Read Alison's Articles
Alison grew up in Kent and is currently pursuing her PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies & Mathematics from Williams College. A former intern in conservation and community outreach at the Kent Land Trust, Alison additionally developed her love for the natural world through work with the Central Park Conservancy and Camp Brookwoods & Deer Run.
We love the way Alison's writing resonates with our wonder and strong sense of place while connecting this inner, personal knowledge to science within Kent and far beyond. We're excited to showcase Alison's writings as a regular feature this year.
2025
Salamander March
"On warm, wet nights, they begin to appear as if from nowhere: wet toes digging through the leaf litter, long tails wriggling, wide eyes peering into the dark. They come from safe havens under bark, logs, and leaves; they dig out of winter burrows, freshly thawed from the winter’s ice; they make their way, one small step at a time, towards the water."
In true IYKYK fashion, KLT correspondent Alison Robey describes the excitement of "Big Night", the annual amphibian bacchanalia that in truth is usually more than one night, perhaps some bigger than others. Those in the know bump the heat and open the windows to experience the vibrant symphony of frogs peeping and quacking. The joy is tempered, however, by awareness of the risks these delicate creatures face including from busy roads and the warming climate.
In Defense of Winter Weather
Sweater, hat, gloves, scarf, boots, snowgear - even for our pets!?! Going outside this time of year is a complex proposition. But have you stopped to think about winter's complex function?
"Winter...if you can forgive its discomforts, [is] quite an amazing ecosystem to witness. " This month Alison digs into the snow and ice to show us how the cold months impact the environment globally, regionally, and locally - from our soon-to-emerge plants and pollinators to the air all around - and also why warming and variable winter weather may lead to consequences we didn't anticipate.
Read on for Alison's reflections on the necessity, and gifts, of winter . They may change your reaction to an icy forecast - or at least take the edge off of scraping the windshield!
Climate News in a Changing World
"Tuning in" to news about climate change is "more complicated than just turning on the news", writes KLT Correspondent Alison Robey. "There is so much climate misinformation out there, because climate change is complicated and because there are many parties who benefit from us feeling apathetic about it, hopeless about our individual actions making a difference, or angry at each other for believing or not believing in climate change in the first place."
But avoiding climate news "is a big part of why more isn’t being done to address it" - and by tuning out we each own a bit of the responsibility for this. So where does a doctoral student of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University turn for climate information that is "true, comprehensive, easy to understand, and relevant – without being biased, misleading, or overwhelming?"
Read on for Alison's compelling challenge to us to engage and make informed choices, and for her excellent short-list of recommended credible sources.
2024
An Appeal From An Imperfect Lawn
What exactly is the “perfect” lawn? The classic picture, familiar to us all from John Deere commercials and suburban coming-of-age movies, has become a comfortable norm: perfect squares of emerald green grass, each blade cut to exactly 2.5 inches tall in identical, uninterrupted stripes.
These lawns bother me.
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Learn why in Alison's persuasive appeal to us to rethink our perceptions of what makes a landscape perfect and how that figures into our choices about how to design, plant, and care for the living rooms outside our homes.
How Community Science Benefits Our Birds
As an ecologist-in-training, questions of tractability often bother me. When I study a natural system, am I asking questions worth answering? And – once I have answers – are they actually usable to conserve, protect, or help that system survive?
Read on as Alison discusses the necessity and power of community-sourced data to close the ‘knowledge to action’ gap. Be inspired by case studies demonstrating how the collective observations of caring people directly led to wildlife protection and meet some Kent birds Alison has added to the dataset, as illustrated by Cody Limber's striking photographs.
The Most Identifiable Time(s) of the Year
Read on as Alison explains the impact of such plants and what to do about it, along with a helpful guide to help you identify and eliminate our local worst offenders.
The Wait for Big Night
Picture this: the sky is dark and wet above you. Raindrops pour down through the branches and patter into the crunching leaves under your bare feet. Around you, hard crusts of old, icy snow erode into rivulets of water to join the growing puddles of mud. Below you, the first fragile shoots of trout lilies and crocuses are just poking their heads up into the slowly thawing mud.
Far ahead, something new is happening – something you have waited for all winter long. The pouring rain after so many dry nights; the thawing snow after so many frozen weeks; the warming air after so many cold sleeps. For you, the conditions all add up to one crucial thing: the Big Night.
Checking in with the Snowbirds
Last week, while my partner Cody and I were out birding, we caught sight of a promising flash of gold in the branches above. Excited exploration around the tree–at first glancing only a flickering tail feather, the flash of a small black eye, a streak of russet along its flank–eventually culminated in a vaguely disappointed sigh. “Just another Chestnut-Sided Warbler…"
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Read on to learn about Alison's discoveries in Costa Rica-and decide for yourself
whether Kent's summer neighbors measure up to the Resplendent Quetzal!
2023
Why Pollinators Matter
Imagine a bumblebee nest reliant on the seasonal cycle of native flowers, surrounded by gardens of only a few non-native species: species which they often cannot open, species which tend to not be as nutritious for them as natives, and species that will not provide food for any meaningful part of the year. This is the plight of the bumblebees.
Read more about the increasing challenges for specialist pollinators and the species who depend on them, and why, as human landscapes take up larger and larger proportions of the planet, the easiest way to keep the Earth healthy may be to let those landscapes become a part of the ecosystems they are built in.
Last weekend, an early spring hike down the Housatonic River by Bull’s Bridge ended with a unique highlight: not a stirring view or an impressive summit, but a faint, familiar call ringing through the trees.
Fee-bee! Fee-bee!
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Do you recognize who Alison was hearing? Read on to learn more about how Alison uses eBird at home and out walking, why it matters, and how we each have a part to play in reversing the decline of our birds.
A Case For Getting To Know Your Trees
When I tell you that I first caught my boyfriend’s attention with my tree identification skills, it’s barely an exaggeration. We were out for an autumn hike with a group of fellow graduate students when he started pointing out a charming assortment of birds through the branches: the bright crest of a cheeping Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, the fluttering hops of a migrating Blackpoll Warbler, and the long, banded tail of a soaring American Kestrel. Not to be outdone, but lacking in his superpowers of bird identification, I repaid his observations with a glimpse at the magic to be found in the branches themselves.
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Alison as an intern at Kent Mountain Preserve
Alison now
Reflecting on a Youth Outdoors
As the whirlwind of autumn transitioned through a cicada-filled-September to an overflowing-goldenrod-October to a finally-frosty-November, I’ve felt a bit more wistful than usual. Fall has always been my favorite season.1 I’ve always loved the riotous leaves, the frosty mornings paired with warm afternoons, and looming promise of all my favorite holidays. I’ve also – somewhat unpopularly – always loved the start of a new school year, with its fresh, blank notebooks and its neat, not-too-crowded schedules promising a well-organized semester. While neither the notebooks nor the schedules ever remain as organized and uncrowded as hoped, I found myself having to a try a bit harder than usual to find that optimism this September.
Looking back on it, I’ve decided that the added wistfulness – and, I’ll admit, touch of dread – has stemmed not only from the inevitable exhaustion of starting my 20th year of school (yikes!), but from an odd feeling of a summer skipped. I’ve no right to feel like I skipped the summer, really: I took time off work with my family, I traveled to new states and hiked new trails, I dipped my toes in the ocean and did every other obligatory summer activity. But despite that schedule of vacations, despite the plethora of heat waves and mosquitos and cicadas experienced, I still feel like I missed out on something critical from the Summer of 2023.
Click here to read more about what Alison discovered...
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