Join us in welcoming Grace McCulloch to the New Hampshire Audubon Staff as our new Community Science Project Leader. Grace has joined the team at the McLane Center part time, and will shift to full time in June. Passionate about wildlife and habitat conservation, Grace is currently completing a master’s degree at the University of New Hampshire where she studies the vulnerable Saltmarsh Sparrow and the factors that predict its occupancy and nesting locations in the state. She has a variety of stories to tell about life working in the salt marsh, including falling in marsh holes, kayaking to field sites while watching the world wake up around her, and recapturing the first bird she ever banded.
Her love for wildlife merges with a passion for connecting communities to the wildlife and habitats we share here in New Hampshire. As the old saying goes, “We protect what we love.” Grace comes with a diverse set of experiences from conducting point counts in northern Vermont to working as an education intern at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park to her recent fellowship at Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve where she advises on best practices for work in salt marshes where vulnerable birds nest. Here at NH Audubon, she is excited to manage New Hampshire Bird Records, NH eBird, the Volunteer Naturalist Program, and the Backyard Winter Bird Survey, as she learns from biologist Becky Suomala.
In her free time, you will find Grace photographing wildlife, hiking, and (recently) surfing. Grace grew up in Concord and is looking forward to being back in her hometown, wandering the forests where she first discovered a love for nature.