Fresno Earth Democracy Group Tries Nature Learning Excursions

Fresno WILPF members and staff at the Friant (San Joaquin) Fish Hatchery. From left: Mary Steenhoek, Jean Hays, Ann Carruthers, Janet Cappella, Joan Poss, Melissa Fry, Evonne Waldo, and Heidi Ann Isner (back to the camera). Photo by Catherine Fowler, co-chair of the Earth Democracy Group, WILPF Fresno.

By Jean Hays
Co-Chair, Earth Democracy Group, Fresno Branch

Earth Day is not just one day each year. If you take another look at the area where you live, you will probably be surprised to find a place that inspires you to open your eyes to Mother Nature's beauty. A real-life picture is worth a thousand words! Your WILPF branch can be the camera.

WILPF Fresno’s Earth Democracy group has decided to try something different in order to get all of us more in touch with our fellow inhabitants of this refuge we call Earth. John Muir said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”  So far we have visited two “hitching posts,” partnering with the Sustainable Action Club at Fresno City College, and with anyone else who wanted to go.

Our first excursion, in March, was to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, 26,800 acres of wetlands, riparian forests, and grasslands. It is an important stop in the Pacific Flyway. We invited Penny Stewart, an expert birder, to come along and point out the cormorants, blue herons, white pelicans, three kinds of hawks, cinnamon teals, and a great-horned owl sitting on a nest who bid us farewell when we completed the trail. Besides the birds, there were many fat, contented Tule elk basking in the sun on their part of the Refuge. The newly-remodeled Visitor's Center was full of additional information about the many beings who live there.

For our May outing, arranged by Earth Democracy Fresno Co-Chair Catherine Fowler, we visited the San Joaquin Fish Hatchery on the San Joaquin River,  just 11 miles away from Fresno. Heidi Ann Isner, Environmental Programs Manager of the Kings River Conservation District, was our guide. We saw rainbow and brook trout in various stages of development, waiting until they are big enough to be returned to the river, or be transported to other rivers in California.

Our next learning adventure will be to the San Joaquin River Gorge, an extremely beautiful place that includes hiking and biking trails. Recently, this amazing place just narrowly missed being funded by the federal government to build still another dam on the San Joaquin River. Read more about the San Joaquin Threat.

Contact Jean Hays at skyhorse3593@sbcglobal.net for more information on how we arrange, publicize, and organize transportation for these outings.

Inset photo caption: Joan Poss, a founding member of Fresno WILPF, bird-watching at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Jean Hays.