25th Anniversary Celebration

            Volume 24, Issue 2, Summer 2015
      A Publication of the Yolo Basin Foundation                       
25th Anniversary Celebration
Vision for the Flyway
by Shoshana Zeldner
by Shoshana Zeldner, Development Coordinator
The event showcased integral leaders and
community members who have brought
Yolo Basin Foundation to where it is today
and are helping plan for a vibrant future.
Former Congressman Vic Fazio delivered an
inspiring and heartfelt address that reflected
on his involvement in the development of
the Wildlife Area and shared his hopes for
the future. Fazio is serving as Campaign CoChair alongside long-time board member
Betsy Marchand. Other dignitaries in attendance included State Senator and founding
Yolo Basin Foundation Board Member Lois
Wolk, State Assemblymember Bill Dodd,
Sacramento Mayor Pro-Tem Angelique
Ashby, City of Davis Councilmember and
Foundation Board Member Lucas Frerichs,
and former State Assemblymembers Helen
Thomson and Mariko Yamada.
Yolo Basin Foundation’s
25th Anniversary Campaign:
Vision for the Flyway ensures
the future of this essential,
unique, and beautiful community resource through
amplified financial support
One of the event’s highlights
and increased community
was a “Wetlands Rap” perVic Fazio, Campaign Co-Chair,
awareness. The goal of the
formed by 20 second and third
Vision for the Flyway
three-year campaign is to raise
graders from Pete Vega’s class at
$1.5 million through individual donations.
William Land Elementary School in Sacramento. The enthusiasm with which they
Campaign Co-Chair Vic Fazio explains,
performed and the powerful environmental
“The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area has become a
message they delivered offered a fitting
place where our children come to learn about
reminder of why the Foundation’s environour natural heritage. To make this oppormental education programs are so essential.
tunity available to even more students, I’m
dedicating myself to this campaign to bring
Join us in supporting Yolo Basin Foundamore resources to a place I love.”
tion and the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area for
the next 25 years! Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous
local donor, a matching gift program of up
to $100,000 was established in 2015. All
new membership gifts will be matched dollar
for dollar. The magnitude of this $100,000
matching gift program is significant — this
means for every dollar donated, Yolo Basin
Foundation will receive two dollars to build
for the future.
Photo credit: Leslie Morris
Yolo Basin Foundation Executive Director,
Robin Kulakow, recounted organizational
T
wenty-five years ago, a passionate
group of scientists, wildlife enthusiasts, farmers, elected officials and
hunters came together with a vision that led
to the establishment of the
Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area
(aka Yolo Bypass Wildlife
Area). Our community
witnessed this local project
develop and take on national
significance. This year Yolo
Basin Foundation is planning
for the next 25 years!
landmarks over the past 25 years and the
amount of growth that has taken place for
the Foundation. In her first speech given in
the early years, Kulakow asked, “How will
we know if we’ve been successful? I am looking forward
to the day next winter when
the first tundra swans will take
up residence for the winter in
the Wildlife Area.” She then
answered her own question,
“They did show up and they
will continue to show up every
winter. We know there will be
challenges in the next 25 years.
We also know that people with
vision will continue to support
this wonderful place and all the
opportunities it represents.”
Photo credit: Leslie Morris
P
icture yourself in the Yolo Bypass
Wildlife Area, looking out over
a tranquil pond with the coastal
foothills perfectly clear in the distance, and
White Pelicans and White-faced Ibis overhead. On Monday, April 27 nearly 100 supporters, including Yolo Basin Foundation
board members past and present, volunteers, and elected officials experienced this
very scene in the Wildlife Area. Together, we
launched our 25th Anniversary Campaign:
Vision for the Flyway.
Students from William Land Elementary School, Sacramento, enjoy the wetlands after their performance at
the 25th Anniversary Celebration.
The campaign initiatives include:
• A new graduate student fellowship
program
—continued on p. 2
2
Vision continued from p. 1
Ann Brice Retires
• Funding to improve and sustain current
programs
by Robin Kulakow
Ann contributed so much to Yolo Basin
Foundation that it is hard to know where to
begin. In our small organization we have
to wear many hats and so Ann did with
creativity, skill, attention to detail and best
of all, a sense of humor. She was director of
the personnel, risk management, research,
education and outreach, press relations and
special events departments. Then there is
our favorite, the Department of Annoying
Forms.
Ann served as Duck Days Steering Committee Chair, nurturing this wonderful
community event with her creativity and
leadership skills. She wrote and guided
various grants for the Foundation, and,
with her science background, she enjoyed
encouraging college student projects on the
Wildlife Area. Under her guidance Bucks
for Ducks went from raising $20,000 to
$100,000, and she created the Art and Photography of the Central Valley exhibit that
is now a much-anticipated part of Bucks for
Ducks. She also developed our map of the
Wildlife Area and edited the Yolo Flyway
newsletter.
