By David Harry

Staff Writer

It was a project arborist Nate Greene said he readily embraced last fall when he joined as many as 100 volunteers who removed invasive plants from Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth.

But to remove about an acre of thickets above the Cliff Walk became tangled last week when the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said workers disturbed a habitat for the New England cottontail, an endangered species in Maine.

“We never saw any signs of rabbits,” Greene said last week as he removed growth surrounding an apple tree at the site. 

Town Manager Mike McGovern said he and wildlife officials agreed with Greene, but work along the Cliff Trail and 14 other park sites that will become the arboretum has halted for a couple of weeks.

Last fall, Greene said he joined efforts to cut and remove Japanese honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet, Japanese knotweed and other species because the arboretum project will enhance the beauty of the park.

Pellets discovered at the cleared site indicate the rabbits may have called the thicket home. Perhaps 300 New England cottontails live in Maine, said Judy Camuso, a wildlife biologist at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. 

The rabbits are considered endangered because of a decline in population and loss of habitat, Camuso said.

Discovering the pellets could cost the town $4,800, Town Manager Mike McGovern said. The town will pay a contractor to trap the rabbits and ship them to Roger Williams Zoo in Rhode Island or to Stage Island, just off the coast of Cape Porpoise.

Stage Island is the site of a captive breeding area for the rabbits, part of a multi-agency effort to increase the population and prevent the New England cottontail from a federal endangered species listing, Camuso said.

Setting an area aside to try to breed the rabbits indicates how reduced their population has become, Camuso said.

Trapping will occur over the next two weeks and Camuso said officials hope progeny from the rabbits will be returned to town, perhaps to an area outside the park with a suitable habitat. Camuso said the department and town officials are considering what town-owned site could be suitable

Town and wildlife officials were not aware of the habitat when clearing began, McGovern said, so the town will set aside land only if cottontail habitats are discovered during future plant eradication efforts in the park. 

The arboretum project, created by the Fort Williams Foundation, will plant native species in areas linked by a trail. McGovern said sites in the rest of the park either lack invasive species seen at the Cliff Trail or are not showing signs they are a New England cottontail habitat.

Last Friday, Greene said enhancing wildlife habitats is an important part of the arboretum and he was eager to move forward and hoped cottontails would benefit from the project.

“I have used the park almost my whole life. I love creating outdoor spaces,” he said.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.