The Alameda County Board of Supervisors named a dozen new members of the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame March 19. Among the inductees was Alameda resident and longtime Golden Gate Audubon Society member Leora Feeney. She was chosen among the “outstanding women who have made significant contributions to the county” — in Feeney’s case, to the county’s natural environment.

To preserve the colony of nesting California Least Terns at Alameda Point Feeney convinced three federal agencies to create a wildlife reserve at the former Naval Air Station in the 1990s. The resulting 512-acre site set aside for wildlife was confirmed in 2014. Her work to help the environment dates back to the 1970s when she helped organize Save Our Shoreline to ensure that shoreline developments included public access and protected wildlife habitats. 

Feeney has led Alameda bird counting efforts, bird walks, and contributed classroom activites to local elementary schools.

“Many people throughout Alameda and the county know Leora for her work in support of the Least Tern colony in the Alameda Wildlife Reserve,” said local resident Marjorie Powell. “Others know her for her work on a variety of other environmental issues such as the counting of pelicans and work to replace the collapsing pier on which the harbor seals pull out, and many of us recognize her skills as a photographer.”

Feeney’s photographs of birds and other wildlife, all taken in the City of Alameda, will appear alongside those of 11 other photographers in an exhibit running through Saturday, May 28, in the Stafford Meeting Rooms of the Alameda Main Library at 1550 Oak St. 
The show is free and available for viewing whenever the library is open.

The 2016 induction ceremony marked the 23rd year of Alameda County’s Women’s Hall of Fame. In its history, more than 200 women have been honored. The event also benefits the “Leading the Way” Scholarship Fund. To find out more about the hall of fame, visit www.acgov.org/whof.