The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Fort Clatsop has announced the next In Their Footsteps free speaker series event. California Condors: An Oregon Treasure by Travis Koons will be held on Sunday, February 18, at 1:00 p.m. This is part of the February 16-19 worldwide Great Backyard Bird Count activities led by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered California Condors during the winter of 1805-06 near the mouth of the Columbia River. Meriwether Lewis wrote a detailed description of a live specimen at Fort Clatsop on February 16, 1806. Just over 212 years later, Travis Koons from the Oregon Zoo, will share about the current status of this endangered species. California Condors – An Oregon Treasure is a discussion of propagation methods for captive reared California Condors and their eventual release to their home range. He will also cover plans for a new condor release site at Redwood National Park in Northern California. This close proximity to the southern Oregon border will allow natural movement of the famed Thunderbird back to their historic home range in the Pacific Northwest.

Travis Koons has 17 years of experience working with raptors dating back to rehab/release internships at the South Plains Wildlife Rehab Center in Lubbock, Texas. He began his career in earnest with South American raptor species including, Harpy, Ornate-Hawk, and Black-Hawk Eagles at the Dallas World Aquarium in 2007. Beginning in late 2014 Koons was named Supervisor of Birds at the San Antonio Zoo where among many other species of birds, he managed Bald and Bateleur Eagles, as well as a pair of King Vultures. Koons accepted the role of Animal Curator at the Oregon Zoo in May of 2017 where he manages the zoo’s bird collection and butterfly programs. This includes management/operation of the Oregon Zoo’s remote Condor Propagation facility that houses 34 birds including 11 breeding pairs. Offspring from this facility are released to native home range environments.

In Their Footsteps is a monthly Sunday forum sponsored by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association and the park. These programs are held in the Netul River Room of Fort Clatsop’s visitor center and are free of charge.

For more information, call the park at (503) 861-2471, or check out http://www.nps.gov/lewi, or Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on Facebook.