At 07:26 PM 12/7/98 -0700, bboek at olympus.net wrote:

>Partly, I attribute this to a large number of practicing and retired
>scientists and engineers on the north Olympic Peninsula, who intuitively
>understand the value of good data.

Well, we certainly have a healthy population of the same folks here in
Portland. I suspect things like the CBC ebb and flow. Ten years ago
there was a hard-core cadre of counters who were serious about gathering
data, but the reality is that folks eventually burn out on doing the
same gig year after year. That certainly describes me, and I'm certain
I'm not alone. The real issue would seem to me to be the same that
lies at the core of any volunteer-driven event - balancing immediate
planning and execution with a plan to ensure a steady influx of newcomers
to replace old-timers who drop out. In any given year, old-timers will
insist they're around for life, but ... life changes. Competition from
family, profession, health - you name it - crops up and they no longer
can participate.

At Portland Audubon (oops, we're now the "Audubon Society of Portland"
in all correspondance and you're free to register your complaint, as I
find it awkward and hate this change) our program areas plan for
turnover, as we have an ongoing recruitment effort. Volunteer gigs just
have to understand that turnover of 10, 20, 30 percent a year isn't
a sign of failure, but rather a sign of the fact that volunteering
has real costs in terms of time with family, with jobs (money), and
with personal pursuits.

While we steadily recruit new folks for program areas, those activities
which are more dependent on volunteer leadership, like the CBC, aren't
quite as well organized. It's just a function of effort, Ray Korpi has
a real life after all and he's undertaken the CBC effort pretty much
on his own. Actually, I have some ideas on this line that I won't
share here so maybe he and I should talk about the CBC in Portland.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
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