Volume 63 Issue 1 Spring 2018

By David Blacker From the Director Executive Director, DVNHA Being that this is our “Accountability” issue, I thought I should bring you up to date on DVNHA’s biggest project supporting the recovery of Scotty’s Castle. I am happy to report that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are at the end of the “planning and compliance” stage of the recovery, and this fall construction will begin on the new water, electrical, and sewer projects needed to reopen this historic district! That’s not the only good news; DVNHA has just passed $100,000 in funds raised for Scotty’s Castle restorations since the flood took place in October of 2015! This means that besides the projects that have already been finished, the entire restoration of the Scotty’s Castle Welte-Mignon Theatre Organ can be fully funded out of your generous contributions as well as the proceeds from our walking tour ticket sales! So here is an updated list of projects and services that have been provided for Scotty’s Castle so far: • Conservation treatment of Scotty’s Castle Silver Collection, $7,500 • Curatorial interns to assist with packing and moving of collection after flood, $4,800 • Conservation & repair of the Upper Music Room lace curtain, $19,369 • Repairs and restoration of the Upper Music Room’s Historic Theatre Pipe Organ, $57,800 Total Funded • New playback system for the Historic Theatre Organ, $12,000 Projects: $101,468 We have the following projects that we are still raising money for: • Conservation and repairs to Dining Room curtains, $23,000 Current Unfunded • Conservation and repairs to Lower Music Room curtains, $14,000 Projects: $59,200 • Conservation and repairs to 8 panels of Crewel work curtains, $22,200 Although we have some other funding sources, the majority comes from you, our generous supporters! DVNHA gathers the money together, but it is all of you who are making sure that when Scotty’s Castle does reopen in 2020, it will be to the sound of music, and in better shape than it was before the flood. Accountability

2017 IN REVIEW—Thanks to our generous contributors, support almost doubled compared to the previous year! You helped provide $610,219 in aid to Death Valley National Park and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge from Oct. 1, 2016 - Sept. 31, 2017. DVNHA provided 8,320 hours of service to 312,885 visitors and provided 10,189 hours of educational programming. This support provided transportation grants that helped hundreds of school kids experience this amazing outdoor classroom, the production of several interpretive videos, more preservation work at Scotty’s Castle, and some much needed projects to help make Death Valley more accessible to visitors. Aid to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge: $36,016 Aid to Death Valley National Park: $574,203 • $34,332 - Staff time in Ash Meadows • $230,921 - Dantes View Restoration • $1,084 - Volunteer Stipends • $233,004 - Staff time in Death Valley • $600 - Miscellaneous aid • $24,608 - Dantes View Tactile Topo Model Map • $15,315 - Dunes of Death Valley Video Project • $14,399 - Scotty’s Castle Historic Preservation and Flood Relief • $13,514 - Death Valley National Park Video Project • $10,419 - Death Valley R.O.C.K.S. Program DVNHA’s financial information is • $10,017 - Furnace Creek Visitor Center Artifact Display Case published online for public viewing. • $10,000 - Installation of Wayside Exhibits To view please visit: • $8,491 - Racetrack Playa Exhibits http://www.guidestar.org/profile/95-2083126 • $2,255 - Miscellaneous aid • $1,119 - Donations of inventory • $141 - NPR Radio Tower

T ELESCOPE death valley natural history association dvnha.org By Adrienne McGill, Visitor Services & Junior Refuge Ranger Day: what success Environmental Education Specialist Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge looks like at Ash Meadows NWR “As a Junior Refuge Ranger, I promise to do all that I can to respect, protect and enjoy our wildlife refuges in southern Nevada…” was heard a number of times as a new batch of Junior Refuge Rangers (JRRs) were sworn in on Saturday, March 3rd at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge’s second annual Junior Refuge Ranger Day. Over 100 participants of all ages enjoyed interactive games, crafts, and other fun and educational activities. Event participants visited eight stations where they decorated paper bag pupfish, learned about desert animal adaptations while acting them out, took a closer look at what macro-invertebrates live in the water and so much more. This program brought in a number of repeat visitors as well as many first-time visitors to the refuge and everyone had a great time! Above: This family worked on decorating Although Junior Refuge Ranger Day is a special event their paper bag pupfish. offered once a year, the JRR program is available year- round to JRRs of all ages. To become a JRR, stop in at the visitor center at any of the southern Nevada wildlife refuges to pick up a free workbook and start Left: Event participants worked earning your badge, refuge pins (collect all 4!) and work together to connect the correct bill towards a JRR patch! to the waterbird Junior Refuge Ranger Day could not have happened without the assistance from staff and volunteers from Below: Getting a closer look at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Death what can be found in the water. Valley National Park and DVNHA. Additionally, DVNHA This is a popular station for all ages! donated JRR vests and memberships to be raffled off Photos courtesy of Ginger Fields. during the event. Two lucky JRRs each walked away with a vest and a one-year membership. Congratulations: Clara & Grayson; welcome to DVNHA! Thank you members, friends and staff for the support of this event and all the programs you assist Ash Meadows with all year long!

