually Plateau Live Oak. A scattering of Cedar Elm and Shin Oak or Spanish Oak can also be observed. Often seedlings of these hardwood species germinate but do not grow into larger trees, mostly because of browsing by White-tailed Deer. The deer population is high in Texas, and to manage it at Baker we hold an annual management hunt. Beginning in 2014, we also began a hardwood caging program where volunteer seedlings of hardwoods, as well as Escarpment Black Cherry and Texas Ash, are located, caged, and measured. As a result, an average of 4 cm – 12 cm growth per year has been observed in caged seedlings, suggesting that controlling for deer browse may improve hardwood recruitment at Baker. Last year, one additional hardwood was caged for a total of 278 individuals caged to date—you might see one on your next hike.With these education, public outreach, and management priorities, it is our hope that the GCWA will be enjoyed at Baker and beyond by many generations of birders to come.55BLAIR WOODS NATURE PRESERVESince the restoration of the historic dairy barn in 2020, we have made excellent progress in our goal to help Blair Woods be a beautiful nature habitat that everyone can enjoy. This urban oasis is the locus of much of TAS’s restarted education programming, and we’re excited about the progress we’ve made at the property in 2022.ACCESSIBLE TRAILSIn 2020, we worked with Tim Eischen and his team to create a Blair Woods Trails Master Plan to determine the best accessible trail routes leading to the seven destinations and amenities found at Blair Woods— the Pollinator Garden, Spring House, Pond, Water Feature (and future Bird Blind), Geological Outcropping, Archaeological Site, and historic Dairy Barn.We are phasing construction of the trails, and so far an accessible trail has been built to connect the picnic area to the parking lot and the Dairy Barn. Construction will continue in 2023 throughout the Egret Loop. We also added an ADA parking spot near the entry kiosk and plan to add an additional ADA parking space on the northern side of the property.Travis Audubon was incredibly fortunate to receive a very generous donation that will allow us to complete this project in 2023. We are so grateful for this support that will enhance accessibility to Blair Woods and transform it into a more welcoming space for a wider community of people.COMMUNITY OUTREACHIn the Spring of 2022 with support from National Audubon, we hired a community engagement consultant, Nicole Treviño, to advise us in the process of connecting with the diverse communities near Blair Woods. Our goal is to invite our neighbors to co-create and envision future changes to the property and program priorities, as well as to help build new and support existing partnerships within these communities. We’re working with several stakeholders that represent important cultural and educational institutions, historic neighborhoods, youth groups, and other mission-driven organizations in East Austin. These include residents from the historic Stonegate Neighborhood and our neighbors at the Heritage Pointe Senior Apartment Community. We hope Blair Woods can help tell the rich stories of East Austin and be a welcoming and revitalizing nature space for everyone.33768WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERSSince 2018 TAS board members Mark Wilson and Flo Rice have been leading volunteer groups on Wednesday mornings at Blair Woods. Together they’ve tackled removing large thickets of invasive plants, thereby improving the woodland habitat for native species and the overall appearance of Blair Woods for trail-goers. They’ve also done tremendous work installing a serene solar-powered water feature, creating both a water source for birds and another scenic element for visitors to enjoy. Volunteers Al and Nancy Morgan have put in countless hours tending the pollinator garden which is visited frequently by butterflies and bees. These Wednesday volunteers have put in more than 650 hours of work at the Preserve, making Blair Woods a nicer place to visit for birds and people alike. We hope that additional interested folk will come join us on these weekly workdays and learn what makes Blair Woods such a special place.PROGRAMSBlair Woods is a great place to gather for birding, enjoying nature, and socializing. Near the end of 2021, when we finally were able to restart in-person programming, Blair Woods became a hotspot for events. Some of the program highlights from this year include:• The November 2021 Bioblitz, a Roots & Wings satellite event that drew more than 80 people to the sanctuary to learn about its wildlife, from birds to plants to fungi, from local experts;• The December 2021 Holiday Party, an afternoon of hiking, holiday gift shopping, enjoying barbecue, and feeling excited about being back in-person;• Summer field trips, where over 50 students ages 5-12 got to explore Blair Woods while learning about local birds and why they’re important.We are thrilled to continue to expand our program offerings for people of all ages and backgrounds at Blair Woods! Next >