The Sebasticook Regional Land Trust plans to host two programs focused on managing agricultural lands for grassland bird species.
The programs, set for Saturday, June 1, and Wednesday, June 19, will cover Bobolinks and other bird species which rely on agricultural fields in central Maine, with ways suggested for farmers and land managers to co-exist with nesting bird populations.
The June 1 presentation, 7 a.m. at the Richardson Memorial Preserve on Stevens Road in Unity, will be led by Laura Suomi-Lecker, Ag Allies program manager with the Somerset County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Tom Aversa, Sebasticook Regional Land Trust board chair. Attendees can learn about the behavior and habitat needs of grassland birds and how SRLT has repurposed fields contaminated with PFAS for grassland bird habitat.
After the presentation, Aversa will lead an optional walk along Sandy Stream and through the Richardson Memorial Preserve to see the diverse habitat influenced by bird-friendly timber management.
The June 19 presentation, at 6:30 p.m., focuses on managing harvests to benefit grassland birds. Led by Aversa, attendees will visit SRLT’s Albion Bread Farm easement property on East Benton Road in Albion to experience how forage harvest which maximizes grassland bird reproduction has increased Bobolink numbers. Landowners at the Albion Bread Farm have delayed cutting prime habitat until grassland birds fledge.
Learn more and RSVP for both programs at sebasticookrlt.org.