“Building on the tradition of special interest in birds, Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society is organized to promote enjoyment and protection of natural environment through education, activism, and conservation of bird habitat.”
Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society hosts a Public Program Series with a featured speaker September through May on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Congregational Church. Members, the general public and visitors to the Billings area who are interested in birds, bird habitat and conservation are invited to join us. YVAS sponsors birding field trips, ornithology classes, the Christmas Bird Count, a monthly newsletter, and various conservation and educational projects. Feel free to contact any Board or Committee member for more information.
For the latest news and updates, see the October 2024 newsletter, The Flyer.
Visit us on Facebook – the link is in the upper right-hand corner.
Join a birding trip – 2024 Bird Field Trip Schedule.
The YVAS mailing address is YVAS, PO Box 1075, Billings MT 59103.
Join us for a presentation from YRPA’s Executive Director, Carolyn Sevier, about the organization’s plans for John H Dover Memorial Park, a recently expanded 630-acre natural area on the East side of Billings. This park, a portion of which has been open since 2016, contains multi-age cottonwood galleries, sagebrush flats, access to and a beautiful overlook of the Yellowstone River, a complex of ponds and wetlands, and miles of trails, benches, and picnic shelters to better enjoy it all. Spanning a new entrance to Billings created by the Bypass bridge and positioned at a hub of future urban development, this park will provide ever more critical green space and natural habitat as the region continues to grow.
Carolyn Sevier has been involved in conservation, education, and park management for 25 years in the Rocky Mountain West. Prior to her work with YRPA, she worked with the Montana Audubon Center in Billings as a naturalist educator and later as Director of the Center. In August of 2024 she was hired as the Executive Director of the Yellowstone River Parks Association, which works to improve access and use along the Yellowstone River by improving parks and trails.
The program starts at 7:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Congregational Church. Come early for coffee and cookies at 6:30. The program is free and open to the public.
Upcoming YVAS Birding Field Trips 2024
Unless otherwise noted, field trips are open to the public and depart at 8:00 a.m. by car from the Rocky Mountain College parking lot on Rimrock Road next to Billings Studio Theater. Make transportation and carpooling arrangements ahead of time if possible.
November 2, Saturday – Yellowtail Dam Afterbay. Meet at Rocky at 8 a.m. Sack lunch. Ron Kuhler, leader.
December 14, Saturday – Christmas Bird Count. Jerry Dalton, leader.
January 1, Wednesday – Annual New Year’s trip to Yellowtail Dam Afterbay. Meet at Rocky at 8 a.m. Sack lunch. Ron Kuhler, leader.
January 5, Sunday – Mid-Winter Eagle Count. Sack lunch. Mike Weber, leader.
Recycle Your Aluminum with YVAS and Support YVAS’ Educational Fund
Aluminum cans, old license plates, signs and other aluminum items (magnet will not attach) can be dropped off in secure bags at one of three convenient places: by the garage at 918 Avenue C or at 519 Highland Park Drive, or bring them to our Chapter Programs September through May (information above). The Education Fund supports a variety of projects – educational signs in public parks, Citizen Science Kits at the Billings Public Library and educational projects as requested. If you have a large load, call Larry (406-855-9832) and he will be happy to pick it up.
Killing of Native Migratory Birds to Save Nonnative Fish
Steve Dubois
In 2018, the US Fish Wildlife Service began issuing Osprey Depredation Permits to the Miles City Hatchery allowing them to kill native migratory Ospreys that were eating their nonnative largemouth bass. With the approval of the US Fish Wildlife Service and the Dept. of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, the eastern most breeding population of Ospreys on the Yellowstone River was lethally removed by the MT Fish Wildlife & Parks’ Hatchery Division at the Miles City Hatchery in less than two years.
YVAS and others immediately protested this practice and the permit process (and continue to). Yet the Miles City Hatchery continues to apply for and receive Depredation Permits from the US Fish Wildlife Service to shoot Ospreys indiscriminately in order to protect nonnative fish.
The Hatchery’s brood stock of largemouth bass spend three summer months at the Miles City Hatchery before being hauled by trucks to the Bluewater Hatchery outside of Bridger, MT, for nine months. Due to an outbreak of invasive New Zealand mudsnails at the Bluewater Hatchery in 2021, the bass brood stock were destroyed in late 2021. In May 2022 another outbreak of the invasive snail occurred at the Bluewater Hatchery.
Still the Miles City Hatchery continues to apply for and receive Depredation Permits from the US Fish Wildlife Service to shoot native species of birds to protect nonnative fish. Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants and Canada Geese are also included in their Depredation Permits.
YVAS, Earthjustice and others are vigorously pursuing corrective measures to this lethal management of native birds a
nd misguided permit process.
For more information see:
Journal of Raptor Research – Range Contraction of an Osprey Population Following Lethal Control at a State Fish Hatchery in Montana by Dr. Marco Restani
Billings Gazette – FWP’s Bluewater Hatchery contaminated by mudsnails 2nd time in 2 years
Shooting Birds at the Miles City Hatchery (070821) and Protect The Wild Fishing Birds Of Eastern Montana (121321).
We want your photos!
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