Tale of Two Bunnies
By
Will Collette
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| While Charlestown and most of South County are within the boundaries of the new Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge, the actual amount of new land the feds want to acquire is pretty small. Much of the area is already conservation protected space. Screenshot from the USNWR map. |
The
federal Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision to go
forward with the creation of a new, multi-state National Wildlife Refuge to be called
The Great Thicket that will include large swaths of southern New England,
including Charlestown and the rest of South County.
As
is the case with most federal wildlife refuges, Great Thicket has the important
mission of protecting wildlife habitat, In this instance, it’s the indigenous New England Cottontail which has been
largely supplanted by its cousin the Eastern Cottontail.
The
Eastern
Cottontail apparently has a number of evolutionary advantages, but by
preserving large areas of forested brush land, there is some hope of giving the
New England Cottontail the kind of habitat it needs to thrive.
Even
though I probably couldn’t pick a New England Cottontail out of a line-up of
bunnies, I think it’s great that they will get a chance to do well. As a
longtime bunny fan, I’ve always enjoyed spotting bunnies and even consider them a sign of good luck.
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| The cottontails in question. One is an Eastern Cottontail. The other is a New England Cottontail. Can you tell which is which? The answer is at the bottom of this article. |
The
federal plan for Great Thicket will have substantial impact on South County. If
you look at the fed’s map, you’ll see large parts of South County will be
counted as part of the Refuge.
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| Near the center of the map, outlined in green and shaped like an appendix, is Reeds Point, on the FWS's shopping list for addition to the Great Thicket NWR (screen shot from the NWS map) |
A
substantial amount of South County land is already government-owned or
conservation-restricted – that includes well over 50% of Charlestown’s
total land mass. However, the map also shows some additional acreage
the feds hope to acquire. It's outlined in green to the left.
Because
Charlestown is already mostly open space or conservation land, the one spot the
feds seem to want is a parcel called Reeds Point on Ninigret Pond. It looks to
me like an appendix.
The
area is bracketed by Wells Lane and Kennedy Lane. The plan may include some
portion of those two roads – it is unclear from the feds map how much they will
actually seek to acquire.
There’s
been a lot of debate in Charlestown over what is the right balance between open
space and living space, especially living space that contributes to the tax
base.
There are fringe positions on both sides the the debate. On one extreme, there's the desire to see all of
Charlestown be open space (except for the house you live in). This particular
fringe believes
that families with children are parasites. I’m not making this up.
Then
you have the fringe on the other end of the spectrum that wants to see rampant development more along the style of Westerly or Wakefield.
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| The feds hope to acquire much larger amounts of land in South Kingstown and Narragansett (map screenshot) |
Like
most Charlestown residents, I fall in the middle. I truly love open space, but
also believe it is possible to have too much of a good thing especially if it chokes the
town to death.
With
few full-time jobs, we have a aging, declining population that is trending demographically toward human extinction. While some may be fine with that, I’m not.
All
that said, I think the modest amount of land the feds seek here in Charlestown
to protect our indigenous bunnies is just fine.
Here
is the feds official news release with links to maps and useful documents. At the end of the release is the answer to which bunny is which in the photo above.
OFFICIAL
NEWS RELEASE:
New Refuge Approved!
US Fish and Wildlife Service
We are pleased to
announce that in October 2016, Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service), and Wendi Weber, Northeast Regional Director of the Service,
approved Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge (NWR; refuge)—a new refuge
dedicated to managing shrubland habitat for wildlife in the Northeast.
Alternative B was
selected from the final Great Thicket NWR Land Protection Plan and
Environmental Assessment (LPP/EA). The Service may now acquire up to 15,000
acres of wildlife habitat from willing landowners as part of the refuge. The
final plan depicts 10 Refuge Acquisition Focus Areas (RAFAs) in New England and
New York which represent the outer boundaries of areas of interest.
Summary of Public
Comment on the Draft LPP/EA
We initially released
the draft LPP/EA for 45 days of public review and comment from January 19 to
March 4, 2016. In response to several requests, we subsequently extended the
public comment period another 30 days.
During the comment
period, we held information sessions upon request. Two were held in Maine,
three in New Hampshire, two in Massachusetts, two in New York, one in Connecticut,
and six in Rhode Island. Audiences included sportsmen’s groups, land trusts,
and town and county officials. All six Congressional delegations were
contacted initially via email, and follow-up phone calls or in-person visits
occurred with most district staff offices.
After the 75-day public
comment period ended, we compiled all of the comments we received. In total, we
received 6,064 written comments, of which 5,523 were a form letter in support
of the proposal. We also received one petition signed by approximately 2,455
individuals in support of the proposal. All comments received are summarized
and responded to in appendix C of the final LPP/EA.
Changes from Draft to
Final LPP/EA
Modifications to
alternative B from the draft to final LPP/EA include minor corrections or
changes in response to public and partner comments on the draft plan. For
example, we reduced the Plymouth RAFA in Massachusetts in order to better
complement the priorities of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife in this area. Our target for Service acquisition remains at 500 acres
in this RAFA. We also modified the Northern Housatonic RAFA to complement the
interests of Dutchess County, New York and our conservation partners in that
area. Our target acquisition remains at 2,000 acres in this RAFA. Appendix C in
the final plan includes more details on these changes and our responses to
other comments we received on RAFA boundaries.
Click
here to access the final LPP/EA document. To request the document in print or on CD-Rom, contact Beth
Goldstein, Natural Resource Planner, at beth_goldstein@fws.gov or (413) 253-8564.
Implementation
We will work with
partners and willing-seller property owners to identify opportunities to
acquire priority lands in fee simple or conservation easement within the 10
Great Thicket RAFAs. Willing sellers will be compensated for their land based
on the appraised market value. Landowners within RAFAs choosing not to sell
will retain all the rights, privileges, and obligations of land ownership.
If you are a landowner
within one of the 10 RAFAs and are interested in selling or donating your fee
simple interest or a conservation easement on your land, please complete the “Landowner Interest
Form” and submit it to:
USFWS, Northeast Region, Realty Chief; 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley MA
01035. If you are unsure of whether you are within one of the 10 Great Thicket
RAFAs, please contact the Realty Chief at 413-253-8590.
Other Resources
Direct links to more
resources:
·
2-page Newsletter (PDF-526KB)
·
Frequently Asked Questions about Refuge land acquisition (PDF-1.28MB)
Which Bunny is which?
The bunny on the left is the New England Cottontail and on the right is its cousin, the Eastern Cottontail