During the Colonial era when up to 75% of New England's forests were cleared for farming, the New England Cottontail rabbit thrived................A creature of early successional forests and brushy fields, it was abundant in this environment.................As farms were abandoned post the Civil War and as the forests came back to this region, the New England Cottontail began to wane in numbers...............This decline accelerated with the introduction of the Eastern Cottontail rabbit...................Now, environmental groups are seeking the cooperation of New England landowners to keep a % of their property in young forest and field so to encourage the diversity that the New England Cottontail historically brings to the region

New England Cottontail

Restoring a Rare Rabbit

Rabbits need habitat for feeding and raising their young./J. Greene

The New England
 cottontail lives in parts

 of New England and
 New York state. The 

range of this once-common
 rabbit has 

shrunk and its population
 has dwindled

 over the last 50 years,
so that today

this unique native
 mammal faces 

possible extinction.

The most critical threat to the cottontail 

is a loss of habitat – the places where 

rabbits can find food, rear young, and
escape predators.
 Development has taken 

over much of the land once inhabited by
 cottontails and
other wildlife. And many 

thousands of acres that used to be young
 forest
 (ideal bunny habitat) have grown

 up into middle-aged and older woods,
where cottontails
 don't generally live.

Today the New England cottontail is
restricted to coastal
 southwestern Maine, 

southeastern New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
 Connecticut,
Rhode Island, and

 southeastern New York – less

 than a fifth of its historic range.
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Read Saving a New England Native (pdf),
 an
 article on New 

England cottontail 

conservation fromNorthern Woodlands Magazine.
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This Cottontail Needs Brush

New England cottontails need brush, 
shrubs, and

 densely growing young 

trees, habitats described by the general
 term young 

forest. In the past, 

natural factors created plenty of young
 forest. But

 today, because we don't 

let wildfires burn unchecked or beaver
 dams flood and 

kill trees, and because 

many people oppose clearcut logging,
 we no longer have

 enough of this habitat 

for New England cottontails and the
 dozens of other wild

 animals that need it.

American Woodcock needs brushy, young
 forest habitat

People and their activities have made the
 landscape 

less hospitable to cottontails. Fortunately,
we can 

manage the remaining acres of potential
 habitat to

 help the New England cottontail, along with
 birds such

 as the American woodcock, golden-winged
 warbler, 

brown thrasher, and indigo bunting, and
reptiles
 like the 

black racer and wood turtle, to name but
a few.

More than 100 kinds of wildlife in the
 Northeast use 

young forest during part or all of their life
 cycles. Making 

and renewing young forest can be
time-consuming and 

expensive, and it needs to be an ongoing
 task. But we

 owe it to wildlife -- and to our children
 and

 grandchildren -- to keep enough of
 this important

 natural resource around.
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You Can Help!

Today, the New England cottontail is
being considered 

for listing under the federal Endangered
 Species Act.

 If it gets placed on the endangered 
species list,

 then federal agencies will have the
 primary responsibility 

to boost the bunny's population and
save its habitat. 

Conservationists from all sectors --
federal, state, 

and private -- agree that it makes
 much more sense, 

and will be far more efficient, to keep
 the cottontail 

off the endangered species list in the
 first place. How 

can that be done? By making enough
 acres of habitat 

so that the species' population rises
 and it's no longer 

in danger of going extinct.

To meet this goal, conservationists
 need help from

 landowners, businesses, and the public.
Together 

we can save the New England cottontail
-- a beloved 

wild creature and a key part of our natural
 heritage.
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A Landowner's Guide to New England 

Cottontail Habitat Management (pdf) is
 a 36-page

 (17.8 MB) publication providing information
 on how

 to create and maintain habitat for cottontails.