Six UVM students from the Rubenstein School's NR206 class entitled Environmental Problem Solving joined forces with Audubon Vermont to help Chimney Swifts in Burlington this past fall. NR206, which is required for seniors in the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, is geared towards giving students experience outside the classroom while simultaneously helping partners complete projects in the community.  

Audubon Vermont's project was designed with the intention of helping to both increase awareness about Chimney Swifts as well as do something tangible for this declining species. The six students who chose to work on the project - Tyler, Alex, Jon, Michael, James, and Cory - were enthusiastic about the idea of helping to identify key habitats in the Burlington area (ie chimneys used for nesting and/or roosting), and also wanted to build a swift tower that would provide additional habitat.

Audubon Vermont is partnering with Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to assess where swifts are in the state and determine what the conservation needs are in various urban areas around the state.  In the spring and summer of 2019, Audubon Vermont asked the public to report their Chimney Swift sightings to eBird, and almost 400 reports came in from mid-May through August from all over the state.  Unfortunately by the time the NR206 class got underway, Vermont's Chimney Swifts had headed south towards their wintering grounds.  Not having any swifts in Burlington by mid-September limited the students' ability to analyze existing habitat, so they turned their attention to building the tower and potentially providing new habitat for the swifts.

After some false starts and struggles finding the funding to buy materials for the tower, the students were finally able to purchase the materials from Clifford Lumber, who sold many of the supplies at a discount. They needed a space to do their work, and VYCC generously offered their workshop as well as their very experienced staffperson Stephen Cohen to assist in cutting and fitting the various conponents. They also needed to find a location for the tower, and met with Dan Cahill at the Burlington Parks Department to look at various locations along the Waterfront.

By the time the semester ended, the tower was nearly complete. While the students weren't able accomplish all that they set out to do, they worked hard.  In addition to learning about the habitat needs of Chimney Swifts, they learned how engaged and helpful the community is when it comes to bird conservation, how those of us in the non-profit world have to work together to make things happen, and how asking for funding and help is often necessary to accomplish conservation-oriented tasks.  The hope is that the spring semester NR206 students will pick up where things were left off, and that there will be a new nesting and roosting tower in Burlington by the time the birds return in the spring.

For more information on Audubon Vermont's Chimney Swift project, visit: https://vt.audubon.org/conservation/chimney-swift-recovery