Anne Bloomfield
The Best of Both Worlds: An ecologist seeks to balance bird conservation with farming
Anne Bloomfield
Program Manager, Applied Farmscape Ecology Program-Hudson Valley Farm Hub
In the early morning hours at the farm, sometimes just after sunrise, you may catch a glimpse of Anne Bloomfield. She is walking on farm roads or in a field — one of many that make up the tapestry of this farm. She is almost always with her staple of gear and equipment including – backpack, binoculars and notepad. She can instantly identify a specific bird species with a single chip note or a warbling song. Here at the Farm Hub Bloomfield is well known as someone who not only tracks and monitors some 190 species of birds that have been identified at the farm, but also someone with a passion for work that centers on wildlife conservation. She has shared her love of birding with local media outlets including being a special guest on Beakuency, a radio show for bird lovers in the Hudson Valley, as well as Nature Nuggets on Radio Kingston.
At the Hudson Valley Farm Hub Bloomfield leads the Applied Farmscape Ecology Program. The program explores the interactions between farming and wild nature by examining how on-farm habitat conservation or creation can help support regional biodiversity and how such conservation or creation can contribute to farm production. In her role she works collaboratively with researchers who study everything from soil life and water to turtles and insects. The program team works in tandem with farmers to find ways to create an environment that is both ecofriendly and farming friendly.
We don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an endless succession of presents, and to live now as we think humans should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Bloomfield’s career in field biology was in part inspired by her father.
Growing up, her father taught her how to identify birds that would visit a bird feeder outside the kitchen window. On family vacations, he taught her how to fish with a worm and a bobber, a favorite pastime, and how to hike and camp in the mountains. In those early days she learned important lessons and values about how to respectfully and safely be in the backcountry. Never pick wildflowers, always tell someone where you are going and when you will be home, bring a first aid kit and never leave trash behind. These early experiences shaped her future professional and personal life as a biologist, angler, hunter and birder.
Environmental conservation and science ran in the family. Bloomfield’s father worked as a Limnologist where he studied freshwater lakes and ponds for several decades. He was instrumental in helping to restore Brook Trout populations in remote North Country lakes and ponds by studying and improving water quality that had declined due to acid rain. She went on to fish for Brook Trout in the very waters her father helped to study and restore. Her mother ran her own medical practice, demonstrating that women could be successful business owners, doctors and scientists.
“The idea of pursuing a career where I could be in wild places, observing wildlife while also helping to protect the earth was very attractive to me,” says Bloomfield. “Looking back, having role models like my parents, demonstrating that a career doing such work was possible was critical for my professional development.” At the University of Rhode Island she studied Wildlife and Conservation Biology. She became “gripped by and fascinated by birds” during her freshman year.
Top, Bloomfield’s parents and her father helped spark her passion for the outdoors and conservation.
“I was volunteering for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, and I distinctly remember the moment I was hooked. I was standing on top of the old Fleet Bank building in Providence Rhode Island watching a pair of Peregrine Falcons tend to their nest. In that moment something was awakened within me that determined the path of my career,” she recalls. In 2007 she graduated with a degree in wildlife and conservation biology during a recession. Challenges included having to pay off college loans while building a career in a very competitive field. Rather than pursue an advanced degree as many of her fellow classmates did, she took any job that she could, even if it was outside her field of study, including cleaning, writing copy, landscaping, and gardening. She worked seasonal field jobs focused on bird conservation on public land and at research stations, at one point studying puffins in the puffin islands off the coast of Maine and at another Burrowing Owls in the Southwest desert.
Bloomfield has also been an entrepreneur. She previously owned and operated Twinflower Herbals with her sister Amy, a company that specialized in growing and sourcing local herbs and oils for use in home goods and skincare products. The sisters managed every step in the process from growing and sourcing herbs and oils to designing, creating, marketing and selling their products.
In 2015, she joined the Farm Hub as a Field Technician, eventually growing with the organization to lead the Applied Farmscape Ecology Program where she’s been able to combine her passion for outreach and education with a love of the outdoors and environmental conservation.
Q & A with Anne
Read the full interview with Bloomfield. The interview was conducted in early 2024 and has been edited for length and clarity.
Our program’s activities include research, long-term monitoring, habitat management and public engagement. The overall goal of our program is to imagine and support a food system in which biodiversity is valued. In addition, we create and promote Spanish language programming on the topics of agroecology and integrated pest management to create inclusive spaces in the conservation sciences. We examine farmland in the region via two related questions – what can farmland provide in terms of habitat for wildlife conservation and what can the ecology of the farm provide for farming in terms of crop production services such as pollination and pest control?
My project within the research collaborative is a long-term monitoring project which studies habitat use of birds year-round on the farm. Our team is working to make these data publicly available on our website for use by the public, researchers, technical service providers and students by 2025. Habitat use during the nesting season has been documented reasonably well for many bird species. What is less commonly documented is how birds are using specific habitats on farms in our area throughout the year for overwintering and on spring and fall migration. We have also documented nesting in novel crops such as the semi-perennial grain Kernza®, grown by the Land Institute. This study aims to better understand who is using which habitats and when, with the goal of helping to contribute to a body of growing knowledge about habitat use on farms and additionally to assist land managers in making habitat management decisions that are supportive to birds.
My dad was a Limnologist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation protecting freshwater lakes and ponds. The idea of pursuing a career where I could be in wild places and observing wildlife while also helping to protect the earth was very attractive to me. Having a role model like my dad, demonstrating that a career doing such work was possible was critical for my professional development. In college, I knew I wanted to enter a program in the environmental sciences. My freshman year I was gripped by and fascinated by birds. I was volunteering for Rhode Island Audubon Society and I distinctly remember the moment I was hooked. I was standing on top of the old Fleet Bank building in Providence Rhode Island watching a pair of Peregrine Falcons tend to their nest. In that moment something was awakened within me that determined the path of my career. I graduated with an undergraduate degree in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. After graduation I held a series of seasonal field jobs focusing on bird conservation that allowed me to gain valuable skills, to travel and to develop my own values and ethics around wildlife conservation.
My hope was to build a career that was satisfying for me and my interests, but also helped protect wildlife populations. In many of my early jobs, the focus was on one specific species, usually on public land or at research stations. Later, I became interested in a more community-oriented approach to conservation. It had become clear to me that managing for wildlife conservation on private lands at a landscape scale, particularly working lands like farmland, would be critical to protecting and supporting many wildlife populations into the future. We cannot view wildlife conservation solely as a field where we look at one specific species on one piece of public land. It takes a coordinated approach among communities across the landscape to make it work. Individually we may not have the answers, but in my experience, when we come together real change is possible. In my work, what brings me a lot of satisfaction and joy is to bring people together to collaborate, communicate and make change together.
My career started out quite typically for a wildlife biologist and then took a decidedly non-traditional turn. I attended a public university and received a bachelor’s degree of science in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. While advanced degrees can be critical in the field of ecology, especially for academic and research positions, it was not the route I took. I graduated during a recession, and it was difficult to find any jobs let alone jobs in my field of study. Despite many uncertainties, I found I was more satisfied and fulfilled gaining experience outside of an academic setting.
My financial goals early in my career were to meet my basic needs and work to pay off my college loans. During this time, I was able to travel for work and see beautiful places from puffin islands off the coast of Maine to studying Burrowing Owls in the desert Southwest. I would not trade these years for anything despite the financial and logistical challenges. During this time, I also took jobs cleaning, writing copy, landscaping and gardening, running my own business and more. Even then, I continued with volunteer work for local conservation organizations. It took me 10 years to find a position where I felt financially stable.
During that time, I gained a lot of hands-on experience and for me that was exactly what I wanted to do. Every job I had was a learning lesson and I met many friends and mentors along the way. Someone recently asked if my current job is a dream job for me and the answer is yes! I couldn’t ask for much more professionally, and I have a lot of gratitude for all of the folks who believed in me, mentored me and supported me along the way. One way I feel I can pay that forward is by supporting and mentoring others whether it be beginning farmers, students, or early career professionals.
What is alluring to me about research is mainly in its applied form. Applied research doesn’t merely ask an interesting question, it is a problem-solving and change-making tool. For example, a paper I cited in this series examines how gender bias and inequity hold women back in their conservation careers. The study examines possible challenges, highlighted results and then indicates how to improve. The act of conducting research builds relationships, allows for deeper focus on a specific research question and helps with problem-solving. In many ways I prefer to be behind the scenes coordinating the research of others. I consider myself lucky every day to come to work and do just that within our research collaborative. Being able to fund, support and coordinate the work of others in a supportive way is extremely satisfying to me.
What it will take to overcome the remaining challenges women face in ecology is for everyone to contribute. Oftentimes, a disenfranchised or underrepresented group ends up doing the work required to make systemic change. It should not fall solely on the folks impacted to create solutions and fix systemic problems. This will require folks of all gender identities and backgrounds to come together around this issue and imagine and create the change we need via improvements to workplace practices. Fixing systemic issues goes beyond equal representation in the workplace, but that is a critical start. When I think of what the future looks like, I imagine more women publishing in journals and advancing in academic roles, equal pay for women in the conservation sector, better representation of women in game species management and fisheries, an increase in women in leadership roles and a reduction in sexual harassment and discrimination for women in the workplace in the conservation sciences.
What I wish I could have told myself at the start of my career
- Seek supportive mentors who believe in you
- Ask for what you need or want, advocate for yourself
- Find a group of likeminded people who can offer support
- Believe in your abilities
- Ask for help when you need it
- Consider jobs where women are underrepresented such as game species and fisheries
- Serve on boards and engage in activities where women are historically underrepresented
Earlier in my career I lacked the confidence and the experience that I have now. At the time, there were folks in senior or management positions who I looked up to and respected as mentors. These same people I respected, also communicated messages to me about what they felt I was not capable of. Early in our careers it can be easy to listen to these messages and believe them. Sometimes we can be underestimated or made to feel like we need to prove ourselves. This is an unfortunate reality for many women in ecology. I was told I would never be in a management position, or I would never make a career out of studying birds. Today I have done all these things and much more. I think it is important to be humble about the things one needs to improve upon and to be able to take criticism well, but it is equally as important to believe in yourself and your competencies.
“In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
– Albert Camus
Resources
Click here for Anne Bloomfield’s research page.