U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Missisquoi

National

Wildlife Refuge

Black Creek & 

Maquam Creek 

Nature Trails

Missisquoi 

National Wildlife Refuge

371 North River Street

Swanton, VT 05488-8148

802/868 4781

Federal Relay Service

for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

1 800/877 8339

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

1 800/344 WILD

http://www.fws.gov

September 2002
Welcome and 

Enjoy Your Visit

Welcome to Missisquoi National 

Wildlife Refuge! The refuge was 

established in 1943 for the purpose 

of preserving and protecting habitat 

for migratory birds. The 6,592-acre 

refuge consists of quiet waters and 

wetlands, which provide important 

feeding, resting and breeding areas 

for migratory birds, especially 

waterfowl, and upland areas that are 

a mix of open fields and hardwood 

forest. 

This booklet is designed as a selfguiding tour of the nature trails. 

These trails were constructed by 

the Missisquoi Youth Conservation 

Corps, an organization designed 

to give young people gainful 

employment while learning 

and doing something for the 

environment. They are designed 

with an emphasis upon the 

interaction of organisms within an 

ecosystem. They total approximately 

11⁄2 miles in length and take about 

two hours to walk at a leisurely 

pace. The trails will lead you 

through open fields and floodplain 

forests. The most common trees and 

shrubs along the trails are alder, 

buttonbush, silver maple, gray birch, 

ash and swamp white oak. You may 

see red fox, white-tailed deer, an 

assortment of birds, beautiful native 

wildflowers and a wide variety of 

other wildlife species.

Hints for Enjoying 

Your Walk

 Take your binoculars. Most 

wildlife is wary of humans. 

Binoculars will help you get a 

close-up view without creating a 

disturbance.

 Bring your field guides. Wildlife 

and wildflower identification books 

will help you learn the identities of 

some of the more common native 

flora and fauna. Inquire at the 

refuge office for loaner guides.

 Start early and stay late. You are 

more likely to see wildlife activity 

if you take the walk early in the 

morning or late in the afternoon.

 Observe carefully. Remember, 

animals blend in with their 

surroundings. Walk slowly 

and look closely. Animals are 

unpredictable and not always seen.

 Bring along insect repellent. 

Biting insects can be a nuisance 

during the summer months.

 Stay on established trail. This 

helps prevent accidents and 

lessens environmental damage.

 Watch for Poison ivy. It has three 

leaflets, is shiny, and is sometimes 

tinged red. It can be found 

as a woody vine covering the 

ground or clinging to trees. 

Although it is a nuisance to 

man, its berries are a valuable 

food source for many birds.

 Dress appropriately. Much 

of the trail is wet from April 

through June so shin-height 

boots are recommended. 

During these wet periods, 

traces of deer, raccoon and 

fox are often very visible.

 WATCH YOUR STEP. There are 

exposed tree roots and holes made 

by tunneling mammals on both 

trails.

Some Important 

Rules

 Collecting of any kind and 

disturbing or feeding wildlife is 

against the law. Feeding wildlife is 

dangerous and strictly prohibited.

 The nature trails are open to 

walking only. No biking is allowed 

on trails.

This goose, designed by 

J.N. “Ding” Darling, has 

become the symbol of the 

National Wildlife Refuge 

System.

Poison ivy
 The refuge is open to managed 

hunts during certain times of 

the year. A refuge hunt permit 

is required. A safety zone is 

established around the trails.

 Dogs must be kept and controlled 

on a leash no longer than 10 feet.

 Don’t litter. Litter is ugly and no 

one wants to look at it. But there’s 

another reason not to litter: 

animals may eat the garbage left 

on the ground, whether it is edible 

or not. Since most human litter is 

from food and food wrappings, the 

garbage smells like something to 

eat. Animals will try to do so, but 

often become ill and die.

The “edge effect” or transition area 

where one plant community changes 

to another is extremely important 

to wildlife because of the increased 

diversity and density of important 

food and cover plants that occur 

there. These narrow borders are 

found between forests and fields, 

croplands and grasslands, and brush 

and woodlands.

Forest openings have been created in an 

effort to provide habitat for woodcock. 

Just beyond the railroad tracks behind 

the woodcock interpretive sign you 

can see where an area was clearcut 

and is now an early growth forest. 

