Hosted by the Foothills Branch of The Mountaineers, Paul Bannick presents beautiful slides and an enticing narrative from his recently launched book "The Owl and The Woodpecker - Encounters with North America's Most Iconic Birds," published by Mountaineers Books. Please see www.paulbannick.com for sample images and more information. This program is being featured as a "Meet the Author" event with the King County Library System.

Each year in December, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour makes its way to Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, where The Mountaineers have been hosting showings for over a decade. The Seattle show, in fact, is one of the largest in North America!

So if you live in Seattle, Tacoma or Olympia, mark your calendars and cancel any other engagements, because this is one set of films you do not want to miss.

Seattle - SOLD OUT!
December 3, 4, 5
Same films each night, starting at 7 pm
7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle - The NEW Mountaineers Building!
Tickets: $10 for Mountaineers, $15 for the general public. Advanced tickets are available by calling 206-523-3470 or stopping by the Mountaineers Bookstore. We often sell out very early, so get your tickets soon. We can not guarantee that tickets will be available on the night of the shows.

Olympia
December 6,7
Different films each night. Show at 7 pm on Saturday, 6 pm on Sunday
Capital Theater, 206 East 5th Ave., Olympia
Tickets: $12 Saturday. $10 Sunday, with $2 discount for students (w/ID) and Mountaineers members. $2 discount applies if you are purchasing tickets for both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are available through The Alpine Experience at 360-956-1699, or Olympic Outfitters at 360-943-1114.

Tacoma
December 9
Show starts at 7 pm
Schneebeck Concert Hall, University of Puget Sound campus
Tickets: $8.50 for Mountaineers, UPS staff and students (w/ID). $11 for the general public. Advanced tickets can be purchased online or by calling 253-879-3419.

Ed Henderson - 590 votes
Rich Draves - 583 votes
Lynn Hyde - 582 votes
Kirk Alm - 541 votes
Jeff Hancock - 531 votes
Martin Mehalchin - 342 votes

Ed Henderson, Rich Draves and Lynn Hyde will serve full three-year terms, while Kirk Alm will take over a vacated seat with 2 years remaining in its term.

To read about the full Board of Trustees, visit their webpage in our "About Us" section.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is currently in the process of holding advisory committee meetings to obtain recommendations on recreation management objectives for the public lands they manage. The DNR contacted the Mountaineers to request the club's representation on one of these committees. As a result, Leesa Wright, the Mountaineers' Public Policy Associate, has become a member of the Reiter Foothills Advisory Committee. Reiter Foothills is directly adjacent to the new Wild Sky Wilderness and encompasses the popular Index Town Walls used for the club's Aid and Big Wall climbs. The area is also a popular place for kayakers to drop into the Skykomish River. Of particular concern from the management prospective that requires DNR to manage their lands for the good of the public trust, is the fact that this area is very heavily used by off road vehicle (ORV) users. Improvements in technology to ORVs which allow them to access areas once only reachable on foot or by water course, along with a sharp increase in ORV ridership in the past few years have led to serious environmental damage, loss of solitude and increasing public safety concerns.

If you are concerned about the Reiter Foothills area please take a moment to fill out the DNR's online survey.

By their own admission, the DNR has done a poor job alerting diverse groups of users to the existence of the survey and, as a result, the nearly 1300 responses they have received so far are heavily stacked in favor of off road vehicle users. Let DNR hear from you!

Sitting high atop Mt. Pilchuck is a fire lookout, left over from the days when the forest service regularly used these structures to keep an eye out for the telltale signs that a blaze was at work in the forest. The fire lookouts aren't used for this purpose anymore, but a dedicated group of volunteers in the Everett Branch have committed themselves to maintaining some of the remaining ones.

Last winter, the Pilchuck fire lookout sustained serious damage, causing it to be deemed unfit for visitors and a safety hazard. The Everett group determined that repairs could be performed that would allow the lookout to be reopened to the public.

Harnessing their regular volunteer crew, along with a group from Microsoft and random hikers on the trail, the Everett members were able to transport all the materials and tools they needed to the site. After a lot of hard work, the lookout was re-opened and made accessible to visitors.

The October issue of The Mountaineer magazine features an article on the efforts of the Everett Lookout and Trail Maintenance Committee. Head over to our magazine archives to read about this amazing display of volunteer work. You can also visit our online collection of images from the Mt. Pilchuck Lookout.

Birds from across six continents and all 50 United States migrate to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge annually to take advantage of the 24-hour arctic summer daylight and plentiful, rich food sources. Hundreds of thousands of birds nest on the coastal plain of Alaska during breeding season, mating and storing up fat for the long migration to southern wintering grounds.

A new environmental photography exhibit at Seattle's Burke Museum explores the phenomenon of bird migration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region that is environmentally crucial to the survival of over 190 bird species, yet is a hotbed for political controversy.

Featuring the photography of Subhankeer Banerjee, Paul Bannick, Michio Hoshino, Arthur Morris, Hugh Rose, Mark Wilson, and Brad Winn, Arctic Wings presents 30 large-format color photographs that capture global bird biodiversity abundantly represented in the ANWR ecosystem.

For the opening day of this exhibition, ornithologists will be on hand with a selection of Arctic birds from the Burke collection. Stephen Brown, editor of Arctic Wings, the book that inspired the exhibit, will be speaking along with Debbie Miller, Alaskan author of illustrated nature books, and Marilyn Heiman, founding director of the Boreal Songbird initiative.

Arctic Wings: Miracle of Migration was organized by the Burke Museum and Braided River, the conservation imprint of The Mountaineers Books. This exhibit is the third partnership between the Burke Museum and The Mountaineers Books in two years to present nature photography exhibits that engage the public in conversations about some of the most immediate environmental crises of our time, including biodiversity, habitat protection, and global warming.

To see pictures of the wall's installation, head over to our Flickr page. You can also access this through the NFCC site, dedicated to updates and news about the move to Magnuson.

Join The Mountaineers each month for our "Adventures in Reading" book club. Visit exotic destinations, meet courageous explorers and discover long-kept secrets. Most meetings are in Seattle, with the occasional Eastside session.

Visit our Adventures in Reading page for a complete list of books, meeting places and times.

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Show your support for The Mountaineers, and tell the world where your priorities lie! These shirts are available through our Seattle office so stop by and pick one up. Or give us a call at 206-284-6310 to order yours today!

Braided River books bring together some of the world's best nature photographers with thoughtful essays by well-known authors, conservationists and public figures. The books' distinctive voices are carried to a wider audience through lectures, exhibits and multi-media presentations, held in partnership with leading environmental organizations. As branches of a braided river cut new channels and then reunite, the books are conceived to weave connections between photographers and writers, environmental groups and the public.

The first book to be published under the new imprint will be The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World, due out in February 2008. This remarkable book combines wildlife photography by Steven Kazlowski with first-person accounts of his Arctic adventures and thought-provoking essays that provide a fresh perspective on the effects of climate change.

Please visit the Braided River website to find out more about this incredible new imprint and its mission. And stay tuned for special events and announcements connected with Braided River.

Keep up with developments at Magnuson Park by visiting the website of the New Facilities Construction Committee (NFCC). There you will find pictures of the current Building 67, construction updates, schedules of activities, and more!