Retirement for Ann is hardly retirement.
She is on the boards of Audubon California,
Yolo Audubon, the Yolo Flood Control
and Water Conservation District, and the
Northern California Water Association.
She just returned from a 2-week trip to see
warblers in the Midwest and Canada and is
planning a trip to Africa next month. There
are her two grandchildren and, of course,
her horses to keep her busy.
Yolo Basin Foundation is now a successful “medium” sized organization because
of Ann ‘s contributions. Thousands of
students have benefitted from her time with
the Foundation. Birds and birders at the
Wildlife Area are better off because of Ann.
As for me, how do you summarize the feeling of gratitude I have for her? I could not
have asked for a better professional partner.
Everyone in the office and on the board say
THANK YOU ANN!
Photo credit: Joy Olson
A
nn Brice retired from her role as
Co-Executive Director of Yolo Basin
Foundation on April 30th. I’ve been
asking myself for over a year - how is it
possible that we have worked together for
nearly 15 years? Ann started helping the
Foundation by organizing an annual donor
dinner and as editor of the Yolo Flyway in
2000 while she was still Executive Director
of Cache Creek Conservancy. By then she
had already been on the Duck Days steering
committee for at least four years. I asked
her to come work with me around then and
she said yes – when her daughter Veery got
her driver’s license, and she didn’t have to
drive her anymore. Our long association
as colleagues sitting side by side in the Yolo
Basin Foundation trailer began in 2002.
• Expansion of outreach and education
programs to reach even more underserved schools
• New opportunities for the community
to experience the beauty of the wetlands
• Continued leadership dedicated to identifying solutions to complex resource
management issues in the Yolo Bypass
Community participation is the key to campaign success. Membership donations made
over this three-year campaign will create new
initiatives and provide critical funding to sustain and improve programs such as Discover
the Flyway. According to Betsy Marchand,
Campaign Co-Chair and board member,
“The Vic Fazio Wildlife Area changes many
people’s lives in many different ways. It
provides the region with an accessible way to
experience nature. I believe this campaign
ensures that the Wildlife Area continues to
change lives, for years to come.”
For more information about how you can
contribute, visit www.yolobasin.org or contact
530.757.4842 or shoshana@yolobasin.org.
Thank you for your support on the
Big Day of Giving!
Together, over 200 community members
helped Yolo Basin Foundation raise $21,650
in 24 hours on May 5th. In addition, we
won two challenge prizes taking our total
amount raised to $22,900. That is over a 50%
increase from last year! Yolo Basin Foundation raised the most money in Yolo County
among medium sized non-profits and won an
award for our Donor Thank You video! We
had a lot of fun gearing up for the big day,
making videos, coming up with fun factoids
and creative memes. Thank you for helping us achieve such success! The Sacramento
Region’s Big Day of Giving ranked 2nd in the
nation on May 5th and raised over $5.6 million. Yolo Basin Foundation ranked 23rd out
of 529 non-profits in terms of the number of
individual donations.
At Ann’s retirement party, Robin Kulakow presents
her with an original painting of the Wildlife Area by
Marie-Therese Brown.
NATURE NOTES
3
NATURE NOTES
Looking for Herps
by Dave Feliz, former Manager of the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area and current Manager of the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
O
ne of the things that brings me back
to the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area on
a regular basis are three arrays of
plywood sheets scattered on the Tule Ranch
prairie. These were originally part of several
study sites set up by Barry Garrison in 2004.
Funding for the study was lost two years later
and the floods swept away the majority of the
cover boards.
Several years later, I went in search of the
remaining sites and found three intact arrays
of 81 2’ X 2’ cover boards. I searched under
these boards and found reptiles. I added
another 50 boards near the Umbrella Barn in
2010. Once I left Yolo, I decided it would be
good to come back every year to check these
cover boards and perform an annual survey of
the reptiles.
I participate in an online community of
herpers who share their photographs and
narratives from adventures in the field searching for reptiles and amphibians. They also
perform surveys in the field. I annually bring
out people from this group to check the cover
boards.
The Tule Ranch has some of the last
remaining low elevation native prairie in the
Delta region. Much of this land was never
leveled and it still retains the natural and
subtle topography of the area. There are a
handful of vernal pools and in the early spring
the area is covered in wildflowers. One of the
most common species of reptiles in the area is
the Western Yellow-bellied Racer. This diurnal
snake is slim with a body color ranging from
olive gray to a greenish blue. The underside is
yellow. Juveniles look entirely different with a
blotched pattern resembling a gopher snake.
Another common species is the gopher
snake. Very infrequently, gopher snakes dis-
Striped Gopher snake
Welcome Leanne!
Leanne Villa joined the Yolo Basin
Foundation in December 2014 as the
Administrative Coordinator.
