If you have driven past almost any Audubon wildlife refuge in the past few months, you would have seen the parking lots occupied at nearly every hour of daylight and every day of the week. Many are full on weekend afternoons. The refuges have been experiencing record-breaking levels of visitation, and it’s not surprising why.
The COVID19 pandemic has resulted in the closure of all schools and many businesses, necessitated that everyone maintains social distancing, and restrictions have kept people at home for most days. One of the few opportunities people have had to get outside to enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise is to visit a nature preserve, and even some of them have been closed.
But all of Audubon’s public wildlife refuges are open, and they will remain so as long as people can stay at least six feet from each other and as long as Governor Raimondo and the Department of Health say it is prudent to do so.
“I’m not at all surprised that visitation is way up,” said Larry Taft, Audubon’s executive director. “We all need some way to unwind. Being able to hike on our trails is the perfect outlet.
“Besides, the weather is getting nicer and the woods are coming alive with birds singing, frogs calling and trees blooming,” he continued. “Taking a nature walk is a great way to reinvigorate ourselves. It’s one of the few ways to have a positive experience these days.”
The dangerous global health crisis is making many people recognize for the first time that nature is essential, not only to the well-being of local wildlife but also to the well-being of people. Time and time again, research studies around the world have demonstrated the value of spending time outdoors. Scientists say it improves our mood and self-esteem and even reduces blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. Generally, a walk in nature makes people healthier and happier. You can see it in the faces of those walking around Audubon refuges.
A comment from one refuge visitor proves the point. “Thank you so much,” she wrote. “My daughter and I usually go to your refuge at times when others are not there, like drizzly and cold days. She is on the autism spectrum, and I can’t tell you how much she needs the quiet and calm of the woods.”
Scott Ruhren, Audubon’s senior director of conservation, said that refuge staff have seen considerable increases in visitors at the Caratunk Wildlife Refuge in Seekonk, seeking that quiet and calm, especially over the weekends. And even remote refuges like Fisherville Brook in Exeter have seen a large jump in visitation during the crisis.
Taft and Ruhren agree that it’s a positive sign to see so many people enjoying the wildlife refuges – including many who have never visited an Audubon refuge before – and they hope it will lead to new members, new supporters, and continued visitation long after the crisis is over.
But it hasn’t been without its challenges.
“Some people don’t understand that our wildlife refuges are not like local parks,” said Ruhren. “We have never been a place for lawn chairs and large gatherings. While we welcome and encourage visitors, we’re here for the wildlife.”
More visitation has also led to modest increases in trash and occasionally visitors wandering off the trails. There has also been a significant increase of people bringing dogs to the wildlife refuges. Although Audubon understands how much people enjoy being outside with their pets, dogs disturb the wildlife that Audubon strives to protect. It is especially a problem when dog owners let their dogs off the leash and let them run.
Posted signs and kiosks at each property provide important information and suggestions for individuals who wish to use the trails. During this health crisis Audubon is also displaying visitor-friendly posters that remind guests about precautions like social distancing and staying in small groups.
Audubon staff and volunteers continue to monitor property attendance, hoping that the refuges can remain open. The most popular locations may be forced to limit the number of guests that can visit at any one time, depending on visitor behavior and recommendations from state officials.
In addition to the increase in visitors to the refuges due to the pandemic, Audubon has also responded to the crisis by creating a new environmental education portal called Audubon at Home: Nature Play and Learning. (See full story in this issue.) With schools closed, teachers are delivering lessons online and parents are seeking activities for their children. Audubon’s educators are creating a weekly series of themed lessons and activities – including videos, crafts, stories and other materials – that can be accessed via Facebook or Audubon’s website (www.asri.org).
“We had to cancel our usual in-person education programs and field trips, and we couldn’t have people coming to the Nature Center, so our education staff decided to think outside the box,” Taft said. “They said, ‘Let’s just get started and offer families and teachers what we know best, and let’s do it on video.’ And they did. Part of it was simply to maintain a presence and to build goodwill, but mostly it was about providing lessons in a safe way at a time when they are needed most.”
Audubon received a grant earlier in the year to conduct field trips and school visits this spring, and the grantor agreed to allow Audubon to use the funds to develop distance learning modules instead.
“It has taken quite a bit of effort, and our education and communications staff have done yeomen’s work on it,” Taft concluded. “In the end, it provides another dimension of what we can offer. These are innovations we’ve put together in a few short weeks that we might not have gotten around to doing for many months or years otherwise.
“Ultimately,” he added, “we want kids to get outside in nature and fall in love with it. Having these structured programs and content online, and still having the refuges available to visit, will enable them to immerse themselves in nature and learn about nature. And from there, we hope they’ll want to protect it.”
