The Land Heritage Coalition of Glastonbury, Inc. (LHC) will host a presentation by Kyle Testerman, a Wildlife Biologist, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Glastonbury Riverfront Community Center, 300 Welles St, Glastonbury. Mr. Testerman is a Wildlife Biologist, Furbearer & Black Bear Program, with the Bureau of Natural Resources/Wildlife Division/Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP). His topic is, “Living with Black Bears.” The program is FREE and open to the public, with voluntary donations accepted.

Black bear sightings in Glastonbury are on the rise and so are the number of human-bear conflicts. As the population seems to be expanding and growing, how can residents coexist with these charismatic creatures? Kyle Testerman, a Biologist from the CT DEEP Wildlife Division, will speak about the history of bears in CT, current research, recommendations for reducing human-bear conflicts, and share some of the challenges of managing bears in such a densely populated state.

Mr. Testerman is Biologist on the Furbearer program in the Wildlife Division; his team is actively working on projects involving fishers, black bears, bobcats, and wildlife disease. He has been working with CT DEEP in various roles since 2015. “I have worked with a variety of species in some remarkable places over the years, including birds and bats in Alaska,” explained Mr. Testerman. He grew up in Simsbury, CT and has degrees from The University of Connecticut and Central Connecticut State University.

The Land Heritage Coalition (LHC) of Glastonbury, Inc. is a member-based, nonprofit organization that focuses on local land use issues, seeking ways to foster support of farming, to acquire open space, and to protect wetlands, flood plains, surface and ground water sources. For more information, contact LHC board member David Dickson at david.dickson@uconn.edu.