East Creek Wildlife Management Area

Description

East Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in west-central Vermont is in the towns of Orwell and Benson. The property is along East Creek and is in two separate parcels. The northern parcel is most easily accessed by boat from Lake Champlain via the mouth of East Creek. The southern parcel has a parking area by the dam on Mt. Independence Road in Orwell, and on the Cook Road. A small part of this WMA is preserved as a refuge and is clearly marked and signed. The 419 acres comprising the WMA are owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

History

Mount Independence is just to the west of the mouth of East Creek. There was a companion fort to Fort Ticonderoga here, and the area was strategically important during the American Revolution. The fertile part of the Champlain Valley drained by East Creek has been farmed
since early European settlement. Parcels of land that make up the WMA were acquired from neighboring farmers. The first one-half acre was bought from Wilford Brisson in 1955. The State of Vermont sometimes bought good farmland and then swapped with farmers for wetland parcels.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) owns much of the remaining wetland in the lower reaches of the Creek. Thus, between TNC and State ownership, much of the East Creek wetland complex is conserved.

Funds to buy land for the WMA were provided by the Pittman-Robertson Act, which created a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Habitats

East Creek flows north, draining a low-lying part of the Champlain Valley. Mt Independence borders the west bank of the river mouth. Other small, steep hills separate the river valley from Lake Champlain. During glacial maximums, when Lake Champlain was larger, Mt Independence was sometimes an island, and East Creek a part of the lake.

Wild Rice at East Creek WMA

The parcel along the South Fork of East Creek is a broad-leaf emergent marsh created by three impoundments, with a narrow upland border. The northern parcel nearer the mouth is a natural emergent marsh with water levels that are regulated by Lake Champlain’s level. The area has Vermont’s largest narrow-leafed cattail marsh, with a good deal of wild rice as well.

Some uncommon plants occurring in the East Creek marshlands are lake cress, slender naiad, green dragon, sweet joe-pye weed, false hop sedge and cat-tail sedge.

Fish and Wildlife

Water shrew

Beavers, muskrat and otter are found in the wetland; while fox, coyote, mink, white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbit inhabit the nearby upland. Small mammals are abundant, and include wetland species such as the star-nosed mole and water shrew.

This rich wetland supports many birds and a great variety of species.

Common moorhen

There is good birding for wetland species including rails, American and least bitterns, green and great blue herons, common moorhens, ospreys and northern harriers. Canada geese, black and wood ducks, mallards, blue and green-winged teal, and hooded mergansers inhabit the marsh. Marsh wrens, red-winged blackbirds, eastern kingbirds and Baltimore orioles are some of the many songbirds that can be found. Ospreys are beginning to nest by the Creek. Bald eagles can also be seen.

The large aquatic salamanders known as mudpuppies may be found in East Creek. Also present are snapping, painted and northern map turtles, bullfrogs, green and pickerel frogs, and

Mudpuppy

northern water snakes. Near the edges of the wetland, newts, northern two-lined salamanders, milk, smooth green, garter, and brown snakes may be encountered. Eastern rat snakes used to be found here but are now rare.

Lower East Creek has a variety of warm-water fish associated with Lake Champlain. This includes large-mouth bass, northern pike, channel catfish, yellow and white perch, and black crappie. Upper East Creek contains brown bullhead and smaller species such as the golden and black chin shiner have been found.

Remember it is against the law to harass or harm endangered species.

Usage

East Creek WMA is open to regulated hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing.

Directions

East Creek WMA map
(Click Image to Enlarge)

The northern parcel is most easily accessed by boat from Lake Champlain via the mouth of East Creek. There are two access points to East Creek from Lake Champlain: Buoy 39 Marina, south of East Creek, and Larabee Point Fish and Game access, north of the creek. The marina is privately owned; there is a fee for launching your boat here.

To Buoy 39 Marina: Take Route 22A to Orwell. Follow Route 73 west to the “Y” to Mount Independence Road. Buoy 39 Marina is at the end of Mount Independence Road. From here it’s a 1.25-mile, approximately half-hour paddle north on Lake Champlain to East Creek.

To Larrabee Point Fish and Game access: From Orwell, follow Route 73 west and then north to Hough Crossing. Go about three more miles to just south of the ferry crossing. It’s a one-mile, approximately half-hour paddle south on Lake Champlain to East Creek.

The southern parcel has a parking area by the dam on Mt. Independence Road in Orwell, and  on Cook Road.

• East Bay Wildlife Management Area
• East Creek Wildlife Management Area
• Sandbar Wildlife Management Area
• The Narrows Wildlife Management Area
• Bird-watching Opportunities at Vermont WMA’s

Sandbar Wildlife Management Area

Description

Sandbar Wildlife Management Area (WMA) located in the town of Milton, Vermont borders Lake Champlain on either side of Route 2. Most of its 1,560 acres are a refuge with no public access. However, the upland part of the WMA northeast of Route 2 is open for public use, as is Delta Island. One may also boat along the Lamoille River and in nearby Lake Champlain, or drive along Route 2 and stop at pull-offs there.

