Occasionally, NCWAS evaluates an opportunity to assist conservation work. The need may be local, within Washington State, or, as described below, international. When these opportunities arise, the NCWAS board evaluates the need and its potential outcomes relative to our mission.
When NCWS contributes funds to a worthy conservation cause we look forward to hearing how the money was used to advance a project or support a community conservation need. The story below begins with a “thank you” note that NCWAS received in January 2025. This simple note thrilled everyone on the NCWAS board. The author, Ailen Anido Escalona, provided photos along with her note. We have chosen to not show the photos to protect the identity of the youth who are shown. Trust me, the photos are great and show how our assitance to Ailen was channeled into youth education about the value of birds and their habitats.
Our thanks to Susan Sampson for writing up the following account of how NCWAS helped this project. We also appreciate that Ailen gave us permission to share her note and the story here and in the February 2025 Wild Phlox newsletter.
Dear colleagues,
My name is Ailén, I live in Gibara, Cuba, and I was fortunate to receive binoculars thanks to Joni Ellis and Optics for the Tropics. I am deeply grateful to the Audubon Society for granting me this scholarship, as this equipment is of vital importance for our conservation work.
Unfortunately, in my community, the capture and trafficking of songbirds, both endemic and migratory, is a harmful practice that has led to a decline in their populations. In response to this situation, we have been working closely with local authorities and the forest ranger corps to implement concrete actions to address this issue.
For approximately three years, I have been leading a project called Guardians of Nature, focused on children in rural schools. This project aims to teach them to protect birds and to “swap the cage for binoculars.” Through educational games, recreational activities, and birdwatching, the children have learned to value the protection and preservation of these species, helping to mitigate this harmful practice.
This initiative, which began in the community of Los Hoyos, has now expanded to six additional communities, filling us with satisfaction as we witness the positive impact we are achieving.
Once again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your support and for providing us with the tools needed to enhance our work.
Kind regards,
Ailén
Sue Sampson’s article
So, what is “Optics for the Tropics” and how is NCWAS relating to them?
This article appears in the February 2025 Wild Phlox newsletter
“Optics for the Tropics” is a program that partners with “Environment for the Americas” out of Boulder, CO, to carry out its primary mission, of making binoculars available to those who can do the most to protect birds in south and central America and the Caribbean. “Optics” provides “Environments” about 50 binoculars annually to distribute, in exchange for publicity and for its processing requests for binoculars.
“Optics” is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation in Florida. Its director, Joni Ellis, told me that Optics for the Tropics is funded by donations and from the proceeds of trips that it organizes to Cuba for birding, culture, and the arts. It also has income from an investment fund.
“Optics” distributed roughly 100 binoculars annually before the Covid pandemic and is now donating about 50 binocs per year. It also passes on used, but working, binocs to birding clubs. It enjoys the support of Vortex Optics, which gives it a substantial discount on the equipment it needs.
(NCWAS has also enjoyed a good working relationship with Vortex. Theirs is a good product costing roughly $100 each; they aren’t Swarovski crystal lenses that cost in the thousands.)
“Optics” patrons frequently hand-carry an extra set of binocs on their trips into Cuba and leave them behind upon returning home. Thus,“Optics” works in small numbers, reducing commercial import and export complications. “Environment” uses “travel ambassadors” to deliver the binocs to some locations.
“Optics” and “Environments,” like the NCWAS, recognize that many of our local birds are commuters, spending summers here and winters nearly three thousand miles away. To survive, they need protection on both ends of their commute, as well as along the way. That’s why the U.S. has entered the international migratory bird treaty; and that’s why NCWAS granted “Optics” $500 in 2023 and another $500 in 2024, the equivalent of 10 binoculars over the past two years.
Ms. Ellis sends her thanks to the NCWAS for those donations, and our Ospreys, Western Tanagers, and hummingbirds benefit, too.