On Monday Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Audubon Society announced the designation of five “Important Bird Areas” in need of protection.
The Audubon Society says these are places where bird species may be under threat – species like the saltmarsh sparrow, which scientists say could be extinct within 50 years due to coastal development and rising sea levels.
The five spots include the mouth of the Connecticut River in Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, the Lyme Forest and the Housatonic State Forest in Sharon and Lakeville. They include state-owned and private lands, and they’re mostly state parks or wildlife management areas.
The Audubon Society says people who own land in these places could be eligible for state grants to help protect birds on their land.
