Welcome New Member: Cascades Raptor Center
Tell us about the Cascades Raptor Center, what is the mission of the organization?
Cascades Raptor Center was founded 32 years ago, with the goal of bringing specialization in taking care of raptors to our community. Our founder Louise Shimmel started the center out of her duplex in 1987 and we moved to our current location in South Eugene in the early 1990s. This location over time became the nature center that is open to the public today. Through wildlife rehabilitation and public education, the Cascades Raptor Center fosters a connection between people and birds of prey. Our goal is to help the human’s world learn to value, understand, and honor the role of wildlife in preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. The raptor center does this through both wildlife rehabilitation, and educational programs and experiences at our Nature Center.
The resident birds at the center are non-releasable – these animals cannot be wild anymore because of permanent injuries, human imprinting, or for other reasons, and will live their lives out at the center. We currently provide a home to about 40 raptors, most of them being native to the PNW. These birds help us provide education both on and off site to the community. With the help of our Avian Ambassadors, we raise awareness of the importance of wildlife while building a personal connection.
If someone wants to help the Raptor Center, what opportunities are available for volunteers?
The raptor center is a non-profit organization with 13 employees, and we have many opportunities to engage with our mission. If you’d like to donate to the center, every dollar helps. Our donors are what keep us going and all funds go directly to caring for animals or for running the organization. We also have sponsorship, in-kind, and event volunteer opportunities.
If you’d like to lend a hand at the raptor center, we have individual options listed on our website – including assistance with animal care, transport teams. If you’d like to help as a group, we always need landscaping help. Landscaping is important to keep the visitor center in top shape, but more importantly to help protect us from fire hazards.
What are a few things about the birds at the center that people might not know – fun facts about a specific Raptor or species?
One thing I love to explain is “what is a raptor?” Raptors have a curved beak and use their large talons for hunting. All raptors need to eat the entire animal to get the proper nutrition… and all raptors vomit up some form of a pellet!
Another fun fact I love is that Peregrine Falcons inhabit every continent except for Antarctica… and can dive for prey at over 200 miles per hour!
A final interesting fact is how many different species of raptors we have… We have over 22 species of raptors, and 8 different species of Owls alone.
How large of an area does the Cascades Raptor Center serve? Do you have other organizations you partner with to rescue wildlife?
For Lane County we are the only wildlife rehabilitation center, and that makes me sad as we don’t have the ability to take on mammals. We work with other centers in Corvallis and Douglas County to help connect people with organizations to help any wildlife that we cannot rehabilitate ourselves.
What is coming up for the CRC? Any events, fundraisers, etc. that chamber members should know about?
We are hoping to expand our Nature Center in the future – more parking, accessibility, more paths, to better serve the public, we are proud to be often listed as a top travel destination for the Eugene Area via Travel Oregon. We continue to have record-breaking numbers of patients, this means many mouths to feed and adapting to care for such large numbers – last year(2020) we saw 434 birds, and as of August 23, 2021, we saw our 500th patient. We think that some of that increase can be attributed to people being outdoors and in nature over the last couple of years, and they are finding injured animals and bringing them to us.
Starting September 1st, we are launching our Raptor Resiliency Campaign for 2021. This is a 2-month long fundraising campaign that will feature both in-person and virtual events. www.cascadesraptorcenter.org/resiliency. This fundraiser is taking the place of our large, in-person benefit program and will be crucial to keeping our operations going.
Anything else you’d like to share?
We would love for you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We share lots of inspiration stories, pictures of birds, what is new at the center, rehabilitation updates, and more!
