"We're mostly managing forest edges and fields here in the St. Lawrence Valley," says Andrew Hinickle, a biologist for Audubon New York, the state program of the National Audubon Society. Those management efforts create more breeding and feeding habitat for golden-winged warblers, along with dozens of other kinds of wildlife that use the same type of cover as those beleaguered songbirds. "We’re not generally going into the woods and making clearings," Hinickle continues. "It’s more about maintaining and improving on what's already here."
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department administers Maquam Wildlife Management Area, which is composed of two parcels. The Maquam Bay parcel (391 acres) is a low, marshy area along Lake Champlain sharing a boundary with Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. The Lampman parcel (482 acres), an upland tract south of Maquam Bay, includes abandoned farm fields and woods. Woodcock breed and rear their young on the Lampman parcel, and migrating woodcock feed there in spring and fall. The Lampman parcel is currently being managed to create and restore woodcock habitat.
This 6,729-acre federal wildlife refuge hugs the eastern shore of Lake Champlain in Franklin County, northwestern Vermont. It includes most of the Missisquoi River delta where it flows into Missisquoi Bay. The refuge protects quiet waters and food-rich wetlands that attract large flocks of migrating waterfowl. Upland areas are a mix of old fields, shrubby habitat, and northern hardwood forest.
