This webinar will feature two stories of communities taking action to reduce mortality of amphibians on roads where there is high migration crossing activity each Spring. We’ll learn from Brett Amy Thelen how data collected by volunteers led a small New Hampshire city to close a local road to vehicle traffic on amphibian migration nights, in partnership with a local conservation organization. We’ll also learn from Chris Slesar about the creation of an award-winning wildlife crossing culvert between two areas of critical amphibian habitat in Monkton, VT. Both Brett and Chris will share lessons learned and strategies for implementing similar conservation actions.

Register here.

Information on the full series can be found here.

Speaker Bios 

Brett Amy Thelen is the Science Director at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, New Hampshire. She has been directing citizen science programming since 2007, first with Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory and now at the Harris Center. She received her M.S. in Environmental Studies: Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England in 2007. In addition to her work with the Harris Center, Brett writes for Northern Woodlands.

Chris Slesar is the Environmental Resources Coordinator at the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and coordinates the work of VTrans’ Biological, Archaeological, and Historic Preservation staff. Chris works closely with environmental stewardship initiatives that support VTrans’ mission and environmental stewardship ethic; with a focus on habitat connectivity. Outside of his work in state government, he is a member of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Scientific Advisory Group and was the volunteer municipal project manager for the design and construction of a wildlife crossing in the town of Monkton, Vermont. This amphibian/wildlife crossing project received at Federal Highway Administration 2017 Environmental Excellence Award for Ecosystems, Habitat, and Wildlife.