New National Wildlife Refuge to Protect Northeast Shrubland
The acquisition focus map for the Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge in the Cape Elizabeth-Scarborough area.
Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The rare New England cottontail rabbit and other shrubland species are getting some new help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is targeting 15,000 acres of land in six northeastern states, including Maine, to be included in a new Great Thickets National Wildlife Refuge.
It has been almost 15 years since environmentalists and others noticed a decline in the shrub-loving New England cottontail. Since then, a growing, multistate conservation effort has attempted to prevent further decline.
The effort has shown some success in identifying and preserving rabbit habitat, and last year the federal government decided against listing the rabbits as an endangered or threatened species. They thrive in young forests, and now the Fish and Wildlife Service says it will dedicate as much as $130 million, over time, to acquire land or easements in five of the six New England states, plus New York, to expand protected habitats by some 15,000 acres.