"Wait a minute....this isn't South Dakota!"

They're not native, and were cut from the motion picture they were brought here for.

Let's take a trip where the buffalo—or "bison" to be more correct— roam. Watch out where you step!

The 12th Annual Conservancy Ball, hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club, will be held in the beautiful Avalon Casino on Catalina Island, Saturday, April 14, 2007.

The formal Ball, themed “Treasured Island," features the Big Band Music of "Society Beat."

This promises to be a glamorous night of good music, great food, an a wonderful opportunity to benefit the important work of the Conservancy in protecting and restoring Catalina's wildlands.

Click here if you haven't yet secured your tickets, or wish to become a sponsor of this wonderful event. This link will close when reservations have reached capacity.

Click here to get a preview of the many items that will be up for bid in live and silent auctions on the night of the Ball.

Photo: 12th Annual Conservancy Ball Logo

Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday, April 21, come out to the beautiful Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Garden for a truly organic observation of the planet and our place within it.

The Earth Day Celebration and Eco-Fair will draw attention to what we can all do to help minimize our impact on our planet's precious resources, while having a lot of fun, too.

There will be interactive displays and informational tables from various environmental groups. Meet biologists and ecologists who are helping to protect Catalina Island. Enjoy being outside in nature!

Entry to the Botanical Garden is free that day. There will be free electric vehicle rides up to the Garden from the Nature Center at Avalon Canyon, and discounted tickets available for the Avalon Trolley.

Get involved in the opportunity drawing, grab a plate of food from the pot luck, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.,and enjoy music all day long by local musicians. Bring your instrument because you get to be the "star" between sets.

For more information, call the Education Office at (310) 510-0954. Find out more about Earth Day on Catalina here.

Photo: Official Earth Day flag flies above last year's Conservancy Earth Day festivities. The flag was designed in 1970 by Earth Day founder John McConnell. The flag was inspired by the striking first photographs of the whole Earth taken during America's historic Apollo 10 space mission in 1969.

Number 72816 had disappeared. She had been missing for just over a year somewhere in the wildlands of Catalina’s West End. Number 72816 was a female Catalina Island fox – one of the few survivors of the Canine Distemper virus that killed all but 100 out of 1,300, bringing the Island fox population to the brink of extinction.

Because she was diagnosed with an ear tumor, a condition that is almost always fatal, she was fitted for a radio transmitter around her neck. Conservancy biologists can pick up transmitter signals using hand- carried antennas, from a vehicle, or with an antenna mounted on the wing of a small plane. The collar transmitter sends out a special signal (called a mortality signal) if a fox remains immobile for more than 12 hours.

While in the air on January 12, 2006, Conservancy Wildlife Biologists Calvin Duncan and Julie King could not locate Number 72816’s frequency on his receiver. After landing, Duncan and King searched on foot the area where the fox was last located but with no results. After some time, the case was closed on the little fox.

On February 5, 2007, while investigating other mortality signals in an open field in Two Harbors, the two biologists found a radio transmitter that had been forcefully destroyed. Further investigation resulted in the find of fur, bones and a shattered skull of a fox. They found something else – the “pit tag” – a grain-sized microchip placed under the foxes’ skin. A scan of the pit tag identified the fox – Number 72816.

The skull was sent to Dr. Winston Vickers, a wildlife veterinarian that frequently works on Catalina who took X-rays. Bullet fragments were found peppering the inside of her skull. Number 72816 – a Federally Endangered and protected animal – had been shot.

The mystery of its disappearance was solved, but many disturbing questions remain.

Photo: A Catalina Island fox with reflective radio collar attached. Photo by Carlos de la Rosa

Help protect Catalina's native and endemic plants and animals.

Jaye Rhodes has joined the Conservation Department as the new Plant Ecologist assisting Denise Knapp. Born and bred in Southern Pines, North Carolina, she attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she cultivated her love for plants and biology. In her spare time, she plays the banjo.

You'll find Jennifer Heeter behind the counter at Conservancy House, or working the window at the Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Garden. She and her husband sailed into Avalon Harbor in 1999 and decided to stay. She began volunteering in the Education Department and at the Native Plant Nursery. Jen dances with a small modern company overtown, and teaches Yoga to Islanders.

Aisha Hoffman is the new Manager of Leases and Special Projects, and has lived on the Island for more than 17 years. She and husband, Jim have two daughters Danica, 17, and Tori, 13. Aisha has an eclectic resume that includes real estate, cosmetology and construction. "Build, build build! I take pride in keeping this positive philosophy with me every minute of every day."

Approximately 450 people attended a free showing recently of “An Inconvenient Truth” at the Casino Theater in Avalon.

The Academy Award-nominated documentary by former Vice President Al Gore exploring the evidence for global warming, was sponsored by the Conservancy. Following the film, a wide-ranging discussion about what climate change might mean for Catalina and what Islanders could do, personally, to slow warming trends due to human activity.

“Clearly the citizens of Avalon are excited about their city being a model ecological town, and they are eager to educate themselves about the very complex environmental issues we face as a global society,” said Conservancy President Ann Muscat, who attended the screening

The Conservancy thanks the Santa Catalina Island Company for donating the Casino Theater for the evening, and all the vendors who contributed environmentally friendly merchandise for the gift bags given to the first 50 people who attended the screening.

To learn about other issues affecting Catalina's rare natural habitats, Avalon Community and visitors to the Island are invited to to participate in the many educational program conducted by the Conservancy including the Evening Nature Programs held at the Nature Center at Avalon Canyon on the second Wednesday of every month.

Photo: Movie goers at "An Inconvenient Truth" browse a Conservancy environmental information table before entering the theater.

The 2006 "Conserving Catalina" shirt by Reyn Spooner is now a collectors item. The colorful Island-print shirt depicting Catalina's many endemic and native plants and animals raised $6,764 for the Conservancy's important work.

Due to this fund-raising success, Buoys & Gulls Sportswear in Avalon is offering another exclusive Catalina Island shirt called "Avalon Summer Shores." Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to The Catalina Island Museum to help expand its programs and efforts to preserve Catalina's history.

The shirts will be available on May 15. For more information, Call (310) 510-0416 or order on line.

See the coupon below.

Avalon Lions Club Builds Gazebo at Summit

From the pages of the Conservancy Times: It started out in 1990 with a $500 donation from the Avalon 50-Mile Benefit Run along with several individual donations. The plan was to replace the old shade and rest spot at the Summit with one similar to the gazebo located near Black Jack Mountain.

With this seed money, the Conservancy bought the necessary lumber and sunk the telephone poles that would anchor the structure. That's when the Avalon Lions Club, under the leadership of Rick Harp, stepped forward.

"Doug Propst knew the Lions Club was looking for a project," said Rick, "and he knew I had some construction background."

Trouble was, there were no formal plans for the gazebo.

"The first thing we did was go to Black Jack and take Polaroid photographs of the gazebo up there. Then we went to work."

It took Rick and five other volunteer members of the club almost two days to complete construction, working from their photographs. "It's a great spot," Rick said. "The location is perfect, and it's a pretty place to sit. Benches are OK, but the gazebo provides shade, and the whole thing sort of says, 'come and try me.'"

Thanks to the Lion's Club members Hugh McIntosh, Jack Goslin, Bill Engel, Paul McIlroy and Mike Griffin who joined Rick in the all volunteer effort.

Photo: Working on the gazebo structure at the Summit are, from left, Lions Club members Hugh McIntosh, Paul McIlroy Chief Jack Goslin, and Rick Harp. Bill Engel, and Mike Griffin are not shown

Photo by Doug Propst

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