Shrubsteppe Conservation - May 2021 - YVAS Program
General ·May is a prime month when this habitat is truly alive with plants and animals! Please join us for a panel discussion as speakers show the value of this habitat, threats facing the habitat and what people can do to preserve this vanishing resource. Come ready to engage the speakers with your questions on shrubsteppe habitat!
Shrubsteppe is an imperiled habitat, particularly in the Columbia Basin and Yakima County. As a result, many of the wildlife species that depend on the habitat are also imperiled. Key shrubsteppe wildlife species such as Burrowing Owls, Greater Sage-grouse, and Ferruginous Hawk have either disappeared or nearly disappeared from Yakima County. Representatives from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Yakima Valley Audubon and Cowiche Canyon Conservancy will present efforts they are working on to ensure that shrubsteppe habitat and its associated wildlife are conserved for the future.
Our May speakers are:
- Scott Downes, habitat biologist with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and a producer on the shrubsteppe short film This Land is Part of Us, which will be shown at the program
- Andy Stepniewski, conservation chair of Yakima Valley Audubon Society and a member of Washington State Audubon Sagebrush Songbird Committee
- Celisa Hopkins, executive director of Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, who has been central in the management and conservation of key parcels of shrubsteppe lands in Yakima County