How many of you have actually seen the unheralded muskrat at the Preserve without confusing it with a beaver or some other mammal? From our observations over the years, we know that their populations fluctuate from year to year.

Did you know muskrats may be natural conservationists by creating bird habitat through building their homes? Muskrats are native ecosystem engineers, changing the structure of wetlands by building their homes, or lodges and creating openings within dense vegetation. To understand how muskrats transform wetlands and impact use by other animals, we placed cameras in wetlands pointed at muskrat lodges. We have invited two experts on muskrats to inform us about the muskrat and to share the results of their work, and the potential to harness the positive effects of muskrats to improve bird conservation.

Dr. Leo Chan Gaskins is a community ecologist, David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow at University of Chicago, and research partner with Audubon Great Lakes. He is a former NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and earned his PhD from Duke University. Kayla Lindsay Fisher is the Senior Stewardship Associate for Audubon Great Lakes. She works closely with habitat restoration interns, volunteer stewards, landowners, funders, and partner organizations to implement stewardship strategies as a key component to sustainable conservation across Audubon’s key geographies, with a particular focus on the wetland complexes of the Calumet Region of Illinois and Indiana. We are quite fortunate to have two experts of this stature come to our historical cabin for this general meeting. Come join us for an informative program!