On Sunday, May 5, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge is offering a free nature program, Birds and Branches, from 1:30-3 p.m., to explore the refuge for our feathered friends. 

On Sunday, May 12, experience Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex on a Blue Goose Bus Tour. The trip leaves from the visitor center at 8 a.m. and returns at 11 a.m. after touring habitat hot-spots in the area (reservations required and destinations vary).

In the birding world, few species generate more excitement than does the Purple Martin, a swallow that is arriving now in Ohio, with reports of scouts logged almost daily online.

Purple martins, the largest of the swallows in North America, are totally dependent on man-made housing east of the Rockies and faithfully return to the same locations each year, so it’s understandable that human landlords anxiously await the return of their birds from wintering grounds in South America. 

Arrivals are posted on an online database, at www.purplemartin.org, maintained by the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA), a nonprofit conservation organization.

A new report concludes that every Clean Ohio Fund dollar invested in conservation in the state returns four dollars in natural goods and services. The report also details how the fund supports hundreds of thousands of jobs statewide. 

Created in 2000, The Clean Ohio Fund is the state's primary funding source for open space conservation, farmland preservation, and trail creation. The Trust for Public Land's research summarizes and quantifies the economic benefits to local Ohio communities of Clean Ohio Fund investments in conserving healthy lands and waters, and also in a healthy economy. Projects made possible by the Clean Ohio Fund annually support hundreds of thousands of jobs across Ohio. Additionally, for every $1 invested in the conservation of land, $4 is returned in natural goods and services, such as drinking water protection, flood control, and air pollution removal.