Wildlife and Connecticut’s Changing Landscapes with Wildlife Biologist Ginny Apple

With Master Wildlife Conservationist, Ginny Apple, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Landscapes are dynamic ecosystems, and Connecticut’s landscape has changed through the centuries from almost completely forested in the 1600’s to cleared land by the mid-1800’s. Presently, the state is almost 60 percent forested. What has been the impact of these dramatic changes on Connecticut’s wildlife populations, who depend on the land for habitat?

With this presentation, Ginny Apple will address that question, starting with a brief natural history of Connecticut. She will also discuss the current state of wildlife that has been impacted by these changing landscapes, including a discussion of major species, factors affecting their habitats, and some challenges we face in managing them. She will also provide suggestions for what people can do to make a difference. Several animal pelts and skulls will be on display. Questions and comments are welcome throughout and after the discussion.

A native Texan, Apple was one of the first full-time women sportswriters in the country, who left the field mid-career to pursue a path in communications/public relations. Through the years she has hiked, climbed, kayaked, skied and poked her way through the outdoors and developed a passion for all things natural.

A move to the middle of the woods in Barkhamsted, CT twenty years ago brought her into an environment filled with bears and other wildlife. Living in a house surrounded by Peoples State Forest, she observes a large population of Black Bears and supplies field notes and photographs on them to DEEP bear biologists. Her affinity for this magnificent creature led her out west to participate in a Grizzly research mission in Montana and to become a Master Wildlife Conservationist with DEEP. Apple has been a Bald Eagle interpreter for the Shepaug Dam Eagle Observation area for 13 years and monitors Bald Eagle and Osprey nests throughout the State.
Apple is Chair of the Barkhamsted Conservation Commission and also serves on the Boards of the Farmington River Watershed Association, the Friends of American Legion and Peoples State Forests (FALPS), the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society, the Northwoods Land Conservancy, the Friends of Connecticut State Parks and is on the Town Economic Development Commission. She volunteers regularly with the Barkhamsted Historical Society (BHS) and helps several of these organizations with their social media and website maintenance.

Bobcat photo by Kent Girty, Imagining Lyme 2024