Wapack National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in southern New Hampshire. It was the state's first refuge and was established through a donation by Lawrence and Lorna Marshall in 1972. The refuge is located about west of Nashua, New Hampshire and encompasses the North Pack Monadnock Mountain.
A segment of the Wapack Trail passes through the refuge and provides wide views of the surrounding mountains.
The refuge lies in the towns of Greenfield, Lyndeborough, and Temple, and is administered by the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Nature The refuge protects diverse habitat types, including northern hardwood-conifer, hemlock-hardwood, and spruce-fir forests and woodlands, oldfields, scrub-shrub habitat, and rock ledges with talus.
Birds The refuge is a popular hawk migration area and provides nesting habitat for numerous migratory songbirds such as the American tree sparrow, Swainson's thrush, magnolia warbler, crossbills, pine grosbeaks and white-throated sparrow.
Other birds observed on the refuge during a 2002 breeding season survey:
Ovenbird Hermit thrush Red-eyed vireo Canada warbler Blackpoll warbler Bay-breasted warbler Black-throated blue warbler Black-throated green warbler Blackburnian warbler Golden-crowned kinglet Scarlet tanager Rose-breasted grosbeak Yellow-bellied sapsucker Red-tailed hawk Sharp-shinned hawk Peregrine falcon Ruffed grouse
Mammals The refuge provides habitat for many mammal species, some of which include:
Red squirrel Gray squirrel White-footed mouse Deer mouse Woodland vole Porcupine Eastern chipmunk White-tailed deer Moose Snowshoe hare Bobcat Gray fox Red fox Coyote Black bear
Reptiles and amphibians Some amphibian species on the refuge:
Red back salamander Red-spotted newt American toad Spring peeper Pickerel frog Bullfrog Leopard frog Painted turtle Wood turtle Milk snake Garter snake Ribbon snake
Invertebrates Invertebrates on the refuge are a food source for many other animal species. Insects in the area include butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, wasps, and ants.
References Refuge website