Activities

 

Chapter activities include the following:

  • Monthly Meetings: These evening programs are both entertaining and informative. Recent talks have covered a wide diversity of subjects such as Bobcats of Connecticut, Snowy Owls, and Horseshoe Crabs.
  • Film Screenings: Monthly screenings of independent films on environmental topics are sponsored in conjunction with Audubon Connecticut.
  • Field Trips: These include birding excursions for both beginners and experienced birders, nature walks, and outdoor conservation activities. We also hold an annual Birdathon.
  • Conservation Activities: Chapter volunteers are actively involved in MAS's major project to enhance the wildlife habitat at Hammonasset State Park. MAS supports local Land Trusts as well as such endeavors as the Falkner Island Tern Project and the Heron Rookery Management Project.
  • Educator Workshops: Menunkatuck sponsors periodic natural history workshop for local educators and interested town commissions.
  • Know Your Natural Neighbors: This initiative focuses on biodiversity, educating the public and helping document the biodiversity in our area. Our first Biodiversity Day was held on September 9, 2000 in Madison, our second was September 8, 2001, in Guilford and our third was in Branford on September 12-13, 2003.
  • A Newsletter: This publication provides members with information about field trips, meetings, and other activities of interest.
  • A Sanctuary: National Audubon owns the 300-acre Guilford Salt Meadow Sanctuary along Guilford's East River. Menunkatuck utilizes this and other public and privately owned properties for walks and research.
  • A Scholarship: MAS is now providing a graduating high school senior with a $500 scholarship to recognize achievement in the study of the natural sciences, to stimulate further development of the individual, and facilitate further education. Alternate scholarships are awarded to students to attend environment-oriented summer camps.
  • Long Island Sound Watershed Alliance: MAS supports the activities of LISWA , a coalition of Connecticut and New York organizations dedicated to restoring the health of Long Island Sound.
  • King/Robinson School Adoption: MAS has adopted King/Robinson Inter-district Magnet School in New Haven with the aim of fostering in the students a greater appreciation of science, nature, and the environment.