Story by Todd McLeish
Invite Audubon Into Your Home
With schools closed, students learning remotely, and parents looking for resources to engage their children at home, more and more people are turning to Audubon for help with activities and lessons. And Audubon has quickly responded by launching Audubon at Home: Nature Play and Learning, a new online resource for nature exploration.
“This is our response to the challenging learning environment brought about by the COVID19 virus,” said Lauren Parmelee, Audubon’s senior director of education. “It’s how we’re helping parents and teachers engage children during this time when everyone is cooped up in the house.”
Pulling from Audubon’s decades of experience in environmental education and its innumerable experts and animal ambassadors, Audubon’s educators are producing weekly videos and compiling complementary resources on a different theme each week, including fact sheets, activities, crafts and ideas to consider when exploring the outdoors. All can be found at www.asri.org/audubon-at-home or accessed via Audubon’s Facebook page.
Just want to thank you for all of the updates and lessons on Audubon at Home.
I used some of the lessons and Audubon’s "recently seen" bird list to augment our virtual work! Students drew, researched, and learned new birds!
Then, we branched off into beaks, did a simulation, then, into wings. This led to biomimicry, and a statewide (and beyond) engineering challenge, where kids designed paper airplanes. Finally, an air force pilot did a virtual visit and connected wings/forces/flight. (Then, this led to an analysis of seeds, and led to parachutes.)
So, in short, what you are doing makes a difference and has helped provide inspiration and resources! Thank you!
- Charlene Tuttle, 6th Grade Teacher, Jamestown, RI, 2019 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year
“Schools are struggling with how to figure out how to teach online,” said Parmelee. “We know that some teachers will be great at it, but others may struggle with the technology. The easy accessibility of our resources is making the transition easier for them.”
Launched the week of March 16 with an owl theme, the program featured a video of Parmelee reading the book One Odd Old Owl to Audubon’s very own odd old owl named Eec. It was supplemented with a fact sheet about owls, directions for dissecting owl pellets (and how to purchase pellets from Audubon), directions for making an owl mask, a video showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at the enclosure where Audubon’s owl Archimedes lives, and more.
The second week featured a similar variety of resources for lessons about frogs, including an “interview” with a White’s tree frog by Audubon educator Tracey Hall, a craft activity with directions for making a frog from a toilet paper tube, and ideas to get kids involved with a citizen science project. Week three was all about turtles, and a “Rovin’ Raven” take-along activity for hikes was introduced. The weekly nature themes and online resources will be ongoing.
In addition, the website includes links to Audubon’s two live bird cams featuring the nesting Peregrine Falcons in Providence and Audubon’s ambassador ravens, Zach and Lucy as well as list of nature-related children’s literature and other resources.
“We’ve had a great time brainstorming new ideas that take advantage of all of the programs and resources we have available to us,” Parmelee said. “And we don’t have to wait for school groups to show up at our facilities to enjoy them. We put them online immediately and anyone and everyone can use them.” Although most of the Audubon at Home materials target children in PreK through grade 3, the fact sheets and other resources offered through the website provide valuable information that older children will find useful for their own projects as well.
And adults looking for resources have not been forgotten. Although many of the Audubon at Home activities are intended to encourage parents to bring their children outdoors, there are also many resources on the site for adults. There are wildlife fact sheets and identification tools as well as links for films, virtual tours, nature-based activities, and birding websites. Audubon at Home provides nature education and fun for ALL ages. The program encourages visitors to get out in their own backyards or utilize Audubon’s many trails at 13 public wildlife refuges across the state.
“Our trails are seeing many new visitors, including people who have never been to an Audubon property before or haven’t spent much time exploring nature,” said Parmelee. “We want to keep that momentum going by providing lessons and activities that support outdoor exploration and give everyone something to look forward to each week.
“We hope it will help visitors of all ages see the outdoors in a different way,” she added. “We hope that families will see that it’s OK to go outside and turn over a log or poke around in a pond or look up at the birds. They might see things for the first time and realize what they may have been missing.”
Admittedly, Audubon’s educators and other staff are learning on the fly about some of the technologies and other challenges involved in quickly producing engaging materials accessible online. Their first effort – a live program on Facebook featuring Audubon educator Sharon Riley – met with some technical difficulties, and yet it still provided a fun behind-the-scenes look at the daily job of preparing food for Audubon’s two ravens.
Photo: Virtual story time is a popular children's activity offered through Audubon at Home. Here, Audubon Urban Education Coordinator Lisa Maloney gets ready to read "Why Should I Protect Nature" by Jen Green.
“We wanted to show something that was unique to Audubon, and our routine for caring for our ravens is certainly unique,” Parmelee said. “It’s way more complicated than just thawing out a couple of mice like we do for our raptors. Sharon talked through the whole process of chopping and steaming the vegetables, preparing the fruit and dry food, getting out the meats. It’s something we have to do every day, and I’m sure people aren’t aware of all that goes into it.”
