Spotlight on our donors
We received a very generous donation to fund our AmeriCorps Environmental Education program for the 2021-2022 year from Jerry Mires. Jerry grew up in the Umpqua Valley. He was born and raised in Sutherlin, OR, and always enjoyed the natural world around him and sharing the excitement and wonders with others. His interest in the natural world led him to study biology at Oregon State University. Before he finished his degree, he joined the Navy and spent 4 years in various places working on aircraft. After the Navy, he returned home to Oregon and finishing his degree at OSU. His first field job was with the Bureau of Land Management in Eugene, OR where he surveyed for spotted owls. His love of the Umpqua Valley brought him back to Roseburg where he worked for the Roseburg District of the BLM as a Wildlife Biologist until his retirement in 2001. Over the course of his career, Jerry welcomed biologists, filmmakers, and writers to his home from around the world. His self-described “flophouse for indigent biologists” became a comfortable place to relax and unwind. Before Jerry retired, he worked nearly exclusively on the acquisition of the North Bank Habitat Area where secure habitat for the Columbia White-Tailed deer was finalized. Jerry’s knowledge and expertise of the natural world includes mushrooms and fungi, amphibians and reptiles, bats, and birds, and many others. He has volunteered for ODFW to work with White-Tailed Deer radio tracking. We thank Jerry for his donation to continue to educate youth in our county about the natural world.