Sandbar State Park and the Sandbar Causeway to South Hero are other areas from which one may see wildlife in the refuge. Boats can be launched into the Lamoille River at the boat access off Cub Road, or into the Lake across from Sandbar State Park. The WMA is owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

Habitats

The Lamoille River has created a vast delta at its mouth in Lake Champlain, and this makes up most of the WMA. It includes an abandoned channel that extends through the wetland north of the river. The channel bed is at lake level and supports lush aquatic vegetation. Earthen dikes were constructed to control water levels in the marsh.

Wild Rye

This WMA is 70% wetland and 30% forested upland. The wetlands are a mix of open water emergent marsh and floodplain forest. The marshes contain water and yellow pond lilies, pickerelweed, sago and large-leaved pondweed, spiked water milfoil, bladderwort, duckweed, arrowhead species, water-plantain, cattail, three-way sedge, other sedge species, rushes, bulrushes, water-dock, water smartweed, buttonbush, winterberry, and one of the finest stands of wild rice in Vermont. Blue flag, sweetflag, least spike-rush and burreed grow along the shores.

Shagbark hickory

Apparently the forest, based upon notes from late 1700’s land surveys, has changed little over 200 years. Some of the original sand-plain forest community still remains. Swamp white oak-silver maple forest occurs along the river in the rich alluvial soils.

There are also nearly pure stands of silver maple. Eastern cottonwood, American elm and red maple. The uplands are a mix of hemlock, white pine, northern white-cedar, red oak, aspen, gray birch, shagbark hickory, white ash, and red and sugar maple. There are a few small fields and several large forested bluffs as well. Wild rye is one unusual plant found in the refuge.

Fish and Wildlife

Remember: it is illegal to harm or harass endangered animals. Viewing them from a distance with binoculars is recommended.

White-tailed deer, red fox, gray squirrel, coyote, beaver, mink, otter, muskrat and raccoon are all commonly found mammals. Occasionally visitors may meet a cottontail rabbit or even a moose.

Waterfowl and water birds are abundant on the refuge. Breeding ducks include black, wood, ring-necked and mallard ducks, goldeneyes and hooded mergansers. A greater variety of ducks pass through during migration, along with many shorebird species. Marsh – dwelling birds like soras, pied-billed grebes and common moorhens can be heard in the cattails. Great blue herons commonly fly overhead and forage in the shallows.

Songbirds include eastern bluebird, veery, wood thrush, blue-gray gnatcatcher, warbling vireo, yellow-throated vireo and Baltimore oriole. Upland game birds are American woodcock, common snipe, wild turkey and ruffed grouse. Several impressive raptors can easily be seen at the WMA. Turkey vultures are common.

Osprey, or Fish-hawk

The State-endangered osprey has made a dramatic comeback in the Sandbar area. Breeding pairs of osprey have built large nests, some of which can be viewed from Route 2. Northern harriers hunt in the marshes. Bald eagles are occasionally seen here as well.

Since there is so much wetland at Sandbar WMA, it is an excellent habitat for reptiles and amphibians. Some of the amphibians that may be found include blue-spotted, spotted, red-backed and Jefferson’s salamanders, green, gray tree and northern leopard frogs,

Spiny softshell turtle

bullfrogs, American toads and spring peepers. Milk, brown and garter snakes can also be found.

State-endangered spiny softshell turtles sometimes are seen sunning themselves along the Lamoille River. The mouth of the Lamoille River  is one of the few places in Vermont where spiny softshell turtles occur, in addition to other more common turtle species.

Where allowed, you mayfish for small and large-mouth bass, walleye, yellow perch, brown bullhead, northern pike and longnose gar.

Usage

Sandbar WMA/Rte 2 Causeway culvert
Click Image to Enlarge

Sandbar WMA is open to regulated hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing, except in the refuge.

Fishing is allowed in the immediate area of the Route 2 culvert (shore fishing only), and out in Lake Champlain beyond the refuge boundary.

Notes

Sandbar was the first WMA in Vermont. The State legislature began buying land on the Lamoille River delta in 1920. Some funds were provided through the Pittman-Robertson Act, which requires a tax on firearms and ammunition. Some of the land was acquired by the Agency of Transportation and transferred to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department as mitigation for the Route 2 corridor.

Sandbar WMA Map
Click Image to Enlarge

Directions

Sandbar WMA is located on either side of Rte 2 in Milton, Vermont, just south of where Rte 2 crosses Lake Champlain at the southern end of the Lake Champlain Islands.

• East Bay Wildlife Management Area
• East Creek Wildlife Management Area
• Sandbar Wildlife Management Area
• The Narrows Wildlife Management Area
• Bird-watching Opportunities at Vermont WMA’s