By Mirna Borrego

The festival was a success! I learned how to involve the community much more, I met incredible people, travelers, fans and I understood that a festival is not only about gathering a surprising number of people, it is about connecting, motivating and projecting us as an international community with the common goal to conserve and enjoy our natural resources. The festival and the migration of birds have ended, just in time.

I can say openly that this exchange offered me more things than I expected, I learned more than I imagined and I will return home with my head full of ideas and motivation to make the next festival, a great festival!

I am committed to my community, to see and live this experience in Cordova is not only personal growth but also organizational growth for my community. I want to thank the CRIMBI program extensively for promoting these international connections, my colleagues in the US Forest Service for their hospitality and all their training, I will return home more prepared and with a different perspective of teamwork, I thank the Cordova Chamber of Commerce for letting me be part of the Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival committee and share the experience as coordinators of the festival, to the community of Cordova for being an example to be followed by others and especially to my organization, Terra Peninsular, for allowing me to be its representative in this adventure, it truly was.

Cordova is a very special place and I think the magic comes from the immense nature that surrounds it, to feel so small in the middle of this vast wilderness, you begin to understand that it is increasingly difficult to find such places in the world and I think we all want to experience it, I think that people in Cordova know how lucky they are and that is why they protect it, because people take care of what they love.

See you in the next adventure!