Madison Land Conservation Trust Annual Meeting

The Madison Land Conservation Trust will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, November 15 at 7:00 pm in Memorial Town Hall.   The keynote speaker will be Alyssa Borowske, of the University of Connecticut. Her topic is "A Tale of Two Sparrows: Life and Threats in the Salt Marsh."  Tidal
marsh sparrows are uniquely adapted to living in coastal marshes.
There, they take advantage of abundant food and relatively little
competition from other species, yet must contend with high salinity and
daily and monthly tidal fluxes. While this unique environment has shaped
the daily lives and annual cycles of its avian inhabitants, issues
affecting coastal marshes, such as development, invasive species, and
climate change also threaten the species that rely upon these
ecosystems. This talk will focus on the ecology of Saltmarsh and Seaside sparrows--two species that breed in Connecticut's tidal marshes--and the conservation issues facing them.
 Growing
up in Vermont, Alyssa became interested in birds and environmental
issues at a young age. She graduated from Cornell College, in Mt Vernon,
Iowa, before spending a year in New Zealand
on a Fulbright Fellowship. Alyssa is now in her fourth year as a PhD
candidate at the University of Connecticut. She spends most of her days
slogging around the marshes of Connecticut and South Carolina, catching Saltmarsh
and Seaside sparrows for her dissertation project on sparrow ecology
throughout the annual cycle. Her study areas include land trust property
in
Madison.