Author: KBO

Carol moved to Ashland from Seattle in 2013 after an extensive search for the ideal place to retire. Birding and volunteering are high on her life list. She learned about the upcoming first Mountain Bird Festival while taking Harry Fuller’s Winter Birds of Ashland class and volunteered to be the marketing kingbird.

She believes KBO mission is critical to give our leaders and citizens the information to make decisions that will protect our environment in the future.

Carol has a BFA in Fine Arts from Washington State University and a BA in Communications from University of Washington. She taught high school art, graphic design and photography for 9 years. She then worked for county government for 25 years in various public relations, marketing and communications positions. Carol also served as webmaster for Pierce County.

Carol enjoys hiking, cycling, kayaking and world travel. Birding is always an integral part of these adventures.

Harry Fuller joined the KBO Board in 2011.  Harry  graduated from Carleton College, Minnesota with a BA in history, and from Stanford University in California with an MA in communications. Harry was elected KBO Board President in 2013.

From 1969 to 1998 Harry worked in television media, mostly for San Francisco TV stations.  During his time in television, he won two local Emmies for news coverage and a national Peabody Award for coverage of the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake.  Harry then worked for an internet cable start-up before moving to London to work with CNBC news for four years. He returned to the U.S. in 2005.

In addition to his work in media, Harry has worked as a volunteer and professional birding guide for more than ten years.  In 2007 Harry moved to Ashland, Oregon where he continues to lead birding trips and is an active birding and news blogger.  Harry is the author of FREEWAY BIRDING, a guide to birding spots along Interstate 5 from San Francisco to Seattle. Harry blogs about birds and birding at www.atowhee.wordpress.com.

BJ Matzen joined the KBO Board in 2010.  A lifelong resident of Oregon, he considers himself a product of Eastern Oregon, even though he was born in Portland.  BJ grew up on a ranch in Izee, which is in the valley of the south fork of the John Day River, 50 miles southwest of the city of John Day.

BJ earned bachelors degrees at OSU in Fish & Game and Animal Science, and a law degree from Willamette University.  He began his law practice in John Day, but has been practicing in Klamath Falls since 1972 with the exception of 4 years in The Dalles in the late 1980’s.

BJ was a charter member of the Klamath Basin Audubon Society and incorporator of Klamath Wingwatchers, a non profit organization dedicated to public education regarding Klamath Basin wildlife and wetland habitats.  He has served as the president of each group a number of times.  BJ enjoys the interaction of birds and their habitat, which is why he was drawn to KBO. His mantra is “Educate, don’t Litigate.”

Jim Flett

Jim re-joined the Klamath Bird Observatory board in 2014. Jim and his wife, Laura, built their home 35 years ago at the end of a small valley in northern Siskiyou County in California.  A visitor could drive through the front gate in California and walk through the back fence into Oregon.  They live a little closer to town now, but not too close.

Here is what Jim has to say: “We moved here for the mountains and the rivers and all of the wild places.  It is important to me to live where all of that is just a minute or two from my backyard.  My passion is to be outdoors, especially with my family.  It might be a week-long river trip or backpacking or just a few hours being together on a hike.  Here is a cool thing… I used to be the guy in my family with the binoculars.  Now the whole family is wearing their own bins on our outings.  I am still the “bird man” but the tables have turned.  My son and daughter have young, sharp eyes and ears that miss little. They show me the birds that I have missed.  They are ferocious in their enjoyment and defense of wilderness and its creatures.  Now I am the student.  This is how it should be.”

From playing in the creek behind my house as a child in Cincinnati, Ohio to obtaining a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and Management from Michigan State University, I have always been interested and connected to the natural world and its wildlife.