The Conservation Commission recently attended this presentation of Vermont Fish and Wildlife - Community wildlife Program.

The concept of maintaining intact forest in Vermont is not new and is something that town planning and conservation commissions have been implementing for years. But as rural sprawl has increased forest fragmentation and the VT Legislature passed Vermont's Forest Integrity law (often referred to as Act 171), the topic is receiving increased interest. The Department of Forests, Parks, & Recreation and the Fish & Wildlife Department has worked with partners to put together a video series highlighting this important topic. The video series pulls together interviews from a diversity of professionals in the field; from foresters, biologists to planners and volunteers working at the local level.

Jericho Underhill Land Trust Annual Meeting

Monday, October 2^nd 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Underhill Town Hall

Come celebrate a busy year of land conservation at our Annual Meeting! Refreshments start at 6:30 p.m. with a short business meeting at 7 p.m. We are delighted to have Jaclyn Comeau, a wildlife biologist and the Black Bear Project Leader for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department as our guest speaker. Her topic will be about living with black bears.

For over nine years, Jaclyn has led black bear research and education in Vermont. As a Black Bear Project Leader, she works to coordinate and conduct research evaluating the effects of industrial wind development within large bear-scarred beech concentrations on black bears. She also captures black bears to fit them with satellite GPS collars. She studies black bear activity and habitat use via telemetry and remote camera data. She evaluates roads as potential landscape barriers in cooperation with Staying Connected Initiative. And finally, Jaclyn assists Vermont residents with resolving human-bear conflicts. Bring your questions and learn more about our important black bear neighbors.

If you missed the Rain Garden presentation on April 19th, we have a link to the manual published by UVM and Sea Grant.

What are some of the benefits of a rain garden?

• Reduces stormwater runoff
• Improves water quality
• Helps control flash flooding
• Removes Pollutants
• Provides Wildlife Habitat

Read more about using nature-based solutions to manage runoff on your property. 2021 Rain Garden Manual for Vermont and the Lake Champlain Basin

Help Birds and Pollinators by adding some native plants to your gardens this year. Plants are Vermont-grown at Riverberry Farm in Fairfax and will be available for pick up in Jericho. Proceeds from the plant sale will benefit the Jericho Community Center. The deadline for placing orders is April 30th.

More details and Plant Order Form here: https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2023/02/pollinator-plant-sale-2023-community.html

The Conservation Commission reminds you to take down your bird feeders and store them until December. Learn more about the importance of reducing bear-human interactions and how each of us can help.

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-03-23/bear-incidents-are-on-the-rise-in-vermont-what-should-you-do-to-avoid-them

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/living-with-wildlife/living-with-black-bears

To continue providing food for birds when you shouldn't put out a feeder consider using berry-producing plants and plants and trees that support the life cycles of native caterpillars. Did you know that a Black-capped Chickadee (and most songbirds) feeds its young exclusively on tiny moth caterpillars? You can create a nature-based buffet for the birds and help keep bears away and safe just by adding certain native plants to your garden.

https://www.audubon.org/native-plants

jerichovt.org/backyard-habitat

Photos: Sabina Ernst

Read more about the role that clean water plays in building climate resilience in these fact sheets published by the VNRC.

Jericho, Vermont is part of the Lake Champlain Watershed: The Browns River feeds into the Lamoille River and the Mill Brook feeds into the Winooski River.

Click on each image to read the PDF.

How to Participate

Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 17-20, 2023.

Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.
• If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list

If you already contribute to Merlin or eBird, continue what you are doing! All entries over the 4-days count towards GBBC.

Learn more at: BIRDCOUNT.ORG