2008 11th ANNUAL
OTHELLO SANDHILL CRANE FESTIVAL
is Proud to Present

Friday, March 28, 2008 - Othello High School Music Room

Featured Friday Night Lecture - 8:15 to 9:00 PM
 CHUCK GIBILISCO  

Each fall, 500 rare black-necked cranes arrive at their peaceful wintering grounds in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.  Their arrival is celebrated by conservationists and local communities with the colorful Black-necked Crane Festival.  But their exact breeding ground on the Tibetan Plateau has remained a mystery, until recent research discoveries of Bhutan’s Royal Society for the Protection of Nature.

Join Chuck Gibilisco for a short documentary about Bhutan’s fascinating cultural and natural setting and RSPN’s ground-breaking research, along with a glimpse of how Bhutan celebrates its own unique crane festival.  In 2004, Chuck brought his expertise to Bhutan, where he worked with a team of government, community and conservation leaders to explore possibilities and make recommendations for introducing community-based ecotourism to remote villages.  He and his wife Mary Carr, a technical editor with the U.S. Forest Service, recently returned from their third trip to Bhutan, where they participated for the first time in the Black-necked Crane Festival.   

Chuck is a watchable wildlife specialist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and was a key player in pulling together the first Othello Sandhill Crane Festival a decade ago.  Over the past 30 years, he worked as a wildlife biologist, educator, tour guide, firefighter, farmer and nature tourism consultant in many parts of the United States.

Saturday, March 29, 2008 Banquet, Othello High School

Featured Banquet Speaker Saturday - 7:30 to 9:30 PM
 MIKE DENNY  

Mike Denny is a naturalist and conservationist from the Walla Walla area.  He has birding experience around the world and is a legend among birders in Washington.  Using his knowledge, story-telling skills and his wife MerryLynn’s outstanding photography, Mike will educate you about the owls found in the Columbia Basin.  

In 2006, Mike was awarded the Audubon Washington Science Award for his work to develop environmental standards for placement of wind turbines on sites at the Stateline Energy Center in Walla Walla and Umatilla counties and the Hopkins Ridge wind project in Columbia County.  He has worked closely with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on conservation issues.  He was one of seven state residents singled out for outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation.  Mike has recently been working on Bighorn Wind Project in Klickitat County, as well as serving on six technical advisory councils for wind projects in Washington and Oregon.  

Mike was a field biologist for the U.S. Forest Service, where he performed numerous bird and small vertebrate surveys across the Blue and Wallowa mountains.  He also performed prey base and habitat studies on Canada Lynx in the Blue Mountains.  He now works for the Walla Walla County Conservation District as the riparian habitat coordinator.  His talks have been a standard since the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival began.  Those who never heard one of his lectures or who have never gone on one of his field trips have definitely missed out.  This is your chance to hear this popular speaker.

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