Partners in Conservation

Teamwork Helps Bunnies

Many partners are working to save the New England cottontail: federal and state agencies, universities, wildlife organizations, private companies, towns and municipalities, land trusts, Native American tribes, and foresters helping people manage their land. The Wildlife Management Institute coordinates efforts aimed at increasing this rabbit’s population so that the New England cottontail does not end up on the federal Endangered Species list.

You can help, too, by supporting the efforts of conservationists as they work to make habitat for cottontails. If you own land, you may want to create some young forest or shrubland on your property.

Research helps us learn more about New England cottontails./USFWS

Strong Science

Partners identify, protect, improve, and expand key habitat areas. They use the latest scientific techniques – including DNA analysis, radio-telemetry monitoring, and satellite evaluation of habitat – to learn where New England cottontails live and how they move about on the landscape. A captive breeding program is being developed so that cottontails can be reintroduced into areas where the rabbits once lived.

Partners are actively creating habitat demonstration areas, projects that boost local cottontail populations while showcasing techniques that can be used to create and renew young forest. These management techniques include clearcut logging, controlled burning, planting native shrubs, and using machines to chew down old, open-grown shrubs so that they grow back as dense, cottontail-friendly habitat – habitat that helps cottontails and more than 100 other kinds of wildlife.