In the autumn, sure as the leaves fall, most of the state’s 113 wildlife management areas see a spike in recreational use as hunters share forest and field with birders, hikers and riders.
By and large they stay out of one another’s way, although there are occasional conflicts of interest. Birders and hikers sometimes worry about discharge of firearms. More than one hunter has griped about waiting in a deer stand for hours only to have a whitetail present itself but then flee when people come crashing through the brush.
The state wildlife division, q unit of the Department of Energy an Environmental Protection that oversees the WMAs, tries hard to keep everyone happy.
“Our job is to steward all of our wildlife resources so that future generations can enjoy the amazing diversity of wildlife and that often involves balancing many needs at once,” said Jenny Dickson, director of the division.
She stresses, however, that one priority of the balancing act is paramount and it’s not recreation. Unlike state parks, the primary objective of WMAs, as the name implies, is to benefit wildlife and the habitats that support it. Human recreational needs are secondary.
“Wildlife habitat always comes first,” said Dickson when describing multiple uses of WMAs. “Habitat and the wildlife that lives at WMAs are the main priorities.”
Odds are that most people who use the areas are unaware that their enjoyment is secondary but the purpose of WMA is clearly stated by the DEEP:
“WMAs are areas of land and water having unique or outstanding wildlife qualities that are managed primarily for the conservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat. Even though these areas provide opportunities for fish and wildlife-based recreation, such as fishing, hunting, trapping and wildlife observation, they are not state parks.”
Sized between an acre and more than 2,200 acres, covering more than 35,000 acres in total, Connecticut’s WMAs include most major habitat types in the state, including grasslands, old fields, forests, coastal salt marshes, freshwater marshes, and riparian zones.
A number of factors are considered when biologists chart how to administer an area. “We look at the key values of the area—existing habitat, current species, proximity to other protected lands, potential movement corridors, existing challenges or threats to wildlife conservation,” said Dickson.
“Then we look at recreational opportunities and see which ones complement the needs and management objectives of different areas,” she added.
By way of example, the best use of an area with an abundance of warm-season grass may be habitat for grassland birds and birders who enjoy watching them. A large block of forested habitat with a diversity of understory plant species maybe could be ideal for deer hunting.
Both passive recreation with little impact on habitat and some form of hunting are compatible with most WMAs, according to Dickson, “but it is important to recognize that not all areas can—or should be—managed for every species and every activity.”
Some WMAs are open to a variety of hunting, including firearms for deer, waterfowling, small game and stocked pheasants. Others allow only certain types – bow hunting for deer and turkey, for example. What’s allowed depends on habitat suitability and safety considerations.
DEEP biologists use a wide variety of techniques to manage habits within WMAs. These include mowing, prescribed burning, controlling invasive plants and keeping water open in marshes. Management plans developed for individual WMAs set goals for maintaining and enhancing the natural resource values peculiar to particular properties.
Several management plans in WMAs focus on restoring young forest, a key wildlife habitat that has almost vanished from Connecticut. Formerly, it was created by fire, storms and other natural events and artificially by agriculture and logging. Today, almost all of Connecticut’s forests are mature. Young forest habitats are rare, except where logging has occurred and – significantly – in WMAs.
Young forest, in ecological terms, is early successional habitat, sunlit and speckled with small trees under 20 feet, shrubs, brushy tangles, grasses and wildflowers. The diversity of plants provides food, cover or both for a plethora of species, more than 50 of which that the state considers of “greatest conservation need.” Among them are the American woodcock, eastern towhee, New England cottontail, prairie warbler, brown thrasher, field sparrow and the iconic ruffed grouse, almost gone from the state.
A typical plan to enhance young forest habitat has been completed on 22 acres at the 464-acre Zemko Pond in Salem, an area that attracts birders and hunters. Selected trees were removed from the interior of the area so that young forest would regenerate there.
Wetland conservation is another important function of movement plans. Dam and culvert repairs at Barn Island WMA, 1,000-plus acres on Little Narragansett Bay in Stonington, re-established tidal flow throughout 142 acres that constitute the largest tract of salt marsh adjacent to undeveloped coastal forest in New England.
Barn Island ranks as one of the gems of Connecticut’s WMAs. It offers a wide variety of hunting opportunities, ranging from deer and waterfowling to stocked pheasants. Fishermen go there as well for marine species. It is designated as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society.
Warm-season grassland management is the focus at the 265-acre Suffield WMA, in the town of the same name, which is adjacent to the Southwick WMA in Massachusetts, also 265 acres in size. Both states regularly conduct controlled burns in the WMAs to maintain grassland habitat in the Connecticut River Valley, once used for growing cigar tobacco, and seriously declining in area. As the grasslands have diminished, so have grassland birds that nest there, notably the bobolink and meadowland, which have dwindled in numbers and range within Connecticut.
A 3.3-mile-long hiking loop through both areas provides birders with an opportunity to see grasslands birds not encountered in many parts of the state. Hunters can use firearms to pursue stocked pheasants, small game and turkey, and bows for deer.
State efforts to improve grassland habitat met the approval of Cynthia S Ehlinger, President of the Connecticut Ornithological Association, a birding organization.
“Bird species such as bobolinks, eastern meadowlarks and grasshopper sparrows, which have experienced alarming population declines since the 1970s require responsibly managed grasslands for breeding success,” she said. “The Connecticut landscape has undergone dramatic change as farm fields have been replaced by second growth forests and human development.”
“COA encourages any efforts to provide bird-friendly, native plant habitats throughout the state of Connecticut,” said Ehlinger. “We consider work to conserve grassland birds critically important
At the same time, she said, her organization has voiced some concerns about state management practices, not specific to WMAs but in state parks. COA is not happy with “mowing practices” at West Rock Ridge and Hammonasset Beach state parks that are “known to be potential or actual breeding locations for bobolinks and other grassland birds.”
Mowing at some WMAs is definitely a source of grumbling from some sportsmen but they want more of it, not less. One complaint, says Dickson, is that brushy weed fields where pheasants are stocked make good habitat but tough going for hunters.
Some hunters don’t mind, while for others, pushing through the brush is not their idea of fun. What’s good for hunters, however, may not be best for wildlife, and it takes priority over all other uses of WMAs.
Hunters who feel they are owed consideration on WMAs may have a case because, in effect, they pay for the WMAs. Birders and other users get a free ride.
Most WMA land purchases and operations are funded by the federal Pittman-Robertson Act which since 1937 U.S. has wildlife conservation by placing an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment. Revenue goes to state fish and wildlife agencies to support wildlife and habitat restoration, research, hunter education, and public access to wildlife.
The 2025 Pittman-Robertson apportionment for Connecticut was $6,404,457, according to the DEEP.
Keith Cagle, president of Friends of Connecticut Sportsmen, a non-profit advocacy group for hunters, fishermen, trappers and recreational shooters, said that the state should spend more of that Pittman-Robertson money on WMA “maintenance.”
While WMAs are high-priority, Dickson said money must also be spread around to other important functions, such as hunter education. Taking a state hunter education course is required for obtaining a hunting license.
A total of $807,369 is earmarked for hunter education in 2025. Beyond that, $3,231,105 went to land acquisition and $1,775,480 for habitat restoration, including maintenance. Other funds are dispersed to additional needs.
Hunters often complain that so-called “non-consumptive” users of WMAs do not credit them sufficiently for their contribution to conservation. Ehlinger said this is not necessarily true. “I think many of our members are aware that much of the funding for Connecticut Wildlife Management Areas comes from hunters,” she said.
Even so, however, many a hunter can share anecdotes about encountering people in WMAs who have no idea that hunting can be occurring on these properties.
A couple of autumns ago, Jay Clark, 70, of Westbrook was bird hunting with his small musterlander gun dog, Hilda, at the Bartlett Brook Wildlife Management Area in Lebanon when he two women out for a stroll. “They had no idea that hunting was allowed there,’ he said. When told that they were walking about while hunters were active all about them, he said, they were shocked but not confrontational. He advised them to wear blaze orange if afield during hunting seasons, a smart idea for everyone who ventures afield during hunting seasons, not only on WMAs but any lands where hunting takes place.
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