Over 100 wildlife species are known to use Species Spotlights shrubland and/or young forest habitat for food, raising young or shelter. Typical species include the blue spotted salamander, New England Wildlife Needs Shrublands New England cottontail cottontail, yellow warbler, coral hairstreak The New England cottontail is listed as an butterfly, white-tailed deer, and gray catbird. endangered species in Maine. Currently, populations are scattered among small patches inland and along the coast of York and Cumberland counties. Shrubland Species of Greatest Conservation Need Cottontails are found in dense thickets of shrubs and young trees. During the These animals rely heavily on shrubland habitats. We need to create and spring and summer, cottontails feed on renew habitat for these species through management efforts. leaves, flowers, fruit, grasses, and sedges, (t) = Maine threatened list, (e) = Maine endangered list, and (T) = Federal and in fall and winter, they eat the stems, threatened list. buds, and bark of shrubs and small trees. American bittern Chestnut-sided warbler Rusty blackbird Cottontails need thick cover to escape American woodcock Clayton’s copper (e) Spotted turtle (t) and hide from predators. Populations Black racer (e) Common nighthawk Swamp darner Blanding’s turtle (e) Eastern kingbird Whip-poor-will of these rabbits have suffered greatly from habitat loss; their range Blue-gray gnatcatcher Eastern towhee Willow flycatcher has been reduced by over 80% since the 1960s. To learn more visit Blue-spotted salamander Loggerhead shrike Wood turtle www.newenglandcottontail.org. Blue-winged warbler New England cottontail (e) Brown thrasher Olive-sided flycatcher American woodcock Canada lynx (T) Ringed boghaunter (t) The American woodcock is a species of For more information about a wildlife species of greatest conservation greatest conservation need. In the fall, it is need, contact the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at found in wet thickets, young forests, and one of the regional offices: brushy swamps throughout Maine. A long Region A – Gray: (207) 657-2345 Bangor Research Office: (207) 941-4440 flexible bill allows these birds to probe Region B – Sidney: (207) 547-5300 in the soil and under leaf litter to search for food. They eat mainly earthworms, but also other insects and occasionally How you can help seeds. They nest on the ground under thick cover. The woodcock population has For information on financial assistance programs decreased since the 1960s, due to forest that help landowners create or maintain maturation and urban development. To shrubland habitat, contact the U.S. Fish and learn more visit www.timberdoodle.org. Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program at (207) 827-6099, or the USDA Natural Eastern towhee Resources Conservation Service at (207) 990- 9100. For more information about easements Another species of greatest conservation contact the Maine State Planning Office at (207) need, the Eastern towhee, breeds in 624-7660 or your local land trust. For information Maine during the summer. It lives along about forest management practices on your forest edges, in overgrown fields and land, call the Maine Forest Service at (207) 287-2791. If you are interested shrublands, and shrubby areas along in managing for New England cottontails, call Rachel Carson National powerlines and in backyards. Towhees Wildlife Refuge at (207) 646-9226. spend most of their time near the ground. This brochure was developed by the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and Wells They find food by scratching and turning National Estuarine Research Reserve. It was adapted from a brochure by the University over leaf litter and feed on soft leaves of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. Funding was provided by National Fish and and flower buds, insects, grass seeds, Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Federal government is an small fruits and berries, and acorns. Nests equal opportunity provider and employer. are built on the ground, beneath or in Cover photo: Kelly Boland. Other photo credits: Kirk Rogers, David Tibbetts, Ed Guthro, shrubs, or in tangles of plants such as Carlos Guindon, Kaiti Titherington, John DePue, John Greene, Nick Ernst, Greg Schechter, grapes, honeysuckle, or greenbrier. The Manjith Kainickara, Brian Harris, and Mark Ducey. population of the Eastern towhee has decreased because of habitat loss. Conserving Habitat in Maine What is a Shrubland? A Vanishing Habitat A Need for Balance

Shrublands are thickets of bushes A diversity of wildlife requires a and young trees mixed with scattered diversity of habitats, including grasses and wildflowers. In Maine, typical young forests and shrublands. shrubland plants include dogwood, Help spread the word to neighbors speckled alder, willow, meadowsweet, and and land managers about the blueberry. importance of shrublands for wildlife. Impenetrable and dense, shrublands often are ignored and undervalued by What You Can Do people. However, for some species of wildlife like the New England cottontail, • Maintain existing shrublands by American woodcock, and Eastern towhee, periodically cutting different areas as shrublands provide the best possible trees begin to shade vegetation. cover. • Let shrubs grow along the edges of In some thickets, low-growing shrubs are the dominant plants, but in others, small fields, “softening” the line between trees make up the habitat. field and forest and creating a band of Many large shrublands in Maine are shrubland habitat around open fields. found on old fields and pastures, Large shrublands and young forests—those greater than five Shrub borders at least 50 feet wide will along powerlines, in gravel pits, acres—are rare in Maine. In fact, in the southern part of the state, provide habitat for a variety of wildlife. and in recent forest openings. less than 2 percent of our land contains shrubland habitat. These shrublands are a result of • Your hedgerow can help wildlife by human activities— abandonment of One reason shrublands are rare is that providing connecting habitat between agricultural fields, mowing, or timber the vast majority of these habitats are nearby larger shrublands. harvest. temporary. If an open field is left alone for • Whenever possible, encourage shrubs to just a few years, shrubs and young trees grow naturally. Natural shrublands grow, forming dense thickets. As the trees also exist in Maine, continue to grow, they shade out grasses, You can take steps to help • Create shrublands by cutting patches including patches wildflowers, and shrubs. Within 20 to 25 maintain shrubland habitat of trees in wooded areas, and by letting of juniper, coastal years, the area that was once a field will on your land. In certain cases fields revert to thickets. Be sure to comply shrublands, and planting native shrubs can become a tall forest. speed up the development of with local and state regulations. scrubby wetlands. the shrubland. Wind, fire and In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many • Natural resource professionals can offer soils create natural people abandoned their farms in Maine. technical and sometimes financial assistance to create shrubland thickets. As fields went unmowed, shrublands habitat. Contact information is listed on the back of this brochure. grew in their place and became common. Wildlife that needed shrublands also increased. Plan Ahead for Wildlife Conservation By the mid- Putting your land 1900s, wetlands into a conservation were drained, easement will ensure and towns and that it will never be cities expanded, developed, so that especially along future generations the coast, and can enjoy sharing most old fields land with wildlife. reverted to forest. Minimizing future Today, shrublands habitat loss in and the wildlife areas with natural Wet shrub swamps contain that need In the early 1900s, birds or maintained The shrubs in this beach plum thicket produce fruit that is eaten by many different birds plants like alders and willows, these habitats like the brown thrasher and animals. They also provide homes for reptiles and amphibians, mammals, and shrublands will be and provide habitat for spe- are becoming thrived in bountiful critical for conserving migrating birds. cies such as the spotted turtle. dense shrubby cover. increasingly rare. wildlife that need shrublands.