New England Cottontail Habitat Restoration at Cutts Island
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Project Description
The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is the only cottontail rabbit native to Maine and New England. New England cottontails have declined by over 80% of their historic range prompting listing as endangered in Maine and as a candidate for the federal endangered species list. Loss of early successional habitat or "thickets" is the primary factor for this decline. At Rachel Carson NWR, we are in the process of restoring some of these early successional areas to create secure habitat for New England cottontails. We have begun to monitor vegetation at approximately 10 acres ...
Project Map
County: York County, ME
Project Size:
- 10.42 acres
Project Sites
- Cutts Island Management Areas (Not publicly accessible)
Goals and Targets
Primary Motivations:
-
Conservation Mission
Primary Goals:
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Increased native species composition, woody stem density. and native species cover (reduced invasive species cover).
Progress: We monitoring vegetation to get a baseline species composition, stem density, and percent cover. We will revisit this site on an annual basis to re-evaluate our progress. -
To establish or enhance a population of New England cottontail.
Progress: We not only have monitored vegetation at this site but have begun to search for cottontail tracks, pellets and browse in a systematic manner (transects). Over time we hope to observe establishment of cottontails at this site.
Targeted Habitats:
- Shrublands and Grasslands
- Shrublands and Steppe
Targeted Species:
- New England Cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis
Conservation Actions
| Action | Status | Start Year | End Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant native trees and/or shrubs, herbs, forbs, grasses | Proposed | 2009 | -- |
| Vegetation monitoring | In Progress | 2008 | -- |
| Other - Species conservation and management: Create suitable habitat for rare cottontail | In Progress | 2008 | -- |
| Other - Monitoring: Monitoring use by New England cottontail | In Progress | 2009 | -- |
Outcomes
Is the success of this project's actions being monitored? YesMonitoring Activities
We are monitoring our success by measuring habitat variables such as stem counts, percent cover, species composition and their change over time. We will also be monitoring NEC use through winter track and pellet surveys.
Any Additional Information About The Project
Enthusiam is building for creating habitat for the New England cottontail. There are federal, state and local conservation agencies and residents and volunteers that have donated their time and effort to recover this species. Thank you!