The New England cottontail rabbit once hopped through much of New England, thriving in the old fields, shrubby thickets, and young forests that defined our region. But the landscape has changed dramatically over the years, and early successional forest in many places has grown into mature forest. This habitat loss, coupled with competition from the non-native eastern cottontail rabbit, has brought the New England cottontail to the brink of extinction. In Vermont, the species hasn’t been seen since the early 1970s. In New Hampshire, there may be fewer than 100 left. The situation is so grim that this New England native is a candidate for the Federal Endangered Species List.
However, a team of dedicated and passionate biologists, planners, landowners, and volunteers is determined to keep that from happening. Recent grants from Federal, State and private sources are driving restoration efforts from Connecticut to New Hampshire to coastal Maine. The focus of this effort is on habitat creation and population augmentation.
Emma Carcagno, a biologist with the University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension Service, is one of the team members working on the rabbit conservation plan. She explains that two five-acre plots at the state-owned Bellamy River Wildlife Sanctuary near Dover, as well as smaller parcels nearby, are being converted to New England-cottontail-friendly habitat. Work on these lands involves cutting mature forest to create early successional habitat, and managing present shrubland through mowing. Fields are also being cleared of invasive shrubs, including multiflora rose and honeysuckle, and replanted with native ones such as viburnums and blackberries.
Creation of rabbit-friendly habitat on private land is slower going but has started along the seacoast and around Londonderry. Computer models help find potential habitat. The models take current data on land features, hydrology, and soil type and overlay these features onto maps of areas where New England cottontails once lived. Parcels of land are then identified as good habitat, and the owners are contacted. Two New Hampshire landowners are already working with the state’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to start enhancing their land for New England cottontails. Many more are interested in having their land assessed, and by 2012, about ten landowners will have started the change-over to shrubland.
Ultra-dense vegetation is the key to New England cottontail success. The cottontails you see bouncing around your backyard are eastern cottontails, a species that was imported from the Midwest to New England in the late 1800s and early 1900s for hunting. Eastern cottontails have larger eyes that allow them to see predators better than their New England cousins; consequentially, they’re more at home in the region’s increasingly fragmented landscape. There is nothing in the works to control eastern cottontails in areas where they’re trying to restore New England cottontails, says Carcagno. Since it’s nearly impossible to tell the two apart without DNA analysis of fecal pellets, in areas where they co-exist, there’s no choice except to create habitat for both.
New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York have just received new grants to expand the New England cottontail restoration effort. Heidi Holman, a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, says that in New Hampshire the grant money will be used to continue creating habitat and to start a captive breeding program. The New England cottontail will be bred in a fenced-in area then released into restored habitat. The breeding program, she says, could start as early as summer of 2012.
In Vermont, the New England cottontail is believed absent, and currently, there are no active programs to bring it back. Although there is a push in this state to recreate shrubland, the intent is to benefit other species of concern, such as the American woodcock, golden-winged warbler, Eastern towhee, and several reptiles. Scott Darling at Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department explains that it would be extremely difficult to provide enough habitat for the New England cottontail without it being invaded by the more successful Eastern species. However, the state remains open to being part of a future conservation plan.
The New Hampshire restoration team has gained a lot of ground in the past several years. Five hundred to 1000 acres have been restored, and the goal is to enroll 3000-5000 acres over the next few decades to be managed as New England cottontail habitat. With good leadership in place, plus technical expertise and enthusiastic volunteers, biologists feel encouraged that the New England cottontail will hold its own and avoid a spot on the Endangered Species List.
Are you a landowner interested in re-creating shrubland? In New Hampshire, contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at UNH Extension as a starting point (603.862.2512). In Vermont, contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service.