Wildlife Studies
Hancock Brook Lake is located among heavily populated and industrialized surrounding towns. This makes the 721 acres of undeveloped public land a valuable environmental asset to the people of the surrounding communities providing open spaces, recreational opportunities, and conservation and protection of the local resources. Hancock Brook Lake has been managed as a natural area set-aside primarily for wildlife habitat. Although recreation activities occur on a regular basis in the project, no recreation development has occurred to date.
Hancock Brook Lake offers 438 acres of woodland. The forest are made up of a wide variety of trees,
including ash, oak, maple, birch, aspen, hickory, American elm, white pine, and eastern red cedar. There are
63 acres of wetlands and 170 acres of open land, which consist of old fields, old homesites, old railroads,
and old sand and gravel pits.
These lands support a variety of upland game predators and variety of nongame birds and mammals.
Many waterfowl, and hawks, turkey, turkey vulture, grouse, pheasant, and heron nest at Hancock. Whit-tailed deer, beaver, otter, fox, muskrat, mink, and many others make their homes at Hancock Brook Lake.
Hancock Brook Lake offers a 40 acre lake and 2.3 miles of brooks and streams for excellent fish habitat.
These waters are full of bass, blue gill, perch, peickerel, and trout.
To learn more about Connecticut's wildlife
visit the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources
Wildlife Division
on the web.
