Grassland Stewardship

Join us for the "Summer Songbird Celebration" Sunday June 13, from 1:30 - 4PM at the Coxsackie Creek Grassland Preserve.  Enjoy a guided exploration of the Grassland Preserve, summer grassland birds and wetlands! Learn how to identify grassland birds in the field with your eyes and ears!  (click for more information)

Own Night (February 27, 2010) a great success - See Photos

This section of the website is under construction. Check back often for additional information.

Building on recent success with grassland conservation in the corridor between Catskill and New Baltimore, the GLT is working with a number of partners to accomplish further conservation of this important habitat. The GLT has been awarded a grant from the Hudson River Estuary Program to undertake a two-pronged approach to promoting community based grassland conservation.

Initially focused on conservation of effective habitat for the Northern Harrier, a NYS threatened species, the focus of this effort has been expanded to include the short-eared owl as well as other grassland species such as the upland sand piper and henslow’s sparrow.

Education and Outreach

First, the project will focus on extensive education and outreach. GLT, working closely with the habitat advisory committee, will develop an education strategy targeted at multiple audiences. Primary audiences will include kids, who will be reached by programs at the middle and elementary schools as well as at summer recreation programs. A second priority audience will be municipal decision makers including town and village boards, planning boards and others. The education and outreach component will also include the development of a wide range of informational materials such as fact sheets, brochures, signage, news articles and other media. This component will also include the production of 3-4 interpretive signs that will be posted at locations where the public can pull up and learn about the importance of grasslands.

Working with Landowners

The second component of the project will be the development of a program that will promote voluntary grassland stewardship by private property owners. The program will be incentive based, providing technical assistance, habitat plans for individual properties and signage that landowners can display to acknowledge their participation.  The goal is to develop a simple set of habitat management guidelines that landowners can voluntarily follow. The GLT and its partners also hope to be able to offer other incentives such as nesting boxes, constriction of small ponds or wetlands, reseedings of lands, grassland mowing and others. If landowners wish, the GLT will consider enhancing the program by holding permanent conservation easements. Together, these activities are expected to have a positive impact on long term grassland habitat conservation.  

 

---