He is an author and resident of New York State The Connecticut Audubon Society has named conservationist and author Tom Andersen as its director of communications and community outreach. Andersen will oversee all of Connecticut Audubon's communications with members, the general public, and the press, and will also coordinate the organization's public policy and advocacy work. Founded in 1898, Connecticut Audubon Society is an independent conservation and environmental education organization, with headquarters in Fairfield. Connecticut Audubon operates five centers -- Pomfret, Glastonbury, Milford, Fairfield and Birdcraft Museum -- and owns 19 sanctuaries covering 2,600 acres. Connecticut Audubon's education program has worked with more than 70 percent of the state's school districts, and its conservation scientists write and carry out conservation management plans for landowners throughout the state. "We're poised to grow and to play a bigger role in conservation issues in Connecticut," said CAS President Robert Martinez. "Tom Andersen's knowledge and experience in the not-for-profit world and in conservation will help us focus our message and our work, reach more people, and be even more effective in protecting Connecticut's critical natural habitats." Andersen will oversee Connecticut Audubon's website and direct communications with members and the general public, social media, and press relations. He will lead a team of Connecticut Audubon staff and board members in identifying, and then formulating positions on, the public policy issues that make up the core of Connecticut Audubon's advocacy work. He is the author of This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound, published by Yale University Press. Andersen spent 10 years at Westchester Land Trust, in Bedford Hills, N.Y., as director of communications and special projects and as acting executive director. He helped Westchester Land Trust protect an average of more than 600 acres a year from 2000 through 2010, a decade during which the total amount of land the organization protected rose from 900 acres to more than 7,000 acres. Previously he worked as a newspaper reporter in Westchester County, mainly writing about environmental issues. A former 15-year New Canaan, Ct., resident, he now lives in Pound Ridge, N.Y. He can be reached at tandersen@ctaudubon.org, 914 409-6470 or 203-259-6305, ext. 103. For more information about Connecticut Audubon Society, visit www.CtAudubon.org. Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed. It is largely unedited here and posted as a public service to the community.