Natural History of New England Cottontails – a talk by David Paulson, sponsored by the Friends of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge

Friends of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge present a talk by David Paulson – A Natural History of New England Cottontails.

The native New England Cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is being considered for protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Once a staple for Native Americans and early settlers, populations of this species have decreased drastically in the last 25 to 50 years, largely due to the decline of its habitats, which are successional forests or thickets. They are also out-competed by the non-native Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) introduced in the early 1900s by hunters. Learn about the measures underway to help conserve the species by State and Federal authorities as well as private landowners.

David Paulson is an Endangered Review Biologist, at the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program of the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

For more information on the New England Cottontail, see New England Cottontail: Rabbit at Risk and When Rabbits Have Trouble Multiplying.

A short business meeting and refuge update will precede the talk.