The Friends of Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

2025 Spring Activities from FOTNWR

May 10 - MAYFEST in downtown Cheney 10:00am - 4:00 pm
May 10 - Bird walk for families at Refuge 8:30 - 10:30 am
May 24 - Wild Flower walk with Native Plant Society
Nature Journaling class - coming soon
Pre-school story and walk - coming soon

Monthly Bird Walks for 2025 season with Spokane Audubon docent, Joseph Cooney

Joseph Cooney will lead a bird walks on Friday Evening and again on Saturday morning starting in April. He will give pointers and tips for spotting and hearing birds at Turnbull, and the group will identify and count the numbers spotted. Meet in the Administration building parking lot. The scheduled dates are:

A Child-Friendly Bird Walk will be led by Richard and Sandy Sollie on May 10, 2025, meet in the Administration Buildling parking lot at 8:30 am. The walk will be from 8:30 - 10:30 am.
May 16 - Evening 5-8 pm
May 17 - Morning 8-12
June 6 - Evening 5-8 pm
June 7 - Morning 8-12

2025 Earth Month and Potting and Planting Days a success

Several hundred Volunteers worked on April's Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Saturday, April 26 finished up potting 7500 native trees and shrubs that will be planted out on the Refuge and other Spokane County natural areas in Fall 2025. Thanks to all who came forward to complete the task!! The 200+ Earth Fest volunteers spent their day either potting baby trees, planting 250 trees in the Riparian Restoration zone, or removing fences in areas where trees planted 10 years ago are now large enough to survive regular moose browsing. On breaks from work, the volunteers could take part in activities and get information from the 15 environment-related organizations, followed by lunch provided by The Friends of Turnbull NWR, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The Lands Council, and Spokane Audubon Society. The day finished up with a hike led by docents fron the Cheney Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.

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Resources for Making your property more wildlife friendly:

Wildlife Sanctuary in backyard: now called Habitat at Home, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
How to make your yard bird friendly from Audubon Society
Audubon native plant database - enter your zipcode
Xerces Society regional resources - PNW
Xerces Society Checklists for habitat assessment
Homegrown National Park - Doug Tallamy Videos
A Yard Full Of Native Plants Is A Yard Full Of Well-Fed Birds - Cornell Lab All About Birds

Families in Nature links, activities

Outside Everyday Challenge activities list
DIY Sun Science from Lawrence Hall
Beetles - Science and teaching for field instructors (student-centered and nature-centered)
Citizen Science - Debris Trackers App

Family Scavenger Hunts on the Refuge - If you plan to take a walk with your family at the Refuge, you can print out our Kids Scavenger Hunt and see what you can find on your visit. Have Fun!

Download and print the Kids Scavenger Hunt here.