Lindell Haggin

Emeritus Board Member

Lindell Haggin became synonymous with Audubon in the Spokane community, following in the footsteps of her parents-in-law, Morey and Margaret Haggin, who founded the chapter. She joined in 1970 when she moved to Spokane, volunteering on Christmas Bird Counts with Margaret, and was soon serving as the chapter’s secretary, then president. She stepped back from active leadership by the late 70’s to raise children, but by 1991 she was again on the chapter board of directors where she served as treasurer through 2022.

In 2023 Lindell retired from active duty on the board. But she has such deep institutional history with the organization, and so many multi-year contributions, that she agreed to serve as an “emeritus” member, available for consultation with the current board.

Those contributions, which landed Lindell the honor of Audubon Washington’s 2020 Helen Engle Volunteer of the Year (named for another long-serving Audubon stalwart), include:

• Leading the chapter’s participation in the 2014 – 2019 Sagebrush Songbird Survey with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) by recruiting, organizing and helping train and equip dozens of volunteers, contacting private landowners to secure access permission for survey sites, and compiling survey results.

• Banding songbirds in the Mapping Avian Productivity Surveys (MAPS) program with WDFW and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS);.

• Surveying waterfowl with Ducks Unlimited, USFWS and WDFW; prairie grouse on WDFW wildlife areas and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands; habitat and bird use at BLM North Telford property and WDFW Reardan Wildlife Area; and all species at Whitworth University and Edwidge Woldson Park for property inventories.

• Responding to ongoing requests from schools, youth camps, scouts, and adult clubs for presentations on birds and their habitats as a retired teacher and co-chair of the chapter’s education committee.

• Leading annual Christmas Bird Counts and chapter field trips.

• Representing the chapter at annual meetings of the Audubon Council of Washington (ACOW) and other state and regional conferences, webinars, and training sessions.

• Photographing birds for use in the chapter’s annual calendar and education work.

• Serving as a key spokesperson for Spokane Audubon when news media stories involve birds, other wildlife, and habitat issues.

• Helping the chapter shift from physical meetings to on-line Zoom meetings during the coronavirus pandemic, and now “hybrid” meetings that allow many more members to participate.