Left: Winner, winner! Newly sworn in Junior Refuge Ranger, Clara, shows off her new JRR vest donated by DVNHA! Photo courtesy of Teresa Skye. $5 Dare From the Executive Director I dare you to donate $5 right now! If everyone who receives this newsletter would go to dvnha.org and donate just $5—the Death Valley R.O.C.K.S education program would be fully funded for next school year! Now, if you wanted to, you could donate to one of those charities you see advertising on TV, but your $5 will probably disappear into their black hole of overhead and fund-raising expenses. 100% of your donations to DVNHA go directly to supporting education, preservation, and scientific research in Death Valley National Park and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. You will be hard pressed to find another non-profit that can make that claim. So, donate right now, I double-dog-dare-you.

2 dvnha.org death valley natural history association T ELESCOPE Member Highlight Meet Richard Woolfe. Richard’s first visit to Death Valley was with his parents in 1947, when he was an impressionable 12 years of age. "I had the privilege of actually meeting Death Valley Scotty at the Castle and found him TELESCOPE to be a very interesting fellow. He shared with me Volume 63, Issue 1 his love of Death Valley. I too fell in love with the Valley and have tried to return every year since.” Who We Are: Executive Committee Richard became Tim Kendziorski a member of the Board Chair Bob Lehmann Death Valley Natural Board Vice-Chair History Association Nathan Francis in 2010. Treasurer John Kopczynski He enjoys helping Secretary spread the story of Board Members the magic found in L. Paul Knauth Death Valley. Dan O’Brien Chris Roman A few years ago, before the 2008 closure, Richard and his wife Joan climbed up to William Walton Keane Wonder Mine. Married 56 years and counting, this was only one of Administrative Staff many great hikes they’ve completed together at different Death Valley David Blacker locations throughout the years! Executive Director Sandra Andrus-Sheet Office Manager/Accounts Receivable Geneil White Would you like to share your story Development Coordinator Check out our new Memberships/Telescope Editor in upcoming issues? Renee Rusler Here’s a reminder of how members can submit. Field Institute Director E-mail: [email protected], Warehouse Subject Line: “Member Highlight” Wesley Massey, Warehouse Manager Bill Pelkey Please remember to include: Bookstore • 1—high resolution photo of yourself in Justin Baldino, Bookstore Manager Death Valley or Ash Meadows Dwight Lacy Danielle Wood • 1—quote about your love for this area Nathan Wabbel, AP Serena Revere • Year of your first visit MEMBER PATCHES! Ash Meadows Visitor Services • Why you became a member (Available to renewing members Newsletter Design upon request.) KimberMoore Design

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Tarantulas found in North America belong to the Theraphosideae family, genus Aphonopelma. The one pictured to the right was found in Fall Canyon here in Death Valley National Park, just another surprise field school encounter; you never know what you will find while exploring the great outdoors. Tarantulas mate in the fall, producing 500-1,000 offspring. Females might live 20 years, while males are often eaten when mating. They are solitary creatures, living one to a burrow and may inhabit the same burrow for years. A tarantula’s body can be two-three inches long; add four inch legs and you’ve got one big spider! Their colors range from brown to black; males and females distinguished generally by, females being larger and bulkier than males. The tarantula eats insects and even small mice and lizards. Unlike most web spinning spiders, tarantulas hunt down their prey. They are covered with thousands of fine hairs that help detect subtle movements in its immediate environment—a great adaptation that helps catch prey. Most North American tarantulas are relatively harmless to humans; they’re very unlikely to bite—their venom is about as irritating as a bee sting. The natural predator of the tarantula is the tarantula hawk wasp. When threatened tarantulas can react defensively by releasing additional hairy, venomous weapons; called urticating hairs. After decades of suspicions that there are more species than identified, just similar enough to be overlooked, there is an ongoing effort to more carefully catalog American tarantula species. New efforts have broken them down to behavior and observable traits, though genetic testing needs to be completed to truly determine species differentiation.