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Great Washington State Birding Trail
Palouse to Pines Loop
News release for immediate release
More information: Christi Norman,
Director
Great Washington State Birding Trail
206-652-2444 x 104 office; 360-789-7282 cell
WASHINGTON BIRDING TRAIL EXPANDS TO FAR EASTERN WASHINGTON
Visitors with binoculars bring dollars, conservation incentive to rural areas
 OLYMPIA, January 26, 2010—Under
the watchful eyes of a live Great Horned Owl and Red-tailed
Hawk, the sixth and newest route of the Great Washington
State Birding Trail, the Palouse to Pines Loop, was unveiled
in the Cherberg Building on the state capitol campus Jan.
26th. The owl and hawk are species of birds regularly seen
on this part of the birding trail that winds through eastern
Washington.
“The Palouse to Pines Loop will
bring new visitors and new dollars to our rural areas, and
gives us yet another reason to be good stewards of our lands
and waters,” said
Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. “The birding trail is a
guide to many of the special places along our state’s
eastern corridor.”
She received a framed copy of the
map at the unveiling event from Audubon Washington Birding
Trail Program Director Christi Norman. According to Norman,
birding “trails”,
now offered in more than 30 states, are self-guided driving
tours to places where birds are likely to be seen.
With 40+
million Americans describing themselves as interested in
bird watching, developers of the Great Washington State Birding
Trail hope to entice both local residents and out-of-state
visitors to the Palouse to Pines Loop, which features 215
of Washington’s 346 annually recorded bird species.
Year-round,
Boreal Owls and Boreal Chickadees tuck away in alpine forests;
Pygmy Nuthatches and White-headed Woodpeckers favor old-growth
Ponderosa pines. Black Terns and Common Nighthawks arrive
in spring along with thousands of feathered migrants that
come courting: Mountain Bluebirds, Yellow Warblers, Black-chinned
Hummingbirds – plus swallows, sparrows,
and shorebirds. Common Loons nest on hidden lakes. American
White Pelicans visit in summer followed in fall by hundreds
of Tundra Swans, and in winter by extravagant numbers of
waterfowl.
Millions of years of plate tectonics,
lava flows, glaciation, and cataclysmic floods have sculpted
eastern Washington’s
stunning terrain. The region enjoys distinct seasons: winter
snow, spring wildflowers, summer heat, fall harvest. Evergreen
and leafy trees, pothole lakes, shrub-steppe, rivers large
and small, and irrigation channels nourish flora, fauna,
and farms.
The new map can be seen online at http://wa.audubon.org.
The
Palouse to Pines Loop of the Great Washington State Birding
Trail was developed and funded by Audubon Washington, the
Washington State Department of Transportation, Inland Northwest
Community Foundation, Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife, and individual contributors. Like the first five
maps, the new publication features original artwork by
noted Washington wildlife painter Ed Newbold.
The live birds featured at the Palouse
to Pines unveiling ceremony came from Vashon Island’s Wolftown, a nonprofit
facility that rescues and rehabilitates injured native birds
and other wildlife, and offers them for educational presentations.
Together with its local chapters, Audubon
Washington produced the first map of the birding trail in
2002, the Cascade Loop. The Coulee Corridor followed in 2003,
Southwest Loop in 2005, Olympic Loop in 2007, and the Sun
and Sage Loop in 2009. One additional route covering the
Puget Sound area will complete the birding trail in 2011.
All maps contain information about habitat, bird species,
access, and best seasons for birding. Signs marking birding
trail sites will be installed in coming years.
Copies of the Great Washington State
Birding Trail maps can be ordered online.
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