Biodiversity Day 2000

Biodiversity Day 2000 will be here shortly. For 24 hours beginning Friday, September 8, experts and students from throughout Connecticut will converge on Madison in this Menunkatuck Audubon Society sponsored event.

For the first time in the Connecticut shoreline area, teams of experts will search out and record the various non-microscopic life forms in the principal habitats of our region. Their findings can provide the raw material for an evaluation of the health and vitality of the area's different ecosystems, and provide a benchmark against which to measure future changes either positive or negative.

Specialists in the following fields will attend: entomology, mycology, botany, ichthyology, ornithology, dendrology, herpetology, and lepidoptery. More than 70 well known experts in their fields will assist in this extensive study of most, if not all, of Madison's numerous ecosystems. Because of the complex interrelationships within a balanced ecosystem, teams of experts from each field will closely examine each site and record their findings. Some of the data, specimens, and observations will be further assessed in off-site labs.

Madison was chosen as the site for Menunkatuck's first Biodiversity Day because it offers many ideal conditions. There are a dozen different ecosystems within Madison's boundaries, including many that lie wholly or partially within publicly owned land. The headquarters for the event will be at the Bauer Park, a town owned property, and already the site of considerable activity in the areas of environmental study and conservation. Bauer Park itself also includes a number of the ecosystems to be studied: fresh water marshes and ponds, swamps, grasslands, rocky outcrops, and agricultural areas.

A summary report of all findings will be published and made available to participants and interested individuals and institutions in Madison and elsewhere. Results should be of particular interest to the Madison Land Conversation Trust, land use planners, and other environmental organizations. Madison Public TV and the Coastal Camera Club will cover the event.

Underwriters for Biodiversity Day 2000 include United Illuminating (Earth Partner Grant), the Audubon Council of Connecticut, the Town of Madison, the Madison Garden Club, the Madison Land Conservation Trust, and Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale.

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Last updated 18 September, 2004 .