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Flock supports new routes of the Great Washington State Birding Trail
A whole new flock of Washingtonians – including tribal members, tourism promoters, artists and businesspeople – are crowing about birds and birders as Audubon’s Great Washington State Birding Trail prepares to create new loops from Ellensburg through Tri-Cities to the Palouse and northward. During this spring’s five community workshops, field trips, and meetings with local business and tourism leaders, Birding Trail Program Director Christi Norman gathered information about birders’ favorite bird-watching sites for the upcoming Southeast and Spokane loops, the fifth and sixth maps, of the popular trail that began in 2002.

“Walla Walla is excited about offering birding as an add-on attraction for wine country visitors,” she said, “And Pend Oreille County is interested in the potential of a spring tundra swan birding festival.”

Managers of public lands and the City of Benton Economic Development Council joined with the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society for a March 19th workshop in Kennewick, followed the next day by a session in Walla Walla, hosted by the Blue Mountain Audubon chapter and local tourism promoters.

After the Spokane Audubon Society’s March 25th workshop, several dozen intrepid travelers braved a spring snowstorm to visit Lake Calispell where thousands of tundra swans and Canada Geese gather to rest and feed before migrating on to breeding grounds in Alaska. The field trip was organized by the Pend Oreille River Tourism Alliance and hosted by the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.

Speakers at the April 23rd Toppenish session – sponsored by the Confederated Tribes & Bands of the Yakama Nation, Yakima Valley Audubon, and the local convention and visitors bureau – supported coordination of the new Southeast loop with the county-wide trail planning effort.

The Yakima Herald’s editorial board wrote that the birding trail, “will be an excellent addition to the area's ever-growing tourism industry — a pleasant opportunity to slow down in a day and age that often moves too fast for enjoying the simple pleasures of nature.”

Ellensburg organizers Kittitas Audubon and Cascade Land Conservancy held their workshop in conjunction with First Friday ArtWalk and highlighted the original bird paintings of Washington wildlife artist Ed Newbold, whose colorful work illustrates the maps of the birding trail. The following morning, birding trail supporters paid a site visit to the city’s Irene Rhinehart Riverfront Park where Gloria and Jeb Baldi have led First Saturday BirdWalks every month for the past five years.

Additional sponsors of the Audubon birding trail workshops include Watchable Wildlife partners Washington State Parks, the Washington departments of Transportation, and Fish & Wildlife; and the state Office of Tourism and Economic Development.

The Great Washington State Birding Trail currently consists of four maps – the Cascade, Southwest and Olympic loops, and the Coulee Corridor. The Southeast and Spokane routes are scheduled for publication this year and next; the final map, the Puget Sound Loop in 2010, will complete the statewide trail.

Birding trails, now found in more than 30 states, are self-guided trips with stops at places where birds are likely to be seen. The trails attract nature tourists to rural locations, which spurs sustainable economic development and helps protect natural areas.

Bird watching is the fastest-growing outdoor recreation in the U.S.; 46 million Americans say they watch birds. Washington state is home to 365 species of birds, an exceptionally high number. And birds are good for business: America’s bird watchers spend $30 billion a year on their hobby, including $10 billion on travel.

Research shows that every 100 new bird watchers create a new full-time job, generate $2,500 in revenue and return $2,600 in taxes.

For more information, contact Birding Trail Director Christi Norman.