Connecticut Audubon Society
Center at Pomfret

189 Pomfret St. (Rte.169)
Pomfret Center, CT 06259
860-928-4948

Visitor Hours:

Our Center at Pomfret is open
Mondays thru Fridays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays, noon-4 p.m.
Click here for Directions

Our 700-acre Bafflin Sanctuary is open
daily dawn to dusk year-round.

General Information
The rural beauty of Connecticut’s "Quiet Corner" surrounds Connecticut Audubon Society's newest facility in the northeastern region of the state. The Connecticut Audubon Society's Center at Pomfret is a new community-based facility that offers environmental education programs, bird walks and many opportunities to learn about and explore the natural world.

Our newest facility serves as the gateway to the adjoining 700-acre Connecticut Audubon Society Bafflin Sanctuary with its vast rolling meadows, forests, streams and fertile grassland habitats. The successful combination of a Center and wildlife sanctuary greatly expands environmental learning. Aerial photo of the Bafflin Sanctuary courtesy GLSweetnam.

Nothing enriches learning like first-hand outdoor experience and outdoor teaching surrounded by the natural beauty of a "classroom without walls.” The Center at Pomfret features:

• Expansive and diverse 700-acre Bafflin Sanctuary adjoins the Center.
• New classroom where people of all ages can experience hands-on environmental education programs.
• Offices and meeting rooms that serve as a gathering place for people interested in volunteering, teaching and making a contribution to the the environmental community in the northeast corner.
• After-school and weekend environmental programs.
• Day and evening hikes in Bafflin Sanctuary.
• Seasonal lectures and workshops.
• Changing natural history exhibits.
• Teacher workshops.
  

2009 Summer Nature Day Camp

Join us for some real adventure this summer! Get ready to get dirty and explore the wonders of the natural world. Our groups are small, limited to 20 campers per week, so there’s plenty of hands-on time with instructors. We’ll catch crayfish, explore the woods, identify birds, plants and insects, go hiking and eco-journaling. Our adventures may include our 700-acre Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret, our 167-acre Trail Wood Sanctuary in Hampton, or field trips in eastern Connecticut. Click here for our flyer.

--Camp runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. except where noted below. Campers must bring their own lunch; we supply a healthy afternoon snack.

--Weekly fee: $195/child CAS Members; $250/child Non-members (includes a free 1-year CAS Family Membership). Register today; space is limited. Call 860-928-4948 or e-mail sheminway@ctaudubon.org.

Week 1: Turtles, Snakes & Frogs

June 22-26.

Junior Naturalists (ages 6-9) will enjoy a week with the fish, frogs, turtles, crayfish and everything else that swims or crawls in our ponds and streams. Wear old sneakers and plan on getting wet!

Week 2: Bird Festival

June 29-July 3.

Junior Naturalists (ages 6-9) will celebrate the incredible birds of northeastern Connecticut! Learn to recognize our native birds, their calls and behavior through games, activities and crafts.  Hike on our Pomfret and Hampton Wildlife Sanctuaries, exploring different habitats in search of our many birds and natural materials for various projects. Opportunity to band birds.

Week 3: Young Biologists Program
July 6-10.

Campers (ages 10-13) will spend each day with an expert in their field, including an ornithologist, lepidopterist and a botanist. We’ll explore the issue of climate change, go bird banding, collect aquatic invertebrates, search for mammal signs and identify moths and butterflies to help inventory the many wildlife species on our Sanctuary. Optional camping overnight on Thursday ($30 extra). Enjoy cooking over campfires, night hikes, constellation lessons and more Night Owl fun.

Week 4: Something Fishy
July 13-17.

Junior Naturalists (ages 6-9) will learn all about fish. Practice casting, learn about all the native fish in our waters, take a trip to the hatchery and plan on getting your CT DEP fishing certification. Plus “Gyotaku” (the traditional art of Japanese fish printing) and lots of other crazy, fish-orientated activities.

Weeks 5 and 6: Surf & Turf

July 20-24 and July 27-31.

Children 7 years and older will enjoy hiking our Wildlife Sanctuaries, berry picking and going to the shore to discover marine life and enjoy old-fashioned summer fun. Mother Nature will help dictate the activities. Optional camping overnight on Thursday ($30 extra). Enjoy cooking over campfires, night hikes, constellation lessons and Night Owl fun.

Week 6: Nature Photography

July 27-31, 9 a.m.-noon.

Children ages 10-13 will learn about the environment through the camera lens. After a daily lesson in composition, we will head out to our Wildlife Sanctuaries with cameras in hand to record the natural world, shooting a roll of film a day, processing overnight, and creating a photo album to take home. All materials included.

Photo: A Goldfinch is gently held by one of our Center at Pomfret's trained volunteer
bird banders.

2009 Citizen Science Volunteer Programs
(Overview and program descriptions & dates)

Mammal Monitoring Project

What are our wildlife friends doing this summer? Hike with program leaders Paula Coughlin and Fran Baranski to explore habitats and learn how to identify tracks and signs of mammals such as bobcat, moose, river otter, fisher, mink and black bear. We’ll find tracks, scat, marks on trees and signs of feeding that tell us stories of life in the meadows and forest.

We offer three levels of volunteer involvement:
1) “Backyard Tracker” level requires 10-15 hours of participation;
2) “Bafflin Tracker” training requires 20 hours and prepares volunteers to document mammals on our Bafflin Sanctuary;
3) “Volunteer Mammal Monitor” training requires 50 hours of training and prepares volunteers to monitor a study site.
Training hikes, workshops and presentations are offered throughout the year and volunteers can move from one level to the next as their interest and schedule allow. The Citizen Science Mammal Monitoring Project receives support from the NewAlliance Foundation. For information/registration call our Center at 860-928-4948 or contact Citizen Science Coordinator Paula Coughlin at pcoughlin@ctaudubon.org.

Mammal Monitoring & Training Hike

Begin or continue training to become a Citizen Science Mammal Monitor. Our team of volunteers monitors study sites four times a year to collect conservation data. (Call us for to-be-scheduled program date, which will run from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) Fee: $50 CAS Members, $60 Non-members.

StreamWalk 2009

Walk along the stream bank or kayak or wade down a stream to make observations. It’s a great way to spend a summer morning and contribute to stream conservation. In one 3-hour training, you can become part of a growing group of volunteer citizen scientists who conduct valuable research about the health of streams in the Quinebaug River watershed. Once trained, participants can join Paula Coughlin on field trips to collect data, or work on selected stream segments on their own schedule, from June through August. The StreamWalk Project receives partial support from the Watershed Assistance Small Grants Program, conducted in association with the CT Department of Environmental Protection under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, and is administered by the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut. Photo: Paula Coughlin and Ellie Hubbard lead a StreamWalk volunteer group.

StreamWalk Volunteer Training
Sat., May 30, 9 a.m.-noon, or

Fri., June 5, 9 a.m.-noon.

Join us on either date. Fee: $15; call 860-928-4948 to register. Canterbury residents please note: special funding from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service covers the training fee for you to get involved in stream monitoring in your town in 2009!

Source-to-Sea Stream Walk
Sat., June 6, 9 a.m.-noon.

As part of the “Last Green Valley” regional event, join us as we walk in and along a stream and learn about two of our citizen science volunteer monitoring stream projects that investigate watercourse characteristics and aquatic insects that are indicators of water quality. Wear clothes and shoes for walking in a stream; bring hat, water, sunscreen, and a walking stick if you’d like. Limited to 15 participants; children 12 years and older are welcome with a parent. Registration required at 860-928-4948. Fee: $15 adults, $5 children.

Canterbury Grassland Birds Habitat Survey

A New Citizen Science Volunteer Monitoring Program

Have you heard a meadowlark this spring? Have you seen a kestrel hunting in a nearby field? Maybe you’ve noticed an “LBJ” (little brown job) with a yellowish eyebrow stripe in the grass – it could have been a Savannah Sparrow! These are just a few of the grassland bird species whose numbers have dwindled over the years in our state as agricultural fields have reverted to forest lands or development. Perhaps you’ve visited our Bafflin Sanctuary in Pomfret, where Sanctuary Manager Andy Rzeznikiewicz maintains the grassland habitats that provide critical nesting and feeding for threatened bird species. With funding from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, we are initiating a new Citizen Science Volunteer Monitoring project in Canterbury. Durng our June 3 introductory program (see below), project coordinator Paula Coughlin will introduce grassland birds, discuss the efforts to inventory existing grassland habitat and explain how you can get involved in field work this summer. Training and field observations will be scheduled from June through August.

Introductory Program: Grassland Birds Habitat
Wed., June 3, 7:00 p.m.

At Canterbury Library, 1 Municipal Drive (off Route 14). Call 860-928-4948 to register. Free.

Questions? Contact Coordinator Paula Coughlin for more information and to register for any of our Citizen Science programs, at 860-928-4948 or pcoughlin@ctaudubon.org.  

Woodstock Eagle Scout Completes
Community Project on Bafflin Sanctuary

A giant “thank you” goes out to Aaron Landry, a Woodstock resident, recent graduate of EastConn in Brooklyn and newly inducted Eagle Scout. Aaron oversaw a challenging trail improvement project on the Bafflin Sanctuary, including the installation of new railings and trail steps on a Bafflin trail leading up to the CT DEP Airline Trail. Located on a very steep slope, the job required a lot of rough and rocky post-hole digging and stonework. Several new trail signs were also created and installed. Thank you Aaron and BSA Woodstock Troop 27 for the great work. Your efforts have made the Bafflin Sanctuary that much easier to traverse and enjoy.

There’s always more work to be done! If your Cub Scout den or pack or your Scout troop is interested in a community service project, or if you are considering an Eagle Scout project at the Center at Pomfret, the Center at Trail Wood or the Bafflin Sanctuary, please contact: Terry LaVoie, Administrative Assistant, at 860-928-4948 or tlavoie@ctaudubon.org.

Directions
From I-395:
Take Exit 93 and travel West on Route 101.
At the junction of Route 101 and Route 169, turn right onto Route 169 North. Travel 1 mile; our Center will be on your right.

From I-84:**
Take Exit 69. Travel East on Route 74 to Route 44 East.
Where Route 44 meets Route 169, continue East on Route 44 for another 1/4 mile; our Center will be on your right.

From I-91:
Take I-91 to I-84 East and follow directions above.**