USFWS, 9/30/2005 Libby Field at Spurwink River division, RCNWR. Volunteers and others plant over 800 shrubs and trees for shrubland restoration.

On September 30^th and October 1^st, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge staff and over twenty volunteers began a five acre shrubland restoration effort for New England cottontail (NEC) and shrubland nesting birds.  Over 800 shrubs and small trees were planted in an old field on the Spurwink River Division of the refuge in Scarborough, Maine.  The effort will provide a travel corridor between two other thicket areas, creating a large effective area for the cottontail to use as well as shrub dependent bird species.

This work was phase one of a fifteen acre habitat restoration project aimed at providing the New England cottontail a large shrub area for a viable population.  The NEC is currently being reviewed for listing under the Endangered Species Act due to population declines and dramatic range retraction.  A 90-day finding found the petition presented “substantial information that listing may be warranted”.  Key factors cited in the decline are habitat loss and increased predation due to habitat fragmentation.  Restoration of native shrublands is important for NEC conservation, and provides critical food and shelter for many declining bird species and Lepidoptera as well.

Volunteers from the University of Maine, University of New England, York County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Master Gardeners of York and Cumberland Counties, Plant Conservation Volunteers, and countless others provided assistance with this project.