Southern Maine Strutters Plant Seeds for Success at Annual Habitat Planting

NWTF volunteers set up their NWTF JAKES BB gun trailer to help bridge the gap between hunting heritage and habitat conservation. Their booth was filled with handcrafted turkey calls, free hats, Turkey Call magazines and a raffle for one youth to receive a free lifetime hunting license. The FWS also set up a safe archery range for attendees to try.

This year’s habitat planting was hosted at the new Rachel Carson multi-purpose center in collaboration with the The Friends of Rachel Carson NWR and the Maine Conservation Corps. The event was partially funded by our partners at L.L Bean. The land behind the center used to be a dense and unproductive stand of conifers that the FWS mulched a few days prior to the event. Volunteers from across New England planted wetland trees and shrubs such as grey and silver dogwood, hawthorn and button bush in their place.

This year’s planting will create a brand new early successional habitat directly next to an established forest with mature oaks and maples, making it the ideal habitat for the New England cottontail and the wild turkey. The group of longbeards that volunteers saw feeding along the road on their way into the parking area was a reminder that the habitat work is already proving to be beneficial.

Here in the Northeast, work like this on public land is important since most of the land is privately owned.

Back at the NWTF shooting trailer, NWTF legends Pete Wentworth or “Uncle Pete” and Stu Bristol were sharing their endless knowledge on wild turkeys with the younger generation. Both gentlemen were a part of the first trap and transfer efforts in Maine back in the 70s and 80s. Uncle Pete gave away one of his handcrafted wingbone calls to a young man who had been practicing his calling with a coffee stirring straw.

Wentworth said he was happy to see someone so young get excited about turkey calling.

“It's important for our chapter to be represented and involved with community events like this one,” said Adam Tibbets, NWTF Southern Maine Strutters Chapter president. “Turkeys are here, and Maine’s turkey populations are as good as they are because of the hard work done by the generations before us, like Stu Bristol and Peter Wentworth, who were with us at the event. I feel it's our job as volunteers, conservationists and hunters to keep striving and to stay involved with our hands in the dirt doing habitat projects and spreading information with the public about wild turkeys and our hunting heritage.”

About the National Wild Turkey Federation   

Since 1973, the National Wild Turkey Federation has invested over half a billion dollars into wildlife conservation and has positively impacted over 24 million acres of critical wildlife habitat. The NWTF has also invested over $10 million into wild turkey research to guide the management of the wild turkey population and to ensure sustainable populations into perpetuity. The organization continues to deliver its mission by working across boundaries on a landscape scale through its Four Shared Values: clean and abundant water, healthy forests and wildlife habitat, resilient communities and robust recreational opportunities. With the help of its dedicated members, partners and staff, the NWTF continues its work to provide Healthy Habitats and Healthy Harvests for future generations.