Into Africa | Deb Essman | August 2023 | YVAS Program
General ·Travels in Africa with Deb EssmanPlease join me, Deb Essman, as I share my photo safari of South Africa and Botswana. The vast numbers of African wildlife were amazing to me, and I hope I can impart the same awe I felt as I speak about the diverse habitats I got to explore. It's a magical place facing many challenges; the national parks and private reserves I visited all have stories to tell of resilience and adaptation for both the wildlife and local human populations. Deb considers herself an avid amateur naturalist with a special love for birds. She majored in Natural Resources Mgmt. at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo and was a seasonal naturalist at Morro Bay State Park while attending college; co-founded and ran a raptor rehabilitation center in California for almost a decade; was a veterinary technician at the Woodland Park Zoo and ran their Earthwatch program releasing bald eagles on the San Juan Island; worked for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Game Warden (the only woman in that position at the time). She taught pursuit driving for the WA State Patrol and ended up in banking prior to retirement. She has been volunteering at Ellensburg School District's 5th Grade Camp for over 30 years teaching wildlife classes and led many birding and "wildlife tracking" field trips for various organizations including Kittitas Environmental Education Network and the Teanaway Community Forest. She is past-President of the Kittitas County Field and Stream Club, with them doing lots of volunteer work doing various habitat restoration and other projects for WDFW and DNR. She has been teaching Hunter Education classes for WDFW for almost 20 years.
Posted by Yakima Valley Audubon Society on Thursday, October 5, 2023
Please join me, Deb Essman, as I share my photo safari of South Africa and Botswana. The vast numbers of African wildlife were amazing to me, and I hope I can impart the same awe I felt as I speak about the diverse habitats I got to explore. It's a magical place facing many challenges; the national parks and private reserves I visited all have stories to tell of resilience and adaptation for both the wildlife and local human populations.
Deb considers herself an avid amateur naturalist with a special love for birds. She majored in Natural Resources Mgmt. at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo and was a seasonal naturalist at Morro Bay State Park while attending college; co-founded and ran a raptor rehabilitation center in California for almost a decade; was a veterinary technician at the Woodland Park Zoo and ran their Earthwatch program releasing bald eagles on the San Juan Island; worked for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Game Warden (the only woman in that position at the time). She taught pursuit driving for the WA State Patrol and ended up in banking prior to retirement. She has been volunteering at Ellensburg School District's 5th Grade Camp for over 30 years teaching wildlife classes and led many birding and "wildlife tracking" field trips for various organizations including Kittitas Environmental Education Network and the Teanaway Community Forest. She is past-President of the Kittitas County Field and Stream Club, with them doing lots of volunteer work doing various habitat restoration and other projects for WDFW and DNR. She has been teaching Hunter Education classes for WDFW for almost 20 years.
