The New England cottontail is the only rabbit native to New England, but it's struggling to survive. The major reason for its decline is the loss of early successional forest, especially dense deciduous thickets. The habitat that remains continues to be lost or degraded by development, changes in forest practices, and invasion of non-native plants.
The cottontail is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make a determination as to its status in 2015.
The goal of this conservation program is to turn a 5% - 9% annual population decline of the New England Cottontail into an 11% - 21% annual rate of increase by 2018. NFWF is interested in funding conservation activities for the cottontail that take place in the states of Maine and New Hampshire. NFWF has worked with state and federal agencies, academic experts and conservation groups to develop a detailed Business Plan and set of funding priorities that we believe will allow cottontail populations to rebound in these two states. These activities will benefit a host of other important wildlife species that are also in decline in the region.
Key conservation strategies for this program include:
- Restoring and creating habitat. Cottontails have too little remaining habitat, and what remains is of low quality. Activity – Restore, create and maintain at least 2,000 acres of high quality habitat.
- Protecting key habitat. Development threatens many of the most important areas for the conservation of cottontails. Activity – Protect at least 500 acres of core habitat.
- Managing landowner concerns about regulation. State protection of the cottontail and possibly federal protection under the Endangered Species Act have made landowners concerned about voluntarily increasing cottontail populations on their land. Activity – Provide regulatory assurances that reduce or eliminate landowner concerns about their flexibility to use land.
- Changing forest management practices. Forestry practices once created extensive habitat for cottontails and other species to use. Activity – Encourage slightly larger harvests and changed harvest practices to increase habitat availability.
- Expand markets for biomass-to-energy. Long-term survival of the cottontail depends on habitat being continually maintained. The ability to sell cleared woody debris and biomass to energy companies provides the best market opportunity to sustain habitat. Activity – Develop contracts with already established energy producers.
In addition, NFWF is exploring supporting cottontail work through our Early Successional Forest Initiative, which may allow us to expand this initiative to cover other Northeastern states in which the cottontail still occurs.
For more detail on priority activities, please see NFWF’s Business plan.