Wildlife Habitat

The Corporation believes that over time the former Base will become even more environmentally friendly to area residents and wildlife than it has been over the past 60 years.

Prior to the Base construction in the early 1940s, land use in the region was predominantly farmland. Wildlife habitats have already been considerably altered over many years. Construction for SWNAS cleared all but a few small-forested areas and heavily modified wetland and drainage patterns.

The Base has a variety of habitats that support wildlife, including streams, forested and shrub swamp wetlands, vernal pools, ponds, wet meadows, grasslands, upland forests, and a small Atlantic white cedar swamp. These are areas that deer, coyotes, smaller mammals, birds, frogs, salamanders, toads, snakes, turtles, fish, and invertebrates use for feeding, nesting, or stopovers on migration.

The Plan is designed to protect sensitive wildlife species and maintain habitat for common wildlife. Impacts to wetlands and sensitive wildlife habitats have been largely avoided.

Mitigation measures include: Permanent protection of wildlife habitat, including the Atlantic white cedar swamp, minimize impacts to buffer zones, maintain riparian corridors, facilitate safe movement of wildlife across roadways, remove runway pavement to restore connections between wetlands and habitats, open/restore stream channels, construct trails and overlooks to observe wildlife, construct golf course to provide adequate grassland areas for bird and turtle nesting, construct parkway to minimize impacts to turtle habitat and provide off-site mitigation for long term benefit to grasshopper sparrows and upland sandpipers.

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