City Bakery is humming with just the right frequency of good vibes and the aroma of coffee beans. 

 

Tom Tribble is hoping to nudge the conversation away from his personal accomplishments, back toward the organization that he’s dedicated years cultivating, the Blue Ridge Audubon Chapter.   

 

But former Naval Aviator, now Airline Pilot, John Koon is not letting his fellow board member off the hook that easily. Delivering a warm narrative about Tom, weaving in some of the initiatives that Tom has spearheaded: 

".. with 18 years on the board, serving 6 years as President (only because of term limits) Tom has been the grease behind the wheels of Blue Ridge Audubon chapter..” 

Tom counters with a slight chuckle, smiling down at his coffee cup. John continues: "Tom’s the jedi master. Even as he steps back to be a regular volunteer, he’s the face and the spirit of the organization. The Beaver Lake you see was not the Beaver Lake of the 80’s or 90’s. The filter pond was engineered in 2006 with the culvert system that keeps impurities from washing into the lake. Multiple stages of the boardwalk project were finished in 2011."

 

The conversation shifts to the common denominator that brought us together for coffee ~ Birds. 

 

JOHN: Besides being subject to all the global pressures; locally some pressures are unique.  Our Chapter has written letters to the Forestry Service to encourage ‘smart’ salvage logging - advocating for keeping the habitat pristine and not building more roads to salvage logs deep into the forest, which actually provide benefits for birds.

 

TOM: If you go to the National Audubon site there’s a section titled:  ‘ survival by degrees..’ because the single, biggest threat to birds, is climate change.

On this interactive site, you enter your Zip Code, and find out how many SPECIES in your area are AT RISK.   

 ( STROLL:  I do this. 20 species are locally listed as: ‘highly vulnerable’ due to the impact of climate change ) 

 

TOM:  Native Plants. Native plants and the foods they provide birds; berries, nuts and bugs. Oak Trees host hundreds of species of caterpillar, critical for birds. The typical chickadee nest with a brood of five, take about two weeks to fledge.  In that time this one Chickadee family will devour 9000 caterpillars. A Ginkgo tree hosts only 4 species of caterpillars. 

 

TOM:  When I speak to grade schoolers I ask; what is the value of birds?   

Remarkably, one 4th grader raised her hand and simply said: ‘..birds are beautiful...

The point I took from that comment was we shouldn’t be looking at birds for their economic value to humans. Birds have every bit of a right to live here and raise their babies here as we do.

 

JOHN: I think one beauty is the delight that interaction with birds brings to people. ‘Swift Night Out’ is an example. (a Blue Ridge Audubon event to watch chimney swifts from the civic center parking garage) People come out who are casual, backyard birders and everyone is just in awe at the wonders of those Swifts spiraling into the chimneys. Regardless of how much you know about birds, or if you can even identify them, the joy of the spectacle that birds bring to people, that is beautiful!

 

TOM: There are only a couple of Audubon chapters that actually own their nature preserve. We are one of them. To do this we raised over half a million dollars to purchase and improve the site that is Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary.

I hope we continue to bring in board members and Volunteers that are smart and committed to our mission; helping birds and the places they need to thrive.  

 

JOHN: We want to continually find avenues for someone to volunteer for a task they both are good at and also enjoy.  You like yard work? Come put in some time in the Beaver Lake Garden.  You’re a people person?  Become a bird guide.  You like to mix and mingle and make things happen?  We have advocacy work; engage with elected officials to support bird-friendly legislation. Everyone can use there talents to apply to volunteering. 

 

Now what we are doing as volunteers is standing on the shoulders of people like Tom, the best we can do is hope to fill the shoes they left for us…’ 

 

 

Interview by Tim Thompson