Wapack National Wildlife Refuge

Wapack National Wildlife Refuge
Wapack National Wildlife Refuge
	IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
	Map of the United States
Location	Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States
Nearest city	Peterborough, New Hampshire
Coordinates	42°53′00″N71°51′58″W / 42.88341°N 71.86618°W [1] Coordinates: 42°53′00″N71°51′58″W / 42.88341°N 71.86618°W [2]
Area	1,672 acres (6.77 km2)
Established	1972
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Wapack National Wildlife Refuge

Last updated April 22, 2019

Wapack National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in southern New Hampshire. It was the state's first refuge and was established through a donation in 1972. The 1,672-acre (677 ha) refuge is located about 20 miles (32 km) west of Nashua, New Hampshire and encompasses the 2,278-foot (694 m) North Pack Monadnock Mountain.

National Wildlife RefugeSystem is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants. Since President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge as the first wildlife refuge in 1903, the system has grown to over 562 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts encompassing more than 150,000,000 acres (607,028 km²).

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. New Hampshire is the 5th smallest by area and the 10th least populous of the 50 states. Concord is the state capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state. It has no general sales tax, nor is personal income taxed at either the state or local level. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle. Its license plates carry the state motto, "Live Free or Die". The state's nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries.

Nashua is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2010 census, Nashua had a population of 86,494, making it the second-largest city in the state after Manchester. As of 2017 the population had risen to an estimated 88,341.

The Wapack Trail is one of the oldest public, interstate hiking trails in the United States. Opened in 1923, it follows the Wapack Range north-south for 21 miles (34 km), between Mount Watatic in Ashburnham, Massachusetts and North Pack Monadnock mountain in Greenfield, New Hampshire. It is designed primarily for day use by hikers, with minimal camping facilities.

The refuge lies in the towns of Greenfield, Lyndeborough, and Temple, and is administered by the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Greenfield is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,749 at the 2010 census. Greenfield is home to the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, to Greenfield State Park, and to part of the Wapack Trail.

Lyndeborough, New Hampshire Town in New Hampshire, United States

Lyndeborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,683 at the 2010 census.

Temple is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,366 at the 2010 census. It is home to Temple Mountain State Reservation, and formerly home to Temple Mountain Ski Area.

Nature

The refuge protects diverse habitat types, including northern hardwood-conifer, hemlock-hardwood, and spruce-fir forests and woodlands, oldfields, scrub-shrub habitat, and rock ledges with talus.

Old field is a term used in ecology to describe lands formerly cultivated or grazed but later abandoned. The dominant flora include perennial grasses, heaths and herbaceous plants. Old fields are canonically defined as an intermediate stage found in ecological succession in an ecosystem advancing towards its climax community, a concept which has been debated by contemporary ecologists for some time.

Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, volcanoes or valley shoulders that has accumulated through periodic rockfall from adjacent cliff faces. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically have a concave upwards form, while the maximum inclination corresponds to the angle of repose of the mean debris size.

Birds

The refuge is a popular hawk migration area and provides nesting habitat for numerous migratory songbirds such as the American tree sparrow, Swainson's thrush, magnolia warbler, crossbills, pine grosbeaks and white-throated sparrow.

Hawks are a group of medium-sized diurnal birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Hawks are widely distributed and vary greatly in size.

The American tree sparrow, also known as the winter sparrow, is a medium-sized sparrow.

Swainson's thrush, also called olive-backed thrush, is a medium-sized thrush. It is a member of genus Catharus and is typical of it in terms of its subdued coloration and beautiful voice. Swainson's thrush was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.

Other birds observed on the refuge during a 2002 breeding season survey:

The ovenbird is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and winters in Central America, many Caribbean islands, Florida and northern Venezuela.

The hermit thrush is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of Catharus, but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush.

The red-eyed vireo is a small American songbird, 13–14 cm (5.1–5.5 in) in length. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN.

Mammals

The refuge provides habitat for many mammal species, some of which include:

Reptiles and amphibians

Some amphibian species on the refuge:

Invertebrates

Invertebrates on the refuge are a food source for many other animal species. Insects in the area include butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, wasps, and ants.

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References

Refuge website

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[1] "Wapack National Wildlife Refuge". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.

[2] "Wapack National Wildlife Refuge". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.