A Record Breaking Night for the Nature Museum!
A big thank you to Sue Morse for leading a fascinating talk sponsored by The Nature Museum on the cougars return to the east. This was our largest audience on record ever so thank you to everyone who came out! It was standing room only in the News Bank Conference Center in Chester to hear Morse, a nationally recognized naturalist, speak on the current status of cougars and more broadly on the presence of wild cats here in Vermont.
Sue Morse
What remains today is the feeling of elation, and I hope, a lasting impact from the experience and the connections made. It is exhilarating to see the excitement of our guests as they connected with Sue and with nature in ways that promise to outlast this event. I am eager to hear audience feedback and ask you to complete the short audience survey form on our website.
Vermont's wild cats include bobcats and Canadian lynx, both of which are breeding here in the Green Mountain State. There have been no confirmed cougar sightings as yet by the VT Fish and Wildlife Department, but Morse was jazzed about a confirmed sighting in late November in Tennessee. Morse stressed the importance of our role in conserving the natural habitats of wildlife. While we are lucky here in Vermont to have large tracts of unspoiled land, further to the south in states like New York and Pennsylvania there is greater development and that makes connectivity a challenge for migrating wildlife. It's vital that we recognize our role in the ecosystem and commit ourselves to working with others to preserve habitats so that animals can make these migrations safely.
To learn more about Morse's work, please visit her site, Keeping Track.
Cougar Track Cookies,
courtesy of The Grafton Village bakery
Executive Director carrie king with sue morse and board president Laurie danforth
Great crowd!