Connecticut State of the Birds 2016: Recommendations

Saltmarsh Sparrow. Photo copyright Paul J. Fusco.

On the grand scale, we must institute policies that will slow sea level rise and reduce global warming.

On the state level we recommend that Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection be provided with sufficient funding to analyze and plan for sufficient landscapes to allow the migration of tidal marshes inland as sea levels rise.

State officials, conservation groups (including the state’s 100-plus land trusts), private landowners, and local planning and land-use officials must recognize that historically Connecticut’s forests were a mosaic of habitat types, including shrubby openings. All of these land managers should look for opportunities to maintain or expand shrub-scrub habitat, within existing forests or as newly-restored or -created habitat.

Three decades after our neighbors in New York completed their state’s first breeding bird atlas project, Connecticut still lacks this basic and indispensable inventory and data source. We recommend that the CT DEEP, the Connecticut Audubon Society, Audubon Connecticut, the Connecticut Ornithological Association, and leading academic ornithologists continue to collaborate on the basic planning and funding needed to get the project started.

We must work with our non-profit partners and the Connecticut General Assembly to find new and novel funding mechanisms for non-game conservation efforts.

We must also increase our land acquisition effort to meet the state’s goal of protecting 21 percent of the state’s land by 2023 and 10 percent for state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas.

We look forward to working with our conservation partners and regulatory agencies to help reach our conservation goals and create a lasting future for our birdlife.