Reclamation Participates in Spring Wings Bird Festival

Written by: Loredana (Donna) Potter

Children learning how to create origami birds
Children learning how to create origami birdsOn Saturday, May 21, 2016, Bureau of Reclamation’s Public Affairs Specialist Donna Potter and Lahontan Basin Area Office Natural Resources Specialist Selena Werdon participated in the annual Spring Wings Bird Festival in Fallon, Nev., with an educational booth that attracted the attention of many participants. The Spring Wings Bird Festival celebrates the return of migratory waterfowl to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribal Wetlands and other important wetlands in the Fallon area.

Children and adults alike were interested in learning about zebra and quagga mussels and the impacts they can cause to our environment and facilities.

Children visiting Reclamation’s booth were excited to learn origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes and figures. Simple origami patterns for a swan and a pelican were provided to represent local migratory birds. Children had their choice of colorful paper squares with 35 decorative geometric patterns and animal prints to make their own unique bird. Examples of each of the eight steps necessary to successfully fold each bird were laid out in order on the table. Werdon gave folding tips, and parents and siblings lent a hand to the youngest origami artists (4 years old!). Every participant went home with at least one origami bird and a big smile.

Information on the Newlands Project, one of the first Reclamation projects, was also part of the Reclamation booth. The Newlands Project provides irrigation water from the Truckee and Carson Rivers for about 57,000 acres of cropland in the Lahontan Valley near Fallon and bench lands near Fernley, in western Nevada.

In addition, water from about 6,000 acres of Project land has been transferred to the Lahontan Valley Wetlands near Fallon. These wetlands are a designated Important Bird Area in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.

Mussel-encrusted items in a display case provide an informative view.

Little boy at Spring Wings Bird Festival.

Visitors examine the Newlands Project display. The swan is completed, now working on the pelican.

Published on June 01, 2016