Community Conversations: Land management and bird conservation

Community Conversations is an opportunity to join local experts and community members virtually. This program series addresses important issues, from affordable farmland to building a community forest, and explores how they connect to conservation. One-hour Zoom sessions will include brief presentations, time for questions and answers, and the opportunity to connect with others.

This month, we will explore how the conservation of birds and land management practices inform and support one another.

Ben Nickley, Executive Director of the Berkshire Bird Observatory, will be joined by Heidi Bock, Vice President of Conservation at CLC, to discuss MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) research to discuss MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) research and Kestrel conservation work conducted at Ooms this past summer. Bock will highlight how CLC manages the land at Ooms for grassland birds and specific management practices utilized at the site. Nickley will speak about the mission of the Berkshire Bird Observatory and share why researching bird populations at sites like Ooms is so important.

Register here for the conversation.

Meet the speakers: 

Ben Nickley is a scientist with a passion for birds and the ecosystems they are an integral part of. Always fascinated by nature, he got his start in science at Ohio State University where his research was recognized with an award at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. Since then, Ben has travelled across North America pursuing avian field studies for nonprofits, universities, and state governments—picking up his master’s in biology along the way. He is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and has presented his work at international conferences. Helping others connect with the natural world through birds is his forte and his mission. His role as Executive Director is to oversee the day-to-day operations of BBO and steer its development. Ben feels privileged to have landed in the Berkshires and could not think of a better place to do the work he loves.

Heidi Bock is the Vice President of Conservation at CLC, overseeing the organization’s conservation efforts as outlined in the Strategic Plan. She manages land protection and stewardship initiatives, connects communities to public lands, and helps coordinate educational programs and resources to empower residents to care for their own land.