The program is still available in two parts on the Audubon Facebook page at facebook.com/audubonri
The first official video of the Audubon at Home program was also a learning experience for the education team. Not only did they learn that the video of Parmelee reading the book One Odd Old Owl should have had close-ups of the book’s illustrations, they learned what the entertainment industry has known for many years – making movies with wild animals can be incredibly challenging. In Audubon’s case, Eec the barred owl, who was watching Parmelee read, didn’t entirely cooperate.
“At the beginning, Eec is paying good attention, and Sharon was just off-camera keeping an eye on him in case he jumped off his perch,” Parmelee explained. “But later Eec seems to think the story is too long and he looks away and almost seemed to fall asleep, so Sharon jumped up behind the camera and waved her hands trying to get his attention again. That’s one of the challenges of working with wildlife.
“Things were definitely a little rough around the edges at the start,” she added. “But what production isn’t? We’re getting better as we go along, and the feedback has been terrific.”
The success of the program so far is due largely to the creativity and enthusiasm of the entire Audubon education staff – as well as Audubon social media coordinator Paige Therien – all of whom are playing important roles in producing new content every week.
How long Audubon at Home is going to last is uncertain, because it is unknown how long the virus will keep schools closed and children at home. But based on the initial feedback, it may continue long past the end of the current crisis.
“We’re reaching a lot of people who we haven’t connected with us before, and if this is the best way to reach them, we don’t want to stop and risk losing that connection,” Parmelee said. “Besides, we have a lot of animal ambassadors and a lot of beautiful refuges to visit and there are four seasons each year, so there are plenty of topics we could cover and celebrate and share for a long time.
“For now, though, as long as kids have to stay home and teachers and parents are looking for things for them to do, we’ll be there for them.”
Party for the Peregrines+
Over four nights, Audubon transformed the Party for the Peregrines annual fundraiser into a multi-media event including online auction, raptor interviews, trivia contest and more.
The event, Audubon's largest fundraiser of the year, raised over $43,000 for raptor care, education and conservation programs. Hundreds of viewers tuned in each of the four nights to learn more about raptors and discover how our staff cares for the thirteen winged ambassadors that call Audubon home.
Thanks to everyone who watched and supported this critical program. If you missed the "Party," watch the videos on Audubon's YouTube channel.
You can still make a donation to support Audubon and help to fund raptor care for these magnificent birds. Click the DONATE button below.
Highlights from the Rhode Island Land and Water Conservation Summit
The 17th annual Land & Water Conservation Summit, Rhode Island’s largest gathering of conservation leaders, was held on Saturday March 7, 2020 at the University of Rhode Island.
The Summit was organized by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island in partnership with the Rhode Island Land Trust Council and the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association.
The event attracted over 300 participants for a day of learning and networking. Dr. Mamie Parker, former head of Fisheries and Northeast Director at the US Fish & Wildlife Service kicked off the Summit with an inspirational keynote address on A Change in Climate - Preparing the Next Generation with Passion, Inspiration and Excellence. Senator Reed provided remarks during the lunch.
Summit participants attended 30 workshops on land and water conservation, environmental education and non-profit management. Materials from many workshops are here: landandwaterpartnership.org/summit2020.php
Mark your calendars for the 2021 conference which will be held on Saturday March 20, 2021 at the URI Memorial Union.
New Boardwalks Improve Caratunk Trails
In the chilly February weather, Audubon conservation staff built and installed new boardwalks in areas of the Caratunk Wildlife Refuge trails in Seekonk, MA. Designed to help visitors navigate through muddy stretches, they have been put to good use with the increase of pedestrian traffic over the last few months. Thank you to Board Member Nate Chace and his wife Mary for funding this much-needed trail improvement project.
Providence Stormwater Innovation Center
Roger Williams Park is now home to the new Providence Stormwater Innovation Center (PSIC). This innovative approach to testing and educating on stormwater practices has been developed in partnership with the City of Providence Parks Department, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, The Nature Conservancy, the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension and the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center.
The goal of the PSIC is to demonstrate strategies to communities throughout Rhode Island and Southeast New England for improving urban water quality and associated wildlife habitat through the use of innovative green stormwater practices. When rain falls on roofs, streets and parking lots, the water cannot soak into the ground. The water picks up contaminants, trash and bacteria from streets and lawns and often flows directly into a waterbody. Stormwater is a major cause of stream and pond pollution in urban areas. When water quality of rivers and ponds is impaired, so is the quality of habitat for fish, aquatic animals and other wildlife in the ecosystem. Green stormwater infrastructure captures rain runoff and it is naturally filtered by soil and plants. This process reduces pollution that enters a stream or pond and improves the overall health of the watershed. A wide range of green infrastructure has already been implemented in Roger Williams Park to reduce stormwater contaminants from entering the ponds and degrading water quality. Examples can be found all around the park, including rain gardens, bioretention systems, infiltration basins and sand filters.
