KEARNEY — Naseem Munshi didn’t let the cold winds penetrate her body or her spirit Tuesday morning.
Dressed in layers, with a fat down jacket, warm mittens and a warm hat, Munshi was out on the trail at Rowe Sanctuary passing out maps and happily greeting visitors. She is one of just seven out-of-town volunteers at Rowe this crane season.
Most years there are 130 volunteers, including 75 from out of town, but this year, COVID-19 still is keeping most at home. Since volunteer housing is closed, the few volunteers here are staying in their own RVs or in Kearney motels.
The handful of eager volunteers includes Munshi, Steve and Lisa Murray and Mary Claridge. Just like the cranes, they come back every year.
Bill Taddicken, director at Rowe, said, “I understand how frustrating and disappointing it is to have yet another year of reduced capacity for crane tourism.”
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But that “reduced capacity” is better than none. In 2020, Rowe was closed for the entire crane season. This year, its visitor center remains closed, but Rowe is offering one tour a day, for 10 people.
That’s far below the multiple tours given for 200 people each day in a normal year.
But Rowe has opened its trails 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and made its blinds available for limited overnight stays, and visitors are returning. Roger Jasnoch, executive director of the Kearney Visitors Bureau, said this week that “phones are ringing off the hook” with people calling about the cranes.
Days start at dawn
Despite fewer visitors and fewer tours, volunteers are busy. Monday, Lisa Murray was at the Rowe gate at 5 a.m. as guests, with reservations, arrived to go to Rowe’s blinds to watch thousands of cranes lift off from the Platte at sunrise.
She passed out maps and spoke with people in 30 cars that drove by. Later, she answered phones and processed gift shop orders. The gift shop, inside the visitor center, is closed to the public, but guests can order online and drive up to pick up their merchandise.
Steve Murray spent Monday afternoon taking guests, their sleeping bags and food out to the riverside blinds in a golf cart. They spent the night there. Murray picked them up Tuesday morning.
The Murrays, both retired, live in suburban Houston. They first came to Rowe in 2018 after Lisa learned about the Nebraska sandhill crane corridor and its “spirit of place” as part of her studies in pastoral ministry. In 2018, the Murrays decided to see that corridor for themselves.
“Once you see the cranes, they just capture you,” Lisa said. Steve added, “It’s mesmerizing.” The Murrays were so captivated they returned as volunteers in 2019.
COVID-19 has crimped their volunteering here. In 2020, they arrived at Rowe just one week before Rowe closed in mid-March due to COVID. They are back this year, living in their RV. Like all volunteers this year, both have had their COVID-19 vaccines.
30 years and counting
Munshi is captivated, too. So captivated, in fact, that despite heavy rain and flooding during her first year as a volunteer in 2019, “I loved it. I had a blast. I loved the volunteers and the staff. I felt so happy,” she said.
Tuesday morning, Munshi stood along the trail talking to visitors, including Rita Eggers. Eggers left suburban Milwaukee at 4 p.m. Monday, drove all night, and pulled in to Fort Kearny State Recreation Area at 2 a.m. Tuesday. She set up her tent, slept from 3-6 a.m. and then got up to watch the sandhill cranes lift off from the Platte River.
A few hours later, Eggers headed over to Rowe Sanctuary, where Munshi chatted with her, gave her a map and a brochure and suggested the best place to see cranes. Eggers was appreciative (“this is my first time here and it’s absolutely amazing”) and Munshi was delighted to help. She loves volunteering at Rowe.
For 30 years, she had come to Rowe every March from Lafayette, Colorado, so in 2019, semi-retired, she volunteered. Last year, COVID closed Rowe, so Munshi was thrilled when it re-opened this year. Her newly retired husband Michael Tupper came with her this year. Living in their camper, they are staying for the entire crane season, March 1 to April 15.
“We do whatever needs doing, including sanitizing porta-potties and the riverside blinds, too,” she said.
Behind the scenes
Taddicken said Rowe is lucky to be open.
Because Rowe is owned and operated by National Audubon Society, it must work within society policies. Rowe is one of “only a handful” of the 41 Audubon centers across the country that are open to public access at this time, and one of just two that are authorized to offer public tours.
It’s also open because the Two Rivers Public Health Department risk dial has been in the moderate (“yellow”) stage for several weeks. Had that dial reverted to the severe or pandemic levels, or had a Rowe staff person or volunteer contracted COVID, Rowe likely would have closed completely, as it did last year.
Rowe also had to submit an opening plan that met all of Audubon’s requirements in regards to social distancing and mandatory mask use. NAS determined that the visitor center should remain closed to the public March 1-April 18 due to the center’s capacity, the expected crowds and the limited volunteers available; but it decided that trails could be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Rowe considered the recommendations of the local health department, and the health and safety of its staff, volunteers and guests. It decided to permit just 10 people in each blind to allow them to stay 6 feet apart.
Strain on staffs
Staffing was a factor, too. Rowe has a staff of just five people.
During crane season, days begin at 5 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. Each blind requires two guides, so with four blinds used every morning and every evening, eight people are needed per shift. Since the visitor center closed, the guides must organize all tour participants in the parking lot; and in the early morning, that parking lot is dark.
“Then add a gate person and one staff person at the center, and that adds up to 10 people needed every morning and evening, and another 10-12 people during the day to staff the center to meet the needs of up to 1,000 people daily. This is an enormous undertaking for the Rowe staff of five to organize and maintain,” Taddicken said.
Another wrinkle: During crane season, most of the staff is volunteers. Normally. Rowe brings in more than 130 volunteers during the eight-week season who put in more than 6,000 volunteer hours. Most volunteers are retirees. Rowe polled its volunteers and learned that only about 10% to 15% were willing to travel and lead or help with tours.
“In the end, we decided we could safely and logistically offer one tour a day of 10 people, and offer the overnight photography blinds, which are limited to two people,” Taddicken said. “I am hopeful for a reinvigorated crane season in the future.”
Happy to be back
Mary Claridge, a retired accountant from Clover, Wisconsin, wore a pink mask as she chatted with Rowe visitors Tuesday morning. This is her fourth year as a volunteer here.
“It’s not as hectic this year. It’s a bit calmer,” she said. “But I miss the camaraderie of the other volunteers, who come from so far.”
Claridge first came to Rowe six years ago with the Elderhostel Road Scholars. She began volunteering in 2016. This year, vaccinated against COVID, she’s back for two weeks, from March 17-31. She stayed at a Kearney motel.
“I’ve had plenty of time to wander around, listen to the cranes and watch them. I love watching them come in from the cornfields and gather by the river,” she said.
The Murrays, who volunteer all over the country, are thrilled to be back this year. “Rowe is so appreciative of us. The staff makes this such a welcoming place. We can tell that for them, it’s more than a job,” Steve said.
Munshi said, “After you retire, you wonder, ‘What’s your purpose in life?’ How can you give back?’ Volunteering at Rowe makes life so rewarding.” Especially during COVID-19.