GREBE FESTIVAL
Other Field Trips
Name: Chester Bird Walk #1
Trip Leader: Mitch Poling, PAS Board Member
Date: Friday, August 8, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Location: Chester Railroad Grade
Price: $15 suggested donation
Cap: Limited to 15 participants
Activity Level: 2
Description: Join us for a walk along the Chester Railroad Grade trail bordering the town of Chester. This bird walk is on mostly flat ground and is bordered by riparian vegetation that is prime for wildlife viewing.
Meet at the Olsen Barn Meadow parking area (Map) at 3:30 PM. Bring comfortable shoes for walking, sun protection, water, snacks, bug spray, and binoculars.
Name: Osprey Around the Lake
Trip Leader: Lauren James, PAS Field Operations Manager
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Various locations
Price: $20 suggested donation
Cap: Limited to 12 participants
Activity Level: 3. Hiking on uneven terrain.
Description: Meet at Festival Headquarters at 8:30 AM. Bring sunscreen, water, and closed-toed shoes.
After checking in, this trip will travel by caravan throughout National Forest lands to visit Osprey nest sites, stopping at various sites to look for Osprey and Bald Eagles. Trip includes driving and short walks off road in the forest. Participants will learn to identify birds of prey.
Name: Chester Bird Walk #2
Trip Leader: Paul Hardy of Hardy Conservation
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Chester Railroad Grade
Price: $15 suggested donation
Cap: Limited to 15 participants
Activity Level: 2
Description: Join us for a walk along the Chester Railroad Grade trail bordering the town of Chester. This bird walk is on mostly flat ground and is bordered by riparian vegetation that is prime for wildlife viewing.
Meet at the Olsen Barn Meadow parking area (Map) at 8:30 AM. Bring comfortable shoes for walking, sun protection, water, snacks, bug spray, and binoculars.
Name: Dragonfly Odeing at Willow Lake
Leader: Sandra Hunt-Von Arb
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Introduction)
12:00 PM – 4:30 PM (Field Trip)
Suggested Donation: $40
Cap: Limited to 15 participants
Activity Level: 3
Description: Meet at 10:45 AM at Festival Headquarters (Plumas Pines Resort) for a free Introduction to Odeing discussion at 11:00 AM, followed by the field trip to Willow Lake to find dragonflies and damselflies (“odeing”).
After the introductory presentation we will carpool to Willow Lake, a very special place in California known not only for its beauty but for its biological diversity. It is a cold montane lake at ~5300 feet in elevation surrounded by a deep extensive mat of sphagnum moss. It supports a variety of rare plants including some that are more typical of arctic and subarctic climates and has been designated a Botanical Special Interest Area. It is famous among dragonfly enthusiasts and researchers for its many odonates; almost half of the known dragonflies and damselflies known to be in Plumas County can be found in this one location. It supports many more typically northern species whose southern extent follows the Cascades down Oregon and ends in the northern Sierras. It is one of the few places where Canada Darner, Belted Whiteface, and Sedge Sprite can be found in California. We will be walking along the shore and will likely get our feet wet as we look for these dazzling winged jewels of the lake. We will be practicing catch and release for some close up, hands-on experiences with dragonflies and damselflies. Binoculars and water shoes are highly recommended and necessary for the full experience!
Bio: Sandra Hunt-Von Arb has been a wildlife biologist in Northern California specializing in sensitive and endangered species since the mid 1990’s. More recently, Sandra has found her true passion: dragonflies and damselflies, aka odonates. Sandra surveys for the Endangered Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly in Illinois. She started and manages the Facebook page Western Odonata, participates in CalOdes for reporting dragonfly sightings, is an Odonata Central vetter for odonate records in California, participates and helps to organize annual CalOdes Dragonfly Blitzes. She has also presented and/or led field trips on dragonflies for Godwit Days Bird Festival, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Plumas Audubon Society, Point Reyes Field Institute, and Redwood Parks Association & Tolowa Dunes Stewards, among others. She is the co-author of the Dragonflies of California pocket guide that was featured in Plumas Audubon Society’s latest newsletter, The Mountain Quail.
Name: Yoga on the Shore
Leader: Lisa Sedlacek
Date: Sunday, August 10, 2025
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Location: Plumas Pines Resort (Map)
Suggested Donation: $15
Cap: Limited to 20 participants
Activity Level: 2
Description: Join certified yoga instructor Lisa Sedlacek for morning yoga on the shores of Lake Almanor. Meet at Plumas Pines Resort and yoga will take place on the beach just north of the jetties.
Trip Leaders
Mitch Poling, PAS Board Member
Mitch grew up in Michigan and attended Grand Valley State University. There, he studied natural resource management, with an emphasis on wildlife management and ecosystem restoration. After working a couple of seasons for the Forest Service in Baldwin, MI, he began seeking out wildlife work in the Sierras. After moving around to various places, a Northern goshawk surveyor position with the Plumas Audubon Society caught his attention. He moved here for the job, with his partner Jac, and they pretty quickly became enamored with Plumas County. With its unique ecology and beauty, Mitch decided that this is where he wanted to work to promote the wellbeing of wildlife and the ecosystems that they reside in. While living here, he has done surveys for Northern goshawks, black-backed woodpeckers, California spotted owls, Sierra Nevada yellow legged frogs, willow flycatchers, and carnivores, as well as various habitat restoration and fire management efforts with the Forest Service.
Lauren James, PAS Field Operations Manager & Development Assistant
While finishing her degree in Wildlife Conservation, Lauren “LJ” moved from Vermont to Arizona and was enamored with the wild landscapes she found in the west. After a season of fuels reduction in the national forests of Colorado, she came to Plumas county to pursue her primary passion of wildlife conservation and found it with Plumas Audubon Society! She spends her free time on the trails with her dogs, foraging & wildcrafting, and reading.
Paul Hardy, Hardy Conservation
Paul Hardy founded the Feather River Land Trust in 1999, where he served as Executive Director for 17 years. His 30+ years of conservation, land management, and non-profit experience includes working as an avian scientist for the University of Arizona for 3 years, a wildlife biologist on the Plumas National Forest for 5 years, co-creating the Sierra-Cascade Land Trust Council and Northern Sierra Partnership, and serving on the boards of the California Council of Land Trusts and Plumas Audubon Society.
Sandra von Arb
Sandra von Arb has been a wildlife biologist in Northern California specializing in sensitive and endangered species since the mid 1990’s. More recently, Sandra has found her true passion: dragonflies and damselflies (“odonates”). Sandra co-authored the guide book Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California with Kathy Biggs which was featured in the most recent issue of Plumas Audubon Society’s newsletter, The Mountain Quail. She surveys for the Endangered Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly in Illinois. She started and manages the Facebook page Western Odonata, participates in CalOdes for reporting dragonfly sightings, is an Odonata Central vetter for odonate records in California, participates and helps to organize annual CalOdes Dragonfly Blitzes. She has also presented and/or led field trips on dragonflies for Godwit Days Bird Festival, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Plumas Audubon Society, Point Reyes Field Institute, and Redwood Parks Association and Tolowa Dunes Stewards, among others.
