5/10/10

The Connecticut Butterfly Association and Menunkatuck Audubon Society have received grants in past years to support the bird and butterfly garden at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven.

This is the third year of the IBA Program's Small Matching Grants Program. We've expanded the scope of this year's program by considering proposals for projects that are taking place outside of IBA boundaries as long as they further one or more of Audubon Connecticut's priorities for the coming year:

1. gaining a greater understanding of the abundance and distribution of our species of greatest conservation need, especially within IBA boundaries, with a special focus on New Haven County;
2. implementing conservation strategies put forth in an IBA Conservation Plan or another strategic plan that may exist for that site; and
3. furthering the objectives of one of the habitat working groups of Audubon's Atlantic Flyway Conservation Initiative.

This year we are funding two projects aimed at controlling invasive plants and restoring native vegetation, two land protection projects, one conservation plan, enhancements to two butterfly and bird gardens, one project to continue outreach in an urban area, and one nest box program.

2010 Awardees

City of New Haven - Support for the 2010 Lighthouse Point Park Migration Festival
Cove Island Park Wildlife Sanctuary - Additions to the existing butterfly gardens
Tom Sayers - Construction and deployment of American kestrel boxes in eastern Connecticut
Connecticut Butterfly Association - Enhancement of Lighthouse Point's bird and butterfly gardens
Mount Vernon Songbird Sanctuary - Protection of approximately one acre of land adjacent to the Mount Vernon Songbird Sanctuary
Bent of the River - Equipment for habitat management and intern stipends to monitor its effectiveness
Trust for Public Land - Protection of the Griswold Airport property
Menunkatuck Audubon Society - Invasive plant removal and native plant restoration at the Guilford Salt Meadow Sanctuary
Town of Guilford - Management plan for the Guilford East River Preserve