Recent News

Connecticut Birds and New England Cottontails Linked

November 29, 2016 — cfergus

By the Hartford Courant

The Connecticut Audubon Society has chilling evidence of climate change: One Connecticut bird species is at risk of extinction because rising sea levels are eradicating its nesting area.

That realization, along with others in the society's 2016 Connecticut State of the Birds report, serves as yet another alarm to vast risks posed by climate change. It's a call to action that Connecticut can't afford to ignore.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Great Thicket Natl. Wildlife Refuge

October 27, 2016 — cfergus

Nation’s Newest Wildlife Refuge Represents Coordinated Response to Conserving Key Shrubland Habitat in the Northeast

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following an extensive public process, and with overwhelming public support, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized the creation of Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge, dedicated to conserving and managing shrubland and young forests for wildlife in New England and eastern New York. The approval of the refuge marks a key step, enabling the Service to now work with willing and interested landowners to acquire land.

Habitat Sought for New England Cottontails in Southern ME

October 10, 2016 — cfergus

By Michael Kelley, Staff Writer, Scarborough Leader

Scarborough Marsh has long been a popular place for birders of all skill levels to come see nature first hand, but over the last few years biologists have been working to make sure the marsh is a favorable habitat for a four-legged animal that is becoming endangered in this state.

Canton Land Trust Joins NEC Initiative in CT, Offers Educational Hike

October 07, 2016 — cfergus

By John Fitts, Canton Compass

CANTON, CT – With rabbit sightings so common in the area one might question the need to improve habitat.

Conservationists, however, will be quick to tell you that those cute little bunnies you see are almost certainly eastern cottontails, a species introduced from the Midwest in the nineteenth century, primarily for hunting.

Sustainable Timber Harvests: "This is What Conservation Looks Like"

October 07, 2016 — cfergus

By Lee Burnett, Portland Press Herald

Rabbits and songbirds can join us as the beneficiaries of responsible logging operations.

SPRINGVALE, ME — When Saco Valley Land Trust conducted a timber harvest on some of its property in Biddeford last winter, the trust faced an issue unheard-of in logging country – the suburban sensibilities of neighbors.

"We got complaints," said Richard Rhames, a vegetable farmer and president of the land trust. "We heard things like 'Boy, they made a mess in there.'"

Fragmented Forest Equals Less Management

October 06, 2016 — cfergus

By Adam Downing, Virginia Cooperative Extension, in Fall 2016 Virginia Forest Landowner Update

"The Fragmented Forest."

Those words carry negative undertones. Perhaps I should’ve chosen a different title like "Forest Bits & Pieces" or "Checkerboard Forestry" which sound more like an environmentally friendly candy or a board game. Aside from the undertones of the phrase, the fact is that forest fragmentation has both positive and negative consequences.

ME Scarborough Marsh Work Aids Cottontails

October 01, 2016 — cfergus

By Kate Irish Collins, Keep Me Current, Falmouth, Maine

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will be cutting down trees and planting shrubs in the upland areas of the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area this coming winter and spring to create habitat for the endangered New England cottontail rabbit.

The Maine population of New England cottontail rabbits is estimated to be less than 300, prompting the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s new project to increase the species' preferred habitat at Scarborough Marsh.

Proposed Forest Management Project in CT to Help Cottontails

September 19, 2016 — cfergus

By Andrew Gorosko for the Newtown Bee

The Newtown Conservation Commission has submitted for Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) review a forest management plan covering two adjoining town-owned open space parcels comprising an overall 42.5 acres near Stone Bridge Trail and Nighthawk Lane in Sandy Hook.

The IWC is expected to review and possibly act on the proposal when it meets on September 28. The application is submitted under the terms of the town's forest practices regulations, which the IWC administers.

Saving the New England Cottontail

August 09, 2016 — cfergus

By Ellen Liberman, Rhode Island Monthly

In a small, low-slung building off the entrance of the Roger Williams Park Zoo, eleven presumably pregnant New England cottontails awaited a new generation — along with conservationists in six states. Each plastic-bottomed cage, stacked on tiered metal carts, bore an identification number for the female and the estimated due dates.

USDA Releases 3-Year Strategy to Help Cottontails

July 13, 2016 — cfergus

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 11, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released a new three-year conservation strategy to help restore declining young forest habitat in the Northeast, part of an ongoing effort to help the region’s only native rabbit and more than 60 other kinds of wildlife.

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