Woodcock, grouse, deer and 

a variety of songbirds require 

forest habitat that is periodically 

disturbed so new vegetation 

can grow. In the past, 

farm abandonment and 

wildfires accomplished this 

task. Now, increased urbanization 

and poor forest management 

has caused continued decline in 

the quantity and quality of habitat 

available for woodcock. As a 

result, woodcock numbers in 

the East have been shrinking. 

Without intervention, this decline 

will continue. The creation and 

maintenance of habitat for woodcock is 

another example of how refuge habitat 

is managed for wildlife.

Vernal pools along the field and 

woods edges provide pairing and 

feeding areas for waterfowl and are 

important habitat for reptiles and 

amphibians, especially frogs.

The swamp white oak trees along the 

creeks have been protected with wire 

netting to keep beavers from cutting 

them down. When the bark is chewed 

completely around the tree, the tree 

becomes “girdled.” This means the 

conducting tissue is cut and very 

little water will reach the leaves, 

Points of Interest 

on the Trail

The fields leading to the nature 

trail provide nesting habitat for 

small mammals such as mice and 

voles, and for birds such as the redwinged blackbird, field sparrow and 

bobolink. Hay is cut by local farmers 

after July 15 when most birds 

have completed nesting and brood 

rearing. Cutting the fields maintains 

the grassland habitat and is just one 

way that we manage for wildlife on 

the refuge. 

Bluebird houses have been erected in 

the fields to allow Vermont’s native 

bluebird populations to increase 

in numbers. The combined effects 

of reduced nesting cavities and 

competition with imported European 

house sparrows and starlings since 

the late 1800s caused an estimated 

90% decline in the number of our 

native bluebirds. The establishment 

of properly spaced nest boxes around 

the countryside has enabled bluebird 

populations to increase.

Brush piles along the fields and trail 

are used as shelters by chipmunks, 

rabbits and occasionally fox.

Woodcock

© Beauregard
causing the tree to die. The acorns 

from these trees are valuable food 

for many animals including the wood 

duck, white-tailed deer, squirrels 

and chipmunks. Beavers must 

occasionally be trapped in this area in 

order to protect these trees.

There are active beaver houses along 

Maquam Creek. The beaver lodge 

is a mud-and-stick igloo that is never 

finished but is continually added to 

or repaired as long as it is occupied. 

A beaver cuts down about 200 trees 

a year. They prefer the bark of aspen 

to that of any other kind of tree. They 

also dig out and feed upon the roots 

of cattails.

You may see piles of mud 

along both trails. These piles 

are constructed by beaver, 

and are called “scent mounds.” 

Beavers erect these mounds in 

order to establish a territory for 

themselves.

The little pathways from the woods 

to the water are “beaver runs.” Such 

runs are useful to beavers when they 

need to transport branches and small 

logs to the water. Beavers also use 

these for quick and direct access to 

the water to escape from danger.

Abandoned beaver lodges are 

sometimes used by other animals 

such as mink, otter and raccoons. 

Ducks also use the lodges as nesting 

and loafing sites.

Artificial nesting boxes have been 

successful along both Black and 

Maquam Creeks for producing wood 

ducks.

Over 200 species of birds use the 

refuge for nesting, resting and feeding. 

The yellow warbler, song sparrow, 

great crested flycatcher, yellowMaquam Creek 

Trail

throated warbler and wood duck are a 

few you might see along the trail.

The marsh area on the left nearing 

the Point is good for waterfowl 

observation, particularly mallards, 

black ducks, wood ducks, and 

ringnecks. The last 50 yards or so 

of the trail are excellent for wildlife 

observation but are occasionally wet.

Near Lookout Point, osprey may 

be sighted as an artificial osprey 

nesting platform has been erected 

on the refuge close by. This large, 

fish-eating hawk constructs a bulky 

nest of sticks, usually in a dead tree 

along the shore of a lake or near 

water. Osprey were a familiar sight 

along waterways in North America, 

but high levels of pesticides, seeping 

into the water from croplands and 

absorbed by the fish, have seriously 

depleted the North American 

population. Due to reduced pesticide 

levels and placement of artificial 

nesting platforms, the osprey, an 

endangered species in VT, is staging 

a comeback.

Black Creek Trail Sedges, moss, wildflowers and ferns 

carpet the trails. The moist, shaded 

trails provide perfect habitat 

for the sensitive, royal, 

cinnamon and interrupted 

ferns thriving here. Ferns 

reproduce by spores rather 

than seeds. Spores appear on 

the underside of fern fronds 

or sometimes along their 

margins, on particular leaflets, 

as in the interrupted fern, or 

on separate or fertile fronds 

as in the sensitive fern and the 

cinnamon fern.

The seeds, tubers and rootstocks of 

some of the aquatic plants along the 

creeks such as arrowhead, water lily, 

burreed, cattails, and pickerelweed 

provide valuable food for waterfowl, 

Wood duck

Beaver

Royal fern
songbirds and mammals. These 

plants also provide escape cover for 

broods of waterfowl. Pickerel and 

bass are two of the fish that use the 

weedy plants found underwater as a 

place to spawn.

Some of the more common 

wildflowers on the trail are the tall 

meadow rue, meadowsweet, Canada 

lily, bluets, blue flag, turtlehead and 

bellwort.

You may notice several large jelly-like 

masses on submerged tree branches 

called bryozoan colonies. Bryozoan 

colonies are permanently massed 

together. The single units of this 

colony each have hair-like tentacles 

called “cilia.” The cilia wave back 

and forth in the water, directing the 

food particles into the 

bryozoan’s mouth. The 

foods eaten by these 

minute organisms 

are microscopic 

algae, and singlecelled animals 

and plants.

During the summer months portions 

of the creeks appear to be a green 

floating mat. This mat consists of 

many tiny floating plants called 

duckweed and provides a valuable 

food source for waterfowl. These 

plants also provide habitat for many 

insects and crustaceans that are 

important foods for ducks and other 

animals.

Dead trees serve as feeding stations 

for many woodpeckers. The larger 

woodpeckers create large holes in 

these snags and the cavities serve 

as natural sites for duck and song 

bird nests or homes for raccoons and 

squirrels. The value of a few dead 

trees to wildlife is often unrecognized 

by people, since most consider them 

eyesores and cut them down.

U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service

Missisquoi is one of more than 530 

refuges in the National Wildlife 

Refuge System administered by the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 

National Wildlife Refuge System is a 

network of lands and waters managed 

specifically for the protection of 

wildlife and wildlife habitat and 

represents the most comprehensive 

wildlife resource management 

program in the world.

The Service also manages national 

fish hatcheries, and provides federal 

leadership in habitat protection, 

technical assistance, and the 

conservation and protection of 

migratory birds, certain marine 

mammals and threatened and 

endangered species.

The Missisquoi National Wildlife 

Refuge staff encourages you to 

make future visits to the nature trail 

and experience other areas of the 

refuge such as the trails located on 

Tabor Rd. and the Mac’s Bend road 

alongside the river. There is always 

something different to see. Also, 

think about visiting one of the other 

national wildlife refuges around 

the country. Information about the 

refuge system is available at the 

headquarters office.

For further information, please 

contact:

Refuge Manager

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge

371 North River St.

Swanton, VT 05488-8148

Telephone: 802/868-4781

Water lily 

Bryozoan 

colonies
Birds You 

May See

Red-winged blackbird

Kingfisher

Great blue heron

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Wood duck

Mallard

Black tern

Yellow warbler

Goldfinch

Chickadee

Downy 

 woodpecker

Hairy 

 woodpecker

Piliated 

 woodpecker

Northern 

 Harrier

Catbird

Tree 

 swallow

Cardinal

Blue jay

Refuge

Headquarters

Railroad

Black

Creek

Trail

Lookout Point

Maquam

Creek Trail 

Connecting

Trail

Maquam

Black

Creek

End Of Trail

LEGEND

Trail

Refuge HQ.

Forest

Road

Rest Bench

Grassland

Boardwalk

Black Creek and

Maquam Creek Trails

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge 

Creek

Common Wildlife 

Tracks

White-tailed deer

Fox squirrel

Raccoon

Red fox

Cottontail rabbit

Skunk

Muskrat

Beaver

Coyote

Great blue heron

White-tailed 

deer

Racoon Beaver Great blue

heron

Kingfisher

Gold 

finch

Osprey

© June Henshaw

Downy 

woodpecker

Blue 

jay

Mallard

Red-wing 

blackbird