The Stormwater Innovation Center will use these structures and practices to provide hands-on training and learning opportunities for municipalities, engineers, construction companies, and scientists who will learn from the successes and failures of their design, implementation, and maintenance. The use of green stormwater structures is a relatively new management practice. Testing innovative design features and implementation and maintenance techniques will increase the overall knowledge of the stormwater community in Rhode Island and the greater region.
Extensive water quality and environmental monitoring will be done over the coming years to document the effects that green stormwater structures have on the health of the ponds in the park. The goal of the monitoring is to better understand how and why green stormwater structures function while engaging the community in the process whenever possible. The structures will also be used in collaboration with the Providence Parks Department and Audubon’s summer camps to teach kids about stormwater, water quality, and the environmental benefits to green infrastructure.
For more details Click Here. Watch for more updates in future issues of the Audubon Report.
A child’s sense of wonder is endless. Has your child or grandchild impressed you with the name of every dinosaur discovered? Do they know every African animal that roams the Safari? What about the wildlife in your own backyard? So many children learn to identify creatures from far away places, but don’t know the animals that thrive here in New England.
There is no easier way to connect kids with nature than birding. Pull out some binoculars and get the whole family interested in the world outside your window. Birds can be found year round, in any habitat, and the learning possibilities are virtually endless. All you need are a few simple tools.
The easiest way to see and attract birds is with a feeder. This can be store bought, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, or consider creating one at home. Making a feeder can encourage your child’s sense of stewardship. Children take great pride in watching birds come to a feeder they have made. It can be as simple as spreading peanut butter on a pinecone and rolling it into seed or as complex as building one out of wood. This brings us to our next tool - a field guide. Start out simply. Stoke’s Beginners Guide to Birds Eastern Region is a great place to begin. You don’t need a field guide that has all North American birds, it can be quite overwhelming. Observing birds and looking at a field guide will help your child learn the different shapes and sizes of birds, in what habitats the bird is likely to be found, and distinguishing features.
Another helpful tool for birding is a pair of binoculars. Your child’s age and ability will determine what binoculars to start with. If you have a toddler you may want to start with a set of plastic children’s binoculars. These let your child get a sense of how to use binoculars with out the worry of damaging them. As children mature, they can graduate to a pair of compact binoculars that tend to be a bit lighter in weight than full size optics.
When teaching your child to use their binoculars, start at the feeder. Teach your child to look at the bird without the binoculars. Keep their eyes on the bird as they bring the binoculars up to eye view. Can they see the bird? Show them how to focus. Hours can be spent practicing this from a window or backyard deck. Once you move to the field, birding will become much harder and frustrating if they haven’t mastered this skill. If the kids are having trouble once you’ve headed out on the trails, try a pond where ducks or larger birds can be found. Larger, slower moving birds are good for practice. Just be patient, and enjoy watching the birds. As children get more skilled, try using your field guide and identify what species you are observing.
Birding with your family can be a hobby that grows with your child. As they become more curious, take trips to different habitats to see a wide variety of birds. In turn, they are learning about nature and the wildlife found here in Rhode Island. Interested in heading out with an expert? Audubon hosts many walks throughout the year that can introduce the whole family to the world of birding. Grab those binoculars and go!
Story by Laura Carberry
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THANK YOU!
The following individuals have made donations to Audubon in memory of loved ones or as gifts in honor of family and friends. These thoughtful remembrances support Audubon and the conservation and protection of Rhode Island’s natural environment.
The people listed below have been honored by family and friends who found a gift to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island to be the most meaningful way to celebrate someone important in their lives.
In Honor of: Cathy Taylor
From: Cortney and David Nicolato
In Honor of: Sarah Becker
From: Daniel Becker
In Honor of: Robert Rowland
From: Donna Rowland
Memorials serve and support the conservation and protection of Rhode Island’s environment. During the past quarter, the families and friends of people listed below have chosen to remember their loved ones through a gift to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
In Memory of: Mary C. Gray
From: Christine Eisenhower • Kermit and Barbara Finstad • John G. Burk and Associates • Mary and Don Brown • Ann E. Taylor Revocable Trust • Carol Ernst Mark Church • Tim Church • Steve Church • Brad Church • Marilyn Grother • Barbara Fowler
In Memory of: Claudette Genevieve Doiron
From: Barbara Wade • Suzanne Dutilly • Sara and Jeremy Jablon-Roberts
In Memory of: Robert “Bob” Berkelhammer
From: Cynthia Warren and Martin Bauermeister • Michael Regen
In Memory of: John Anderson
From: Kathy Rhorman
In Memory of: Joyce Kiley
From: Susan Mignone
In Memory of: Martha J. Tebbenkamp
From: William “Bill” Reinert