News from MassWildlife's Habitat Programs

MassWildlife’s Habitat Programs are active in all areas of the Commonwealth. A sample of habitat-related publications and media stories are listed below.

2025

• Healey Driscoll administration awards $325k to restore critical wildlife habitat: The Healey-Driscoll Administration offered $325,000 in grants to restore approximately 520 acres of wildlife habitat across Massachusetts in 2025. Funding supported prescribed burns, invasive species management, and forest care in Cape Cod & Islands, Sheffield, and Sudbury
• Teaming up for New England cottontail conservation: Private landowners play a vital role in creating young forest habitat for declining native wildlife.

2024

• Game of fire: Prescribed fire improves habitat for game species, like white-tailed deer and wild turkey, so they can thrive in all stages of their lives. Learn about the incredible benefits of fire to game species and the hunters that pursue them. 
• Great Marsh project wins leadership award: An ambitious marsh restoration project supported by MassWildlife and a group of conservation partners was honored by the Environmental Business Council of New England.
• Mussel movers: Prepping for dam removal: MassWildlife worked with partners to safeguard freshwater mussels at the site of a dam removal project on the Quinapoxet River by relocating them to upstream habitats. 
• Protecting habitats 2,500 acres in 2024: Land acquisition staff from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and MassWildlife collaborated on 26 projects during 2023-2024 fiscal year  protecting nearly 2,500 acres of forests, grasslands, water frontage, and inland water access points.
• Upcoming dam removals will benefit ecosystems and people: MassWildlife plans to remove 7 dams within Wildlife Management Areas in Athol, Sutton, Brookfield, Hardwick, Windsor, and New Braintree. 

2023

• Rare but resilient listed moth found in Hardwick: Discovery of the orange sallow moth at Muddy Brook WMA is the most recent example of animals and plants responding favorably to MassWildlife’s habitat restoration work.
• Rare caterpillar found after decades of habitat restoration: MassWildlife staff recently discovered a frosted elfin caterpillar at Montague Plains WMA. Along with other promising findings, this exciting news is further evidence that restoration at this site is benefiting a host of common and rare species. 

2022

• Burning for success MassWildlife fire crew builds capacity habitat resiliency: A summary on the history of MassWildlife’s Prescribed Fire Program.

2021

• A new view of prescribed fire: MassWildlife safely conducted 17 prescribed fires spring 2021 to improve wildlife habitat. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (aka UAS or drone technology) were used to monitor habitat conditions before, during, and after fires.
• 'Painting with fire': Prescribed burn helps preserve wildlife, mitigate drought conditions: Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, and EEA Secretary Kathleen Theoharides joined MassWildlife for a prescribed fire at the Birch Hill Wildlife Management Area in Winchendon. (WBZ CBS Boston, April 2021)
• Prescribed fire season is here: MassWildlife kicked off the 2021 prescribed fire season by conducting successful prescribed burns at Frances Crane WMA and Penikese Island (MassWildlife Monthly newsletter, April 2021).
• Volunteers help clean up Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area: The New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers coordinated with MassWildlife to clean-up Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area.

2020

• Birds and the bees thrive at Montague Plains: A number of regional experts report a pronounced increase in the number of rare birds and insects at the site of intensive habitat restoration by MassWildlife. (MassWildlife Monthly newsletter, September 2020)
• Flexing freshwater mussels by Peter Hazelton, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2020. The brook floater is one of three freshwater mussels listed as endangered in Massachusetts. MassWildlife and partners have worked to protect and restore the brook floater in the Commonwealth and throughout its range.
• Habitat restoration benefits wildlife and local hospital: MassWildlife led a restoration project on state land in Belchertown to provide habitat for rare plants and wildlife, game birds, and other wildlife. 
• Landscape-scale conservation by Michael W. Nelson and Chris Buelow, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2020. MassWildlife engages in landscape-scale conservation through three main activities: biological survey and monitoring, land protection, and ecological restoration and habitat management.
• Management milestone for wildlife achieved in Hardwick: MassWildlife completed a 500-acre barrens restoration project at Muddy Brook WMA to provide habitat for wildlife.
• Ruffing it in Massachusetts: What makes good grouse habitat?: Ruffed grouse rely on a mixture of young forest habitats for food and cover. MassWildlife actively manages and promotes patchy young forest habitat on some of its WMAs that grouse—and many other declining wildlife species—depend on. (MassWildlife Monthly newsletter, October 2020)
• Tight-knit grasslands by Karro Frost and Robert Wernerehl, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2020. Sandplain grasslands are an important habitat for wildlife in Massachusetts. MassWildlife is focused on restoring and managing these natural communities through methods such as cutting of trees, mowing, and prescribed fire.

Older

• A prescription for fire by Alex Entrup, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2018. What it takes to plan a safe and successful prescribed burn that results in productive wildlife habitat.
• A safe place for wildlife to thrive: At MassWildlife's Frances A. Crane Wildlife Management Area, the grassland is an important habitat for many species, including the grasshopper sparrow and the upland sandpiper. Chris Buelow, Restoration Ecologist with MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, and Jason Zimmer, MassWildlife's Southeast District Supervisor  take us on a tour of the Frances Crane WMA. (WCAI Radio, July 2014)
• Building local by Rebecca DiGirolomo, Northern Woodlands, 2015. MassWildlife's Field Headquarters building in Westborough incorporates wood products harvested from MassWildlife's Wildlife Management Areas. Timber harvests were conducted on WMAs to benefit wildlife that relies on young forest habitats, and the red oak and cherry wood in the building was cut and processed by local companies. This article follows the process from harvest to milling to installation.
• Carbon and conservation on MassWildlife forest lands by John Scanlon and Brian Hawthorne, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2019. MassWildlife conducts habitat restoration and management for both game and non-game species of conservation need while increasing net annual carbon storage on state wildlife lands, which helps mitigate climate change.
• Carbon-storage on MassWildlife lands: By protecting and managing the 168,000 acres of Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), MassWildlife plays a substantial and growing role in helping the Commonwealth meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals through land protection and management.
• Demographic response of a shrubland bird to habitat creation, succession, and disturbance in a dynamic landscape by Michael Akresh, David King, and Robert Brooks, Forest Ecology and Management, 2015. This paper shows bird response to recent habitat management work completed at MassWildlife's Montague Plains WMA.
• Faces of conservation, a clear-cut discovery—Uncommon cottontails! Massachusetts Wildlife, 2019. While managing his family's land in Sheffield, Jim Kelly discovered the Kelly Family Farm is home to the uncommon New England cottontail.
• Habitat saving our rare habitats: Following the retreat of the last glacier, sand plain grasslands and pine barrens were found from Maine to Southern New Jersey. Although southeastern Massachusetts has the second largest region of pine barrens remaining in the world, the state has lost 60 to 70 percent of its original pine barrens. And it’s estimated that 80 percent of the world’s remaining sand plain grasslands are on the Islands of Nantucket, Tuckernuck, and Martha’s Vineyard. (WCAI Radio, February 2015)
• Hamant Brook: Restoring a landscape for trout and turtles by Caleb Slater, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2018. The removal of three dams on Hamant Brook in Sturbridge has enhanced habitat for eastern brook trout and wood turtles.
• Hugging baby trees by Marianne Piché, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2015. In order to conserve the New England cottontail and a host of other species, it is crucial to create and maintain a significant amount of ephemeral young forest habitat. There was also an update published on this piece (Update: New England Cottontail Conservation​​​​​) in Massachusetts Wildlife, 2019.
• Kent's Island open for outdoor recreation and wildlife habitat restoration: In 2019, officials and partners celebrated the completion of a new bridge to Kent's Island. This bridge restores tidal flow to the coastal salt marsh and provides improved, safe access for wildlife conservation and recreation activities. 
• Managing a small woodlot​​​​​​ by Bill Davis, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2017. A landowner's account of improving the quality and diversity of forest habitat to benefit wildlife.
• The working forest and hunters: A symbiotic relationship by Tom Wansleben, Massachusetts Wildlife, 2013. Hunters rarely consider the many benefits provided to themselves and our wildlife resources by those who own working forest lands and those who make a living harvesting our renewable forestry resources.

Videos

Check out MassWildlife's Habitat management and land protection Youtube playlist to see footage from projects and presentations by our staff.