Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Natural conservation area in the northeastern United States

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
The Holyoke Range behind a field of clover at the Fort River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, Hadley, MA
Map of the United States
Location	Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, United States
Coordinates	44°46′05″N 71°42′09″W / 44.76819°N 71.70251°W / 44.76819; -71.70251
Area	31,216 acres (126.33 km)
Established	1997
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge was established in 1997 to conserve, protect and enhance the abundance and diversity of native plant, fish and wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout the 7,200,000-acre (29,000 km) Connecticut River watershed. The watershed covers large areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. It contains a great diversity of habitats, notably: northern forest valuable as nesting habitat for migrant thrushes, warblers and other birds; rivers and streams used by shad, salmon, herring, the endangered shortnose sturgeon and other migratory fishes; and an internationally significant complex of high-quality tidal fresh, brackish and salt marshes.

The refuge works in partnership with a wide variety of individuals and organizations to provide environmental education, to encourage and support appropriate habitat conservation and management on public and private lands, and to protect additional habitat.

The refuge has three cooperative visitor centers: in Colebrook, New Hampshire; at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont; and Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls, Massachusetts.

The refuge is named for Silvio O. Conte, a late, longtime member of the United States House of Representatives for Massachusetts who worked to preserve and protect the environment.

Areas

The refuge currently consists of nine units (small tracts) and eight divisions (large tracts):

Connecticut

Deadman's Swamp Unit - 33 acres (13 ha) of wetlands and a riverine sand spit that hosts a federally listed beetle in Cromwell, Connecticut, closed to the public for resource protection.
Roger Tory Peterson Unit - Old Lyme, Connecticut, was once part of the estate of author and naturalist Roger Tory Peterson.
Salmon River Division - 425 acres (172 ha) located in the lower Connecticut River valley at the confluence of the Salmon River and the Connecticut River in Haddam, Connecticut.

Massachusetts

Third Island Unit - a 4-acre (1.6 ha) island in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Honey Pot Unit - a 21-acre (8.5 ha) upland and wetland parcel in Westfield, Massachusetts.
Wissatinnewag Unit - 21-acre (8.5 ha) on the river opposite the Great Falls Discovery Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Mt. Tom Unit - 141 acres (57 ha) on Mount Tom in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Mt. Toby Unit - 30 acres (12 ha) at the base of Mount Toby in Sunderland, Massachusetts.
Fort River Division - 260 acres (110 ha) located in Hadley, Massachusetts.
Mill River Division - 249 acres (101 ha) located in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Westfield River Division - 125 acres (51 ha) on Benton Hill Road in Becket, Massachusetts.
Hatfield Unit - 19 acres (7.7 ha) in Hatfield, Massachusetts.
Dead Branch Division - 98 acres (40 ha) in Chesterfield, Massachusetts.
Fannie Stebbins Unit - 371 acres (150 ha) in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, named for Fannie Stebbins

New Hampshire

Pondicherry Division - 6,405 acres (2,592 ha) in Jefferson, Whitefield, and Carroll, New Hampshire
Blueberry Swamp Division - 1,023 acres (414 ha) on the Mohawk River in Columbia, New Hampshire

Vermont

Nulhegan Basin Division - over 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) in Brunswick, Ferdinand, Bloomfield and Lewis, with the division headquarters and visitor contact station located in Brunswick.
Putney Mountain Unit - 285 acres (115 ha) which host a federally endangered plant, northeastern bulrush, in Putney and Brookline, Vermont.

References

Great Northwoods Interpretive Center of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
"Great Falls Discovery Center". greatfallsdiscoverycenter.org.
"Fannie Stebbins Unit rack postcard" (PDF). fws.gov. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
"FEDERALLY LISTED ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES IN VERMONT" (PDF). www.fws.gov. 2016.

External links

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

v t e Protected areas of Connecticut
National Park Service	Weir Farm National Historical Park
National Wildlife Refuges	Silvio O. Conte Stewart B. McKinney
National Trails	Appalachian Trail New England National Scenic Trail Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Ashaway River Eightmile River Farmington River Green Fall River Housatonic River Pawcatuck River Salmon Brook Shunock River Wood River
State Parks	Above All Air Line Beaver Brook Becket Hill State Park Reserve Beckley Furnace Industrial Monument Bennett's Pond Bigelow Hollow Black Rock Bluff Point Bolton Notch Brainard Homestead Burr Pond Camp Columbia Campbell Falls Chatfield Hollow Collis P. Huntington Connecticut Valley Railroad Dart Island State Park Day Pond Dennis Hill Devil's Hopyard Dinosaur Eagle Landing Farm River Farmington Canal Fort Griswold Battlefield Fort Trumbull Gardner Lake Gay City George Dudley Seymour George Waldo Gillette Castle Haddam Island Haddam Meadows Haley Farm Hammonasset Beach Harkness Memorial Haystack Mountain Higganum Reservoir Hop River State Park Trail Hopemead Hopeville Pond Horse Guard Housatonic Meadows Humaston Brook Hurd Indian Well John A. Minetto Kent Falls Kettletown Killingly Pond Lake Waramaug Lamentation Mountain Larkin State Park Trail Lovers Leap Macedonia Brook Machimoodus Mansfield Hollow Mashamoquet Brook Mianus River Millers Pond Minnie Island Mohawk Mountain Mono Pond Moosup Valley State Park Trail Mooween Mount Bushnell Mount Riga Mount Tom Old Furnace Osbornedale Penwood Platt Hill Pomeroy Putnam Memorial Quaddick Quinebaug Lake Quinnipiac River River Highlands Rocky Glen Rocky Neck Ross Pond Salt Rock State Campground Satan's Kingdom State Recreation Area Scantic River Selden Neck Seth Low Pierrepont Sherwood Island Silver Sands Sleeping Giant Southford Falls Squantz Pond Stillwater Pond Stoddard Hill Stratton Brook Sunnybrook Sunrise Talcott Mountain Tri-Mountain Trout Brook Valley Wadsworth Falls West Rock Ridge Wharton Brook Whittemore Glen Windsor Locks Canal State Park Trail Windsor Meadows Wooster Mountain
State Forests	Algonquin American Legion Centennial Watershed Cockaponset Enders James L. Goodwin Housatonic Massacoe Mattatuck Meshomasic Mohawk Mohegan Nassahegon Natchaug Nathan Hale Naugatuck Nehantic Nepaug Nipmuck Nye-Holman Pachaug Paugnut Paugussett People's Pootatuck Quaddick Salmon River Shenipsit Topsmead Tunxis Wyantenock
Wildlife Management Areas	Aldo Leopold WMA Assekonk WMA Babcock Pond WMA Barber Pond WMA Barn Island WMA Bartlett Brook WMA Bear Hill WMA Belding WMA Bishops Swamp WMA Black Pond WMA Candlewood Hill WMA Cedar Swamp WMA Charles E. Wheeler WMA Cromwell Meadows WMA Durham Meadows WMA East River Marsh WMA East Swamp WMA Eightmile River WMA Franklin Swamp WMA Goshen WMA Great Harbor WMA Higganum Meadows WMA Housatonic River WMA King's Island Coop WMA Kollar WMA Larson Lot WMA Little River Fish and Wildlife Area Lord's Cove WMA Maromas Coop WMA Meadow Brook WMA Menunketesuck WMA Messerschmidt WMA Newgate WMA Nod Brook WMA Nott Island WMA Pease Brook WMA Plum Bank WMA Quinebaug River WMA Quinnipiac River Marsh WMA Ragged Rock WMA Raymond Brook Marsh WMA Robbins Swamp WMA Roger Tory Peterson Wildlife Area Roraback WMA Rose Hill WMA Ross Marsh WMA Salmon River Cove and Haddam Neck WMA Sessions Woods WMA Simsbury WMA Skiff Mountain Coop WMA James V. Spignesi WMA Stanley Works WMA Suffield WMA Talbot WMA Tankerhoosen WMA Wangunk Meadows WMA Wopowog WMA Zemko Pond WMA
Reservoirs	Aspetuck Reservoir Barkhamsted Reservoir Beaver Dam Lake Candlewood Lake Easton Reservoir Far Mill Reservoir Hemlock Reservoir Hop Brook Lake Lake Lillinonah Mansfield Hollow Lake Means Brook Saugatuck Reservoir Trap Falls Reservoir West Hartford Reservoir West Pequonnock Reservoir Lake Zoar
Private	Aspetuck Land Trust Aton Forest Audubon Center at Bent of the River Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens Bear Mountain Beckley Bog Branford Land Trust Case Mountain Cathedral Pines Connecticut Audubon Society Center at Fairfield Connecticut College Arboretum Devil's Den Preserve Earthplace Great Mountain Forest Higby Mountain Highstead Arboretum Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust McLean Game Refuge New Canaan Nature Center Peter's Rock Pine Mountain Reserve Saltonstall Mountain Stamford Museum & Nature Center Steep Rock Association Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust White Memorial Foundation Woodcock Nature Center Yale-Myers Forest
Trails	American Legion State Forest Trails Aspetuck Valley Trail Blue-Blazed Trails Chatfield Trail Hancock Brook Trail Housatonic Range Trail Lillinonah Trail Mattabesett Trail Menunkatuck Trail Metacomet Trail Narragansett Trail Natchaug Trail Naugatuck Trail Nehantic Trail Nipmuck Trail Paugussett Trail Pequot Trail Quinnipiac Trail Regicides Trail Salmon River Trail Shenipsit Trail Tunxis Trail Westwoods Trails Whitestone Cliffs Trail Zoar Trail
Nature centers	List of nature centers in Connecticut
Local Government Forest/Parks	Bear Mountain Reservation Beardsley Park Burr Farm Protected Open Space East Rock Park Gurski Farm Protected Open Space Happy Landings Protected Open Space Lighthouse Point Park Lillinonah Woods Mill River Park Old Bridge Sanctuary Pleasure Beach Roosevelt Forest Salt Meadow Park Seaside Park Webb Mountain Discovery Zone Webb Mountain Park
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling
National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory
Other National Park Service units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore
National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Assabet Concord Sudbury Taunton Westfield
Other protected areas	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State parks

Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Governor Thomas Dudley Great Brook Farm Greycourt Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck
Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain
Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

State forests

Wildlife management areas

Wildlife
management areas

Wildlife
sanctuaries

The Nature Conservancy
Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Roger and Virginia Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations

Audubon Society wildlife sanctuaries

Other
Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary Old Harbor Wildlife Refuge

Category
Boston
Emerald Necklace
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commons

Protected areas of New Hampshire

Federal

National Historic Parks and Sites	Saint-Gaudens NHP
National Forests	White Mountain
National Trails	Appalachian Trail
National wild and scenic rivers	Lamprey River Nashua River Wildcat Brook
National Wildlife Refuges	Great Bay John Hay Silvio O. Conte Umbagog Wapack
Other protected areas	Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

State

State parks	Ahern Androscoggin Annett Bear Brook Beaver Brook Falls Bedell Bridge Cardigan Chesterfield Gorge Clough Coleman Crawford Notch Daniel Webster Birthplace Deer Mountain Campground Dixville Notch Echo Lake Eisenhower Memorial Ellacoya Endicott Rock Forest Lake Fort Constitution Fort Stark Franconia Notch Franklin Pierce Homestead Gardner Memorial Wayside Governor Wentworth Historic Site Greenfield Hampton Beach Hannah Duston Memorial Jenness Jericho Mountain Kingston Lake Francis Lake Tarleton Madison Boulder Milan Hill Miller Mollidgewock Monadnock Moose Brook Mt. Sunapee Mt. Washington Nansen Ski Jump North Hampton Northwood Meadows Odiorne Point Pawtuckaway Pillsbury Pisgah Rhododendron Robert Frost Rollins Rye Harbor Sculptured Rocks Silver Lake Taylor Mill Umbagog Lake Wadleigh Wallis Sands Weeks Wellington Wentworth Wentworth–Coolidge Mansion White Island White Lake Winslow
State forests	Abbott Agnew Allen Alton Bay Ames Ammonoosuc Annett Annie Duncan Ashenden Ayers Ballard Bear Mountain Belknap Mountain Benton Big Island Black Mountain Blair Blue Job Mountain Bowditch-Runnels Cape Horn Carroll Casalis Chemung Cilley Connecticut Lakes Connecticut River Contoocook Conway Common Lands Cowden Craney Hill Cushman Davisville Davis-White Devils Slide District #5 Dodge Brook Eaton Fall Mountain Fay Feuer Foster & Colburn Fox Gay George Duncan Gile Gilmore Goodwin-Chandler Grant Green Mountain Hamel Harriman-Chandler Haven Hemenway Hodgman Honey Brook Hubbard Hill Huston-Morgan Hyland Hill Kearsarge Mountain Lang Station Lead Mine Leighton Litchfield Little Pine River Livermore Falls Lord Pines Lovewell Mountain Low Marshall Mascoma Mast Yard Max Israel Meadow Pond Merