464-acre Wildlife Restoration Plan

A pair of large scale wildlife restoration plans to benefit endangered species and bird habitats.

CLIENT | NRCS Healthy Reserve Program
LOCATION | West Fairlee, VT
DATE | 2019 & 2022

A wildlife restoration plan prepared by Conservation Works for the beautiful, 464-acre Eaton property in West Fairlee, Vermont, has qualified the owners for a federal Healthy Forest Initiative easement that is now in place, providing permanent protection for the property. The target species for the plan were the endangered northern long-eared bat and a variety of bird species important to the region. Owners Chuck Eaton and Delsie Hoyt, long-time residents of West Fairlee, celebrated the recording of the easement at a gathering at the site on October 21, 2022.

A second CW wildlife restoration plan, completed in September 2000, focuses on American marten habitat on the 500-acre Victory Mountain property in northern Vermont. The protective easement, also funded by the federal Healthy Forest Initiative, is due to close this coming winter as soon as the final survey is finished. The project was done in cooperation with The Trust for Public Land, and the landowner is Laury Saligman of Conservation Initiatives, LLC.

Featured image above: Chuck Eaton leads some of the group on a walk through the property, located in central Vermont.

Group gathered in barn — Delsie Hoyt describes the federal easement process for the gathering of officials and friends in the Eaton barn.

Services Provided

Land Management Plans

Prescribing and recommending appropriate measures for the management of fields, early successional areas, forests, and wetlands.

Biological Inventories and Surveys

Detailed surveys and mapping of wildlife and plant species present on the specific properties, including the following:

Canopy and understory trees, shrubs, and ground cover flora
Wildlife habitat features including cavity trees, coarse woody debris, seeps, banks, dens
Bird surveys – breeding, migratory, resident, and overwintering birds
Snakes, turtles, amphibians
Butterflies and odonates
Large and small mammals

Habitat Assessments and Land Management

Evaluations of plant and wildlife habitat including consideration of large and small scale vegetative structure and composition, presence or absence of localized habitat features (for example cavity trees, seeps, rock dens, and sphagnum wetlands) and connectivity to surrounding lands.