Wildlife Habitats & Biodiversity

Current vegetation patterns in the Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve reflect landscape position and historic and recent land use. Most of the area’s upland and wetland forests have been selectively harvested during the past 30 to 40 years and about 35% has been harvested in the past two decades. It is likely that all forest stands have experienced timber harvesting historically with unknown effects on species composition.

Wetlands encompass about 14% of the Preserve. The largest and most notable is the Knight Pond Bog ecosystem, which is a complex of many open and wooded wetland types. Other than Knight Pond Bog, there are few wetlands due to the sloping terrain.

A natural community is defined as an assemblage of interacting plants and animals and their common environment recurring across the landscape in which the effects of human intervention are minimal. Twelve natural communities have been documented in the Preserve. These include four upland forest types: oak-pine forest, red oak-northern hardwood-white pine forest, white pine-mixed conifer forest, and spruce-fir-broom moss forest; four wetland forest types: red maple-sensitive fern swamp, red maple wooded fern, Atlantic white cedar bog, and spruce-larch wooded bog; and four open wetland types: sheep laurel dwarf shrub bog, tussock sedge meadow, mixed tall sedge fern, and water- lily macrophyte aquatic bed. The wetland communities in particular tend to grade into one another. For example, Knights Pond Bog is a complex of many wetland community types, including sheep laurel dwarf shrub bog, Atlantic white cedar bog, red maple swamp and wooded fern, mixed tall sedge fern, as well as mixtures of these types. In addition to the communities listed above, several vernal pools occur in the Preserve. Vernal pools provide important habitat for a variety of amphibians, but are not classified as a vegetative natural community.

Three high quality natural communities were identified during the inventory of the Preserve. These include: 1) a 40-acre stand of 120+ year old red oak, white pine, and eastern hemlock on the upper and middle southeast slopes of Ducktrap Mountain, 2) a 62-acre stand of 150 year old red spruce and balsam fir east of the summit of Ducktrap Mountain and 3) Knight Pond Bog, a wetland complex that supports one of 12 known populations of Atlantic white cedar in Maine.

The forests, wetlands, streams, and fields of the Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve support a rich flora. During 7 days of fieldwork, more than 200 species of plants and 12 different natural communities were documented in the Study Area. If systematic surveys were conducted for mosses, liverworts, and graminoids over the course of several years and during different seasons, the number of plant species present would easily double.

One rare animal species was documented in the Preserve area during this inventory. The New England Bluet (Enallagma laterale) is a rare damselfly that has also been documented on the western shore of Pitcher Pond. The bluet was seen and photographed on Knight Pond Bog north of where the thoroughfare leaves Knight Pond in dwarf shrub bog vegetation. This insect is a species of “Special Concern” in Maine.

Habitat Patch Size is perhaps the greatest value of the Ducktrap Wildlife as it is a large unfragmented area of open space. The preserve abuts other conservation lands that together create an undeveloped and relatively unbroken block of land that is many thousands of acres in size. Large forest tracts are more likely than small tracts to support wildlife species with large home ranges or special habitat needs, as well as those species that require forest interiors.

As the midcoast area shifts from relatively undeveloped to a suburban landscape fragmented by roads and lawns, the type and abundance of wildlife will gradually shift from species that require larger blocks of open space, such as moose, fisher, bobcat, hawks, mink, and barred owls to species that can adapt to a more developed or suburban landscape, such as raccoons, skinks, small rodents, and squirrels. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife estimates that habitat blocks of 2,000 acres or so are needed to support viable populations of moose, fisher, and hawks. As block size decreases, species fall out of the system. The Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve and the network of protected lands that extend to Camden Hills State Park and along the Ducktrap River are likely to become one of the midcoast’s most important source areas and travel corridors for a suite of Maine forest species that we now take for granted.

The above description of the wildlife habitats and biodiversity of the Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve was adapted from a report by ecologist Janet McMahon in a published manuscript submitted to the Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve in February, 2002 entitled “Ecological Assessment of the Ducktrap Wildlife Preserve Study Area”.