Vermont Land Trust & Audubon Vermont

Why Bird Conservation?

Bird conservation is the core of Audubon Vermont’s work, and while birds are not a primary focus of Vermont Land Trust (VLT)’s conservation work, bird-focused projects can help ‘unite land and lives,’ fulfilling the mission of the organization, says Allaire Diamond, Ecology & Restoration Program Director at VLT. Because birds are identifiable and colorful and charismatic, they can help connect people with the work of land conservation and habitat management, says Mark LaBarr, Conservation Program Manager at Audubon Vermont—so collaboration was a natural fit for the two organizations.

“Birds are kind of magic,” says Diamond. “Mark is so good at engaging with people around birds and getting people excited about birds. People who would not otherwise come to a land trust event come to see the birds, and this becomes the thread that connects them to the land.” Birds are something that people can hear and see in the landscape, notes LaBarr. And when people connect with a bird, they connect with a place, adds Diamond.

By working together on two of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Land Trust small grant projects, Diamond and LaBarr harnessed the strengths of both VLT and Audubon Vermont. The partnership helped Audubon Vermont identify project properties for bird-friendly habitat management and create a larger conservation footprint, notes LaBarr. Diamond says the projects with Audubon Vermont help make VLT’s conservation work more enduring, improving the resilience of the habitat at the project sites.

Spotlight Resources: Partnerships, Bird-friendly Habitat Management, eBird

VLT and Audubon Vermont partnered on one small grant in 2020 and another in 2023. Similar in focus and approach, the projects were completed on adjacent properties protected by VLT. The first project took place on Nordic Farm, a 580-acre working farm, and the second at Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, a nearby site in Chittenden County, Vermont. The projects helped extend the connectivity of Golden-winged Warbler habitat, contributing to the management efforts of the Western Vermont Golden-chain Collaborative, an organization that LaBarr leads.

Both projects included the removal of invasives and the planting of native species in shrublands, efforts that were led by LaBarr. Diamond helped recruit and manage the volunteers that supported habitat management implementation efforts at the sites. LaBarr held bird banding events at each site, and Diamond took the lead on outreach for these public events, utilizing VLT’s online event management system. LaBarr and Diamond worked together on outreach for partner events at each site, inviting conservation colleagues to events designed to increase the capacity for the Western Vermont Golden-chain Collaborative, which included training on project planning and habitat management strategies.

Before and after the habitat management efforts took place, LaBarr conducted bird monitoring at each site using eBird. Implementation work was focused on improving habitat for shrubland species, including Golden- and Blue-winged Warblers, which are “species that you wouldn’t normally see if you weren’t looking for them,” notes LaBarr. Data contributed through continued monitoring for these warbler species at these managed sites is also helping the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in their efforts to determine the ratio between Golden- and Blue-winged Warblers in the region. This is important because the two species hybridize with one another where they overlap, and both are experiencing significant population declines in parts of their range. Understanding the ratio and how these birds interact helps inform effective conservation strategies.

Making the Connection

In addition, “Post-management surveys are a key component for assessing how successful our management techniques are,” notes LaBarr.  Bird monitoring visits also help create and maintain relationships with landowners. This is particularly important for sites like Nordic Farms, which recently changed ownership, says Diamond.

The outcomes of shrubland management work are often quickly visible, notes LaBarr. While it may take years to reestablish a forest habitat, the results of invasive species removal and reestablishment of native plants in shrublands can usually be seen within a few years, if not the year after management. At Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, “visitors can see and hear the species that we were focusing on and how they benefitted from the management work,” says LaBarr.

Diamond adds that one goal of these projects was to inspire additional habitat management work, and that Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge helps with this, as it serves as a demonstration site. While Diamond and LaBarr recognize that these projects are not leading to large-scale population impacts on warblers outside of their region, both hope that the projects seed more work that will lead to larger impacts within their region, parcel by parcel, and extend the Western Vermont Golden-chain.

LaBarr notes that eBirders are key to helping Audubon Vermont identify potential sites for conservation or habitat management. At sites such as Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge, an eBird hotspot, observations submitted by birders throughout the year help LaBarr get perspective on what species other people are seeing in the region. This information is especially useful for shrubland species, as the habitat these birds prefer is transitional and constantly shifting across the landscape. “Sometimes these shrubland species can pop up where you weren’t expecting them, as new habitat grows,” he says. LaBarr uses eBird data, and data from the Northeast Bird Habitat Conservation Initiative Mapping Tool, as a coarse filter for shrubland species when approached by landowners interested in working with Audubon Vermont on habitat management projects.

Advice to Other Land Trusts

Diamond and LaBarr both advise patience, focus, and flexibility when working on these types of projects. It can take time to pull in all the different people and pieces to make a project successful, they say.

“Identify a project that aligns with your broad, long-term goals while being discrete enough to measure and complete,” says Diamond. Having defined goals can also help provide focus and keep different people on the same page, which is essential when working with groups of volunteers, as Diamond and LaBarr did at Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge.

It’s also important to adapt and evolve with conditions on the ground. For instance, one of the original management locations targeted within the project site turned out to be very wet. Bringing heavy machines into this wet area would have been destructive, so LaBarr and Diamond adapted to the situation, identifying a new location within the project site better suited for the planned invasive removal to move forward.

Next Steps

“Land is like a canvas, and these projects are the pictures we’re painting on the canvas,” reflects Diamond. The paintings become richer—and the conservation work more impactful—with each project that is layered onto the canvas, she says.

Determining the highest and best use of each conserved parcel of land is Diamond’s goal. While one parcel may be best suited for bird habitat, other parcels may have high-quality agricultural soils; Diamond and her colleagues work to understand and prioritize the uses of each parcel protected by VLT.

At Nordic Farms, one of the sites where VLT collaborated with Audubon Vermont, Diamond is currently working on a wetland and riparian easement overlay, which will provide special protections for those habitats. Working on the bird-habitat project at Nordic Farm helped Diamond to identify and pursue the wetland and riparian overlay, and the project also helped VLT demonstrate the benefits of this type of work in conversations with the new owners of the property.

“People are coming from different angles with different goals for their property,” notes LaBarr. That’s part of what he loves about working in conservation in Vermont—finding what people are passionate about and engaging with them over these passions. What’s nice about working with land trusts, such as VLT, is often their easement landowners and members are open to conversations about enhancing bird habitats due to their passion about protecting their lands.

As a result of the project in Charlotte, LaBarr has a lead on a nearby landowner who might be interested in a similar project. He’s planning to talk with them this winter, hoping they will be interested in helping extend the corridor of habitat and creating greater connectivity for shrubland birds within the Western Vermont Golden-chain Collaborative.