Habitat Improvement
Planting one of the 450 new shrubs and trees at the Smith Richard Preserve. Photo by Scott Kruitbosch
We’re working on long-term habitat restoration projects at several of Connecticut Audubon Society’s sanctuaries: Smith Richardson in Westport, Morgan Chaney in Montville, Trail Wood in Hampton, Bafflin in Pomfret, and Croft in Goshen.
Below, you can find basic information and links to learn more about how birds and other wildlife will benefit from those projects. We’ll be adding more as the days pass.
Smith Richardson
With the help of scores of volunteers and a major grant from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, the Connecticut Audubon Society is transforming 36 weed-choked acres in Westport into a thriving sanctuary for birds, pollinators, and native plants.
The funding is earmarked for a section of the H. Smith Richardson Wildlife Preserve on Sasco Creek Road. It will allow Connecticut Audubon to plant 1,200 trees and shrubs chosen for their value to birds and other wildlife, and to continue the creation of a two-acre pollinator meadow. Invasive plants and vines that have far less value to birds and insects are being removed.
A description of the sanctuary
January 2018
Major Federal grant
May 2018
Volunteers plant 450 trees
April 2018
Native plant sale
October 2016
Progress report
September 2016
Jerid O’Connell on why Smith Richardson is important
July 2016
A neighborhood sanctuary
Morgan Chaney
June 2017
Look for shrub-nesting birds in the newly-created habitat at the Morgan Chaney preserve
Croft
October 2012
Moose at the Croft Preserve
June 2012
Cottontails and Weevils
February 2011
Winter inhabitants
