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Come join our Spring Educational Presentation and Member Meeting This event is open to the public.
Monday, April 13 at the Riverfront Community Center
6:00pm, there will be a social hour to enjoy conversation, a picnic type dinner and allow GPIP volunteers to sign-up early for spring and summer garden planting/work dates.
7:00pm GPIP holds a brief business meeting (15 to 20 minutes)
7:20-ish - presentation on "Tick Talk" given by our guest speakers from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Dr. Jessica Brown and Natalie Bailey.
The presentation is designed to raise awareness about ticks and their associated risks in our communities and to provide practical strategies for prevention and control. The talk will explore current trends in tick prevalence, methods to minimize tick bite risk, and control strategies to reduce tick populations in residential areas. The presentation will also highlight emerging invasive tick species that pose new challenges to public health and local ecosystems.
Finally, the presentation will briefly touch on the spotted lanternfly, another invasive species impacting agriculture and the environment, and share insights from current research to help you understand its spread and management.
The goal is to equip you with both an understanding of these threats and best practices you can implement to protect yourself, your family, and your property.
Our Speakers
Dr. Jessica (Jess) Brown is a postdoctoral scientist at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. While earning her bachelor’s degree in wildlife science, Jess conducted undergraduate research and quickly developed a passion for studying parasites in wildlife, particularly through a One Health lens. She went on to investigate parasite defense mechanisms in small mammals, completing her PhD in Ecology at Penn State in 2024. She now researches integrated tick management strategies, focusing primarily on reducing tick populations by treating wildlife hosts. Jess loves the interdisciplinary nature of vector ecology and enjoys the many opportunities for community outreach that come with it. When she’s not collecting ticks, Jess can be found birdwatching, reading, snowboarding, or spending time with her cats.
Natalie Bailey is a research technician at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, where she works under Dr. Scott Williams and Dr. Megan Linske on integrated tick management studies throughout Connecticut. She first became interested in tick research while working in a vector biology lab at Cornell University and joined the Station after graduating in 2024. Currently, her team works on projects that aim to reduce blacklegged ticks in peridomestic habitats through the use of acaricidal spray applications and the systemic treatment of rodents to K*ll juvenile ticks on their hosts. These studies combine traditional methods of tick control with a knowledge of tick ecology to deliver targeted treatments that minimize negative environmental effects. Natalie lives in New Haven and enjoys hiking in West Rock Ridge State Park with her black Labrador.
The Public is Welcome and encouraged to attend every part of the evening.
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Event Venue
Riverfront Community Center, 300 Welles Street,Glastonbury, Connecticut, United States
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
