General Membership Meeting: Southern Utah Raptors
Location: Washington City Library 220 N 300 E, Washington, UT 84780
Speaker:Robyn MacDuff
Speaker Bio: Robyn MacDuff has a Master of Arts in Education and an undergraduate B.S. in Business/Information Systems. Robyn taught advanced placement computer science and computer programming at tthe high school level. Also employed as a software engineer and business analyst as well as a field technician on a multi-state raptor electrocution project. In 2004, Robyn became accountable for RINS when it was moved from Park City, Utah and relocated to Sandy, Utah to become a permanent fixture in her basement. Since then, all the administrative aspects of managing an expanding citizen science project including recruiting training, retention, across the State of Utah is the result of thousands of thousands dedicated volunteers. Robyn is also involved in the design and implementation of RINS Online, a web-based data entry and data management system.
And perhaps most importantly, Robyn has the love and passion for all things wild and the people who care about Birds of Prey!
Summary: Join us as we learn about the raptors of Southern Utah from raptor expert -- Robyn MacDuff, Director of the Raptor Inventory Nest Survey (RINS). RINS is a non-profit organization that collects and manages critical data regarding the nesting ecology of eagles, falcons, hawks, osprey and owls through volunteer 'citizen scientists' who monitor raptor nests. This data is then utilized by land managers and partner organizations - such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Department of Defense (DoD), Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UTDWR), Antelope Island State Park, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) - all to make informed land use and habitat decisions across Utah. Over the past 23 years ~300 volunteers have collected data on over 8,500 nests with over 132,000 monitoring records - creating the largest raptor nest database in the state!
If you would like to learn more about RINS, please visit their website.
