Lyme — Otherwise rare cerulean warblers, semipalmated sandpipers and saltmarsh sparrows that have made homes in Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Salem and surrounding towns are among the key reasons areas there have been designated Important Bird Areas by Audubon Connecticut.

"If it's an Important Bird Area, it allows for prioritization and more effective conservation of birds," Corrie Folsom-O'Keefe, Important Bird Area project coordinator for Audubon Connecticut, told about 25 people gathered at Town Hall Monday to learn about the new designations. "It means we're going to step up our involvement in those areas."

Last month, the organization announced it was adding five new areas statewide to its existing list of 33 Important Bird Areas. Among the five were the Lyme Forest Block, extending into East Haddam, Salem, Colchester, Lyme, Old Lyme and East Lyme and including state forests and wildlife management areas as well as land trust and privately owned lands, and the tidal marsh areas at the mouth of the Connecticut River in Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, including two wildlife management areas.

The two areas, together covering more than 66,000 acres, provide habitat for many endangered and threatened birds, are important for ongoing research, and are used by flocks of migrating species, among other attributes, deeming them worthy of the Important Bird Area designation by the 15-member team of experts who decide on candidate areas, Folsom-O'Keefe said.

The program, she explained, began in Europe in 1979 and has since expanded to include 12,000 areas across the world.

The designation, she added, comes with no regulatory authority. It is mainly a tool to raise public awareness, she said, and to foster voluntary efforts from public and private landowners in partnership with Audubon to enhance the bird habitats on their properties and reduce threats. Landowners within the areas need only contact Audubon to let them know they want to participate in available programs, Stewart Hudson, executive director of Audubon Connecticut, said.

"What you're really signing up for is a partnership," he said. "It depends on your showing interest."

Properties in Important Bird Areas are eligible for Audubon grants for habitat improvement, public education and other projects, and the designation can improve chances of receiving grants from other organizations, Folsom-O'Keefe said. In addition, Audubon will develop conservation plans for interested property owners in these areas, as funding becomes available, she said.

"If there's community support for it, we'll do it," she said.

After her presentation, representatives of local land trusts asked about expanding the boundaries of the areas, a step she said can be taken by the technical committee. Patricia Dandonoli of Lyme inquired about what she could do as a private homeowner to enhance her property for birds.

"What can we do, short of the grant programs, in particular for the species identified in the designation?" she asked.

Folsom-O'Keefe said she would develop a list of recommendations and post it at: CT.Audubon.org. By mid-September, she added, detailed maps will be posted on the website that will show individual properties in the Important Bird Areas, along with other resources about the program.

She urged anyone with land within the two areas who wants to join the program to contact her at: cfolsom-o'keefe@audubon.org.