NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fall Graduation: Greenwood sanctuary celebrates season's releases

By Clay Evans, Get Out Editor
October 26, 2006

Call it a sort of "graduation in absentia" for the hundreds of birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles: Saturday and Sunday, Boulder County's only licensed wildlife rehabilitation center will throw a party to celebrate all the animals released back into the wild after recuperating at the shelter during the "busy season."

Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary's Fall Fest, open to the public, is also a send-off for seasonal employees and volunteers.

"Every year we take in over 3,000 animals, most of them between April and October," says Courtney Stelzer, outreach and education coordinator for the sanctuary. "This is kind of our big send-off. ... And every year our release rate seems to climb higher."

Greenwood is the only full-time, dedicated, licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility on the Front Range. There are other facilities in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, but they are not stand-alone sanctuaries, and some private individuals are licensed to rehabilitate wildlife in the state.

"This is a thank you, a chance for the public to come see what we are about," Stelzer says.

Unlike the sanctuary's summer open house, the Fall Fest will not feature live baby animals. But that's actually a good thing, because it means there aren't as many "patients" on hand.

"Because we have so few animals, we are able to move them over to (the intensive care unit), and allow the public to see the inside of our (main) facility," Stelzer says.

And because there are no babies to be disturbed nearby, the Fall Fest will feature live music.

"I'm a musician, a mountain home-grown artist. I said, 'let's put some music together for this. So I got four good acoustic acts, to keep it outdoors," says Greenwood volunteer Michael Krow, known as something of a "squirrel specialist" around the sanctuary.

Krow is paying the four bands — Texas country-folk duo Candice Powers and John Harris; Quickdraw Homegrown Music, a bluegrass act; Skean Dubh, an Irish/Scottish string band; and Crabshack House Band, an Irish string and accordion band — out of his own pocket "as a donation." But all four bands lowered their usual fee to play at the event.

Robb's Music in Boulder is providing the sound system for the music.

The event also will feature crafts for kids, educational information, photographs of recent "graduates," and an "animal artifact" collection. The artifact collection will feature everything from the fishhooks removed from "Fishbait" the baby goose to a wing from a great blue heron that didn't survive.

Besides celebrating the season's successes, the Fall Fest is intended to continue the sanctuary's education efforts, Stelzer says.

"We definitely stress respecting wildlife, and to prevent (animals) from being injured. We would love not to have a single patient come to Greenwood," she says. "But we are here for the animals, and anything the public can do to make things easier for wildlife, to support our sanctuary, is greatly appreciated."

Contact Clay Evans at (303) 473-1352 or evansc@dailycamera.com.