Story by Susan Shea
Photos by Susan Shea &
Ken Sturm, U.S.F.W.S.
W
ith our canoe atop the car, we
exited Interstate 89 at Swanton, just
eight miles south of the Canadian
border. After driving through town, we followed
Route 78 west along the winding Missisquoi
River. Soon we entered Missisquoi National
Wildlife Refuge, one of only two national wildlife
refuges in Vermont. The refuge encompasses a vast
wetlands complex, including the bird’s-foot
delta of the Missisquoi River where it flows into
Lake Champlain and Missisquoi Bay. The refuge
covers 7,458 acres and due to its rich biological
diversity, this area has been designated a Ramsar
wetland of international importance, along with
well-known wetlands such as the Everglades.
We drove past golden hayfields, which
are managed for grassland-nesting birds such
as Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark. We
arrived at a contemporary building which hosts
exhibitions about the many different habitats
found here, including silver maple floodplain
forest, sedge meaows, wild rice marshes,
Charcoal and Dead Creeks, and Maquam Bog,
the state’s largest bog and only pitch pine wood-
land bog. More than 200 species of birds use
the refuge in addition to numerous other wildlife
ranging from deer, beaver, and muskrat to Blue-
Spotted Salamanders and Spiny Softshell Turtles.
Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge was
established in 1943 under the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act. According to its manager, Ken Sturm,
its main focus is migratory birds, espe-
cially waterfowl. The refuge also provides habitat
for more than 35 species of plants and animals
considered rare in the state, such as the Lake
Sturgeon, Rusty Blackbird, Northern Long-Eared
Bat, and Black Gum Tree. Because the mission of
the National Wildlife Refuge System puts wild-
life first, some areas of the refuge are closed to
other uses, to protect wildlife such as nesting sites
for the state-endangered Black Tern. Missisquoi
is the only place in Vermont this tern breeds.
VTMAG.com
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