TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Indiana Audubon Society has agreed to the Wabash Valley Audubon Society‘s petition to designate Terre Haute as a “Bird Town, Indiana.”
To receive the designation, the city had to complete a checklist of criteria including public outreach, education and conservation of natural areas.
Becoming a “Bird Town” is important for several reasons, said Nick Gabry, President of the Wabash Valley Audubon Society.
“It acts as a source of pride for the town of Terre Haute, so people can look at that and see that people in their community are taking active steps toward conserving bird populations and avian life,” Gabry said. “It’s a pretty big economic sector, birding is, so when people want to go on birding trips or travel through the state, they might look at Terre Haute as a ‘Bird Town’ and say, ‘Hey, maybe I stop there and check out some of the birding sites.”
There are a variety of different habitats for birdwatchers can check out. Susan Dewey, who was running Dwight D. Eisenhower’s London office on D-Day and was an avid birder, donated $30,000 to the area to open what is now Dewey Point on the Wabash River specifically to serve as a birdwatching destination.
Clarissa Lovett, Dobbs Park Nature Center naturalist and past president of the Wabash Valley Audubon Society, said it’s great that the wildlife here is so diverse. “People love to feed birds in their backyard and just seeing a lot of different kids is joyful,” Lovett said. “It brings peace to a lot of people.”
The Wabash Society holds an annual bird festival — it was originally scheduled for March, but was postponed due to the pandemic. October is now the target month for the festival, Lovett said.
The festival will include live birds, demonstrations, birding hikes, a bake sale and more and will be a free event.