Gopher snake
Every year, usually the first week in April
or last week in March, we come over to check
the cover boards. It is great fun lifting each
board to see what is living under there. Early
in the spring, rodents may be nesting under
the wood. Soon afterwards, snakes arrive and
are sometimes found in the now empty nests.
On March 28th a small group of us checked
the boards. The first site was the Bull Field,
located on the corner of County Roads 38
and 105. The first snake of the day was a
beautiful little California Kingsnake.
Juvenile Western Yellow-bellied Racer
Over the course of the day we found
10 gopher snakes, 2
Kingsnakes, 1 Valley
Garter Snake, 12 Racers and 12 Southern
Alligator Lizards. All
in all, a great day in the
field and a wonderful
opportunity to enjoy
Valley Garter snake
some of California’s last
remaining Delta prairie.
All photos courtesy of Dave Feliz
play a striped pattern. In some parts of their
range, this morph occurs more frequently.
The Tule Ranch seems to have a fairly high
proportion of striped gopher snakes.
Western Yellow-bellied Racer
California Kingsnake
After we checked the first set of boards,
we were fortunate to find a nice sized Valley
Garter Snake on the crawl.
She has a B.S. in Conservation and
Resource Studies from UC Berkeley.
Her background includes natural
resource management for the National
Park Service, and Department of Fish
and Wildlife. As a consultant, she performed environmental compliance for
various projects throughout the region.
For the past few years Leanne has
been busy with her family, Maren, 8,
Ian,10, and husband Mike. She’s also
been very involved in various school
organizations.
Leanne reported that she hadn’t really
been looking for work, but when she
read about the opportunity to join the
Foundation in the newsletter, it appealed to her. Leanne says, “I’m excited
to join a local nonprofit like Yolo Basin
Foundation that promotes resource
conservation and environmental education.” And we’re excited to have her!
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
DAVIS, CA
PERMIT NO. 90
Board of Directors
Chair: Pete Bontadelli
Vice Chair: Marge Kolar
Chief Financial Officer: Scott McElhern
Secretary: Bill Ziebron
P.O. BOX 943
DAVIS, CA 95617
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Board Members
Randy Beaton
Terry Colborn
Mike Deas
Jack DeWit
Lucas Frerichs
Mike Lien
Steve Macaulay
Whit Manley
Betsy Marchand
Don Morrill
Jan Smutny-Jones
Lindsay Weston
Jim Provenza,
ex‑officio
Staff
Executive Director: Robin Kulakow
Volunteer Coordinator: Michael Herrera
Newsletter Editor: Ann Brice
Education Coordinator: Heidi Satter
I.T. Coordinator: Joy Elson
Program Coordinator: Corky Quirk
Office Manager: Leanne Villa
Development Coordinator:
Shoshana Zeldner
(530) 756-7248 robin@yolobasin.org
(530) 758-0530 abrice@yolobasin.org
(530) 318-0973 jelson@yolobasin.org
(530) 757-3780 lvilla@yolobasin.org
Bookkeeper: Guadalupe de la Concha
(530) 758-1018 mherrera@yolobasin.org
(530) 757-4828 hsatter@yolobasin.org
Street address:
45211 County Road 32B, Davis, CA
95618
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 943, Davis, CA 95617
(530) 902-1918 cquirk@yolobasin.org
530-757-4842 shoshana@yolobasin.org
The Yolo Basin Foundation is a
non-profit public benefit corporation
dedicated to the appreciation and
stewardship of wetlands and wildlife
through education and innovative
partnerships.
To sign up for a Bat Talk & Walk this summer, go to:
www.yolobasin.org and click on Programs & Events
New! Discover the Wetlands Summer Evening Programs for Kids
Yolo Basin Foundation’s education staff and docents will be leading a series of three evening programs this summer for children who have completed
kindergarten, first or second grade. Sessions will take place at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area Demonstration Wetlands, behind the Wildlife Area
Headquarters, a perfect location to Discover the Wetlands through hands-on, interactive and inquiry-based activities. Topics include: Wetland Pond
Study, Animal Tracks, Scat and Signs, and Feathered Friends.
Children may be registered for one, two or all three outdoor sessions, and
the cost is $10.00 per student. One adult family member is required to attend with their student(s) at no additional fee. The programs will take place
from 6 – 8 pm each evening, and registration is required.
Photo credit: Leslie Morris
For more information and to register go to the Yolo Basin Foundation
website, yolobasin.org and click on the appropriate date on the Event Calendar. If you have questions, please call the Foundation’s education office at
530-758-4828.
Session Dates and Titles:
• June 23: Wetland Pond Study
• June 30: Animal Tracks, Scat and Signs
• July 7: Feathered Friends
Save the Date! Please join us for Yolo Basin
Foundation’s annual fundraising gala.
Friday, October 16, 2015 • 5:30 - 9:00 pm
The ARC Pavilion, UC Davis Campus, Davis, CA