The Amish Bird Symposium donates $2000 to local Amish schools.
Adams County Amish Bird Symposium makes $2000 donation to Amish schools
By Sherry Larson
People’s Defender
The Adams County Travel and Visitors Bureau has hosted the Amish Bird Symposium since 2010. The event started in 2003 with a group from the Edge of Appalachia Preserve’s Cincinnati Museum Center. The birders and amateur naturalists organized the program, bringing the birding event to the Wheat Ridge Amish Community. Roman Mast, a birding enthusiast on Wheat Ridge Road, helped facilitate the program, which started in Larry Miller’s basement. Tom Cross, Director of ACTVB, said of the Symposium, “It began to encourage birding among the Amish.”
As participant numbers grew, the Symposium moved from the basement to a barn. When the ACTVB took over in 2010, they moved the event to the Wheat Ridge Community Building.
The program, held on the first Saturday in March, includes expert birders, authors, researchers, Amish birders, and biologists who lecture on various birding topics. The Amish prepare lunch, and participants end the day with a naturalist-led field trip to Adams Lake to view waterfowl and shore birds.
This year the Adams County Travel & Visitors Bureau hosted the 18th Annual Adams County Amish Bird Symposium on March 4 after a two-year break due to COVID.
The Symposium is a non-profit event that depends on entry fees, contributions, and donations. Any leftover funds go towards the following year’s program and gifts given to the four parochial schools that serve the Wheat Ridge Amish Community in Adams County. Those schools include Walnut Grove, Wheat Ridge, Unity, and Scenic Ridge. Cross said, “It’s basically for nature-based programs.”
This year the Adams County Amish Bird Symposium is donating $2000 to split among the four Amish schools. With the $500 each school receives the students are encouraged to take field trips and participate in nature and birding projects. Cross explained, “The founding principles encouraged the Amish children and birdwatching. We’re still holding true to that.”
The Symposium acknowledges the continued support of the local Amish community in this endeavor and supports ongoing birding activities.
