Camarillo, CA. – CSU Channel Islands (CI) is pleased to announce the opening of the Condor Chocuyens Exhibit on Thursday, Mar. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in the Millennium News Center at the John Spoor Broome Library. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the CI Biology Program, the CI Environmental Science & Resource Management Program, and the John Spoor Broome Library. The program is open to the public.

Speakers for the opening program will be CI President Richard R. Rush; Amy Denton, Chair of the Biology Program; Marc Weitzel, Project Leader for the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Complex; Jesse Grantham, Condor Coordinator for the California Condor Recovery Program; and Christopher Cogan, Assistant Professor, CI Environmental Sciences & Resource Management Program. Their comments will also include information on an upcoming series offered by the University that will feature topics on the environment, conservation, and endangered species.

This program will present Chocuyens, the impressive California condor with a 9.5 foot wingspan, displayed in a plexiglass case. He was the first captive-bred condor, an endangered species, to be set free in the wild as part of the California Condor Recovery Program. Chocuyens captured America’s imagination. Unfortunately he died the following year from exposure to ethylene glycol, a property found in antifreeze.

The USFWS is lending the exhibit to CI through February 2011. Michael Woodbridge, Public Affairs Officer for the USFWS, said, “Area residents are privileged to live in condor country, where you have the opportunity to see this very rare bird flying free once again.” He explained that there are approximately 40 condors in this area, mostly in Los Padres National Forest. Other populations of California Condors are flying free in Big Sur, California, in Grand Canyon, Arizona and in Baja California.

Cogan explains, “The last natural habitat for the California condor is in CI’s backyard. Three of our students are working at the USFWS and assisting with the Recovery Program. We have a natural laboratory to study this endangered species and it allows us to expose students to these birds and their habitat, to forge links with various federal agencies, and to create a community awareness of our local environmental treasures.”

Angela Chapman, CI Biology Lecturer, initiated efforts to bring the exhibit to campus so that people would be able to learn more about these magnificent birds and about how to protect them by keeping wilderness areas free of microtrash like bottle caps and broken glass which are so harmful to wild animals and birds.

Inquiries regarding the opening may be directed to:

Ellie Tayag at CSU Channel Islands at 805-437-3140 or elnora.tayag@csuci.edu or Michael Woodbridge at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 805-256-5423 or michael_woodbridge@fws.gov.

For media inquiries please contact Nancy Gill, Director of Communication & Marketing at CSU Channel Islands at 805-437-8456 or mailto:mnancy.gill@csuci.edu.

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CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CSUCI Mission Statement

Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.