The result has been a healthy native wildlife population and a cadre of folks who feel a sense of accomplishment when they visit. The sanctuary is mentioned in a booklet about birding in Snohomish County and gets its share of visitors. Volunteer opportunities are not limited to just the sanctuary and wildlife gardens. These usually involve cleaning incubation and brooding facilities, but can also involve one of our occasional round-ups to worm or vaccinate some of our flocks. Many of the volunteers provide service year after year.
Many teachers seek local opportunities to fulfill their environmental education requirement.
This is a fairly new effort here at Northwest Wildfowl, fueled by an associate who does something similar on the east coast, and the fact that we currently have an educator on our volunteer staff. It has been well received by a number of locals who regularly work with K through 6 students. I personally have very little experience with this age group, so I stay in the background and just make my self available for questions from the parents and teachers. Kelly Indrebo gets a big thank you for her contribution to the environmental education program. From Kemler and Julia Appell, aviculturists on the east coast I was introduced to the idea of giving each child a card containing a photograph of species of duck or goose that they can find in the collection.