Fighting for Feathered Friends (and other creatures)

WWR will talk with an expert working hard to save birds, other wildlife, and desert flora from being negatively impacted by industrial scale wind developments in sensitive areas and a journalist who is a leader in the effort to tell these stories.

Ileene Anderson is the Biologist and Public Lands Deserts Director for the Center for Biological Diversity -- a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 350,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Ileene coordinates campaigns throughout the southwest deserts, while focusing on conservation projects in the deserts and urban wildlands of Southern California. Her project areas include all public lands in the California deserts and the Santa Ana River Watershed, western Riverside County, Tejon Ranch, and the Santa Clara River Watershed. She holds a master’s in biology from California State Northridge and is a research associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens.

Miriam Raftery, Editor and Founder of East County Magazine   – A 25-year journalist and editor, Miriam has received the American Society of Journalists & Authors’ national Arlene Award for community journalism. She has also received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, National Women’s Press Club, and top honors from San Diego Press Club.

East County Magazine  is an award-winning nonpartisan community publication. ECM provides in-depth news, views and events coverage for all areas east of I-15 in San Diego County, California, reflecting the broad diversity of people and issues in our region, particularly those under-represented in other media.