Bridger Raptor Festival Kickoff Event
Keynote Speaker Amanda Rodewald
Coffee, Communities, and Conservation: How Your Cup Can Make a Difference
Tropical regions are famous for being biodiversity, protect ecosystem services, and support human health and well-being. Shade-grown coffee farms are well-suited to simultaneously meet economic, social, and ecological needs. When coffee is grown under trees, farms can supply a variety of products (e.g. coffee, fruits, firewood, lumber, and medicines), while at the same time provide forest cover, support biodiversity, and reduce erosion and chemical use compared to other intensive agricultural systems. Perhaps no other group better highlights the positive role that shade-coffee can play in conservation than Neotropical Migratory Birds, which heavily use shade-coffee farms. Unfortunately, traditional shade management has given way to intensive “sun coffee” monocultures. In her talk, Dr. Rodewald will discuss how shade-coffee and other agroforestry practices can support bird conservation, healthy ecosystems, and human communities in Latin America.

Amanda Rodewald is the Garvin Professor and Senior Director of Conservation Science at the Cornell lab of Ornithology and the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University.