Tomorrow, October 3, I will be presenting a program on the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds (AAfCW) at the Jamestown Audubon Center & Sanctuary at 11AM. AAfCW an active conservation, education and outreach project that provides stewardship and survey efforts by volunteers and staff working to help the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) in an innovative joint initiative on Connecticut’s beaches, islands, and other coastal areas to monitor birds like the federally threatened Piping Plover and endangered Roseate Tern, Connecticut state-listed species like the American Oystercatcher, Common and Least Tern and many more.
American Oystercatcher pair
RTPI’s President & Executive Director Twan Leenders and I, Conservation & Outreach Coordinator Scott Kruitbosch, were a part of AAfCW’s creation during our time in Connecticut and are thrilled to be a partner now through RTPI thanks to Audubon Connecticut. During all three AAfCW seasons I have taken on the role of Volunteer Coordinator, serving as a statewide bridge between USFWS and CT DEEP officials and our volunteer monitors and stewards while working with local landowners, municipalities and other partners seven days a week from mid-March through August. Our work now spans nearly the entire year with other survey efforts and programs being rolled into the main stewardship efforts and constant outreach and education occurring across the region.
Least Tern
Please join us at Jamestown Audubon this Friday to learn more about the programs creation, its successes over the first three seasons, how we are making major impacts in conservation and education, the close ties it has to Roger Tory Peterson and his decades of works in Connecticut, details of the 2014 nesting season and how you can help in AAfCW’s bright future.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
