Vt. farmers alter hay cutting to save birds
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Times Argus Staff
Times Argus Staff
Times Argus Staff
The Associated Press - Published: June 29, 2009
SHELDON — A University of Vermont researcher is merging science with conservation with a project that pays farmers to help protect grassland songbirds.
The six years wildlife biologist Noah Perlut spent studying Vermont hayfields has resulted in a federal program that pays farmers $135 an acre to cut their hayfields by June 2 and delay their second cutting till mid-July. That gives songbirds like bobolinks time to build nests, hatch eggs and raise their young.
Under the usual haying schedule, most of the nests are destroyed. Before Perlut's study, researchers assumed that postponing all cutting until after nesting season was the only way to protect the birds.
The Burlington Free Press says four landowners are participating this year.
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