Connecticut’s wildlife resources focus of day-long conference

From coyotes and black bears to wood frogs and spotted salamanders, the state of the state’s wildlife was the focus of a day-long conference at UConn on May 2.

The conference, the first in what is expected to become an annual series, was attended by more than 250 University faculty and students, high school teachers and students, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) staff, and representatives of various environmental organizations.

Environmental issues affect everybody, said Milan Bull, senior director of science and conservation for the Connecticut Audubon Society, who spoke about water birds.

“Everywhere you look in Connecticut is bird habitat,” he said. “Mountains, meadows, wetlands, Long Island Sound – they’re all bird habitats. We can measure the quality of life by key indicators such as how birds are doing.”

Half of the 87 species of water bird found in Connecticut are listed in the conservation strategy as being in some need of conservation, Bull said.

“Can you imagine a walk along the seashore without gulls, terns, and wading birds?” he asked.

A species is particularly vulnerable to loss of habitat when it feeds on only one variety of food or lives and breeds in only one small place, Bull said: “Plovers and terns nest on the same tiny ribbon of sand where everyone wants to put their blanket.”

He suggested that Connecticut follow some other states in using fill to build offshore islands as alternative habitats for the birds. Environmental organizations should do more to involve the public in conservation of bird species through “citizen science,” he maintained.

“There’s no other scientific field that relies on citizens to go out and collect data,” he said.

“We need to corral that. The more people know about our resources, the more they will be interested in protecting and conserving them.”

The challenges are different for large mammals, according to Paul Rego, a DEP wildlife biologist.

The group includes only 23 species, but they are ubiquitous.

These species have broad habitat requirements and some – like the coyote and the black bear – are proving more adaptable than previously thought to landscapes altered by humans.

“Because these species frequently cause conflict with humans,” he said, “people don’t think so much about threats to these species, they think more about threats from these species.

“Part of conservation is to recognize these conflicts and manage them,” he said, “so the species are not looked upon as a liability but as an asset.”

He said beavers and deer have made a comeback.

Almost wiped out in Connecticut by the late 1800s, they now abound and are the cause of frequent complaints.

The muskrat, on the other hand, is in decline because its wetland habitat has been taken over by invasive plant species such as purple loosestrife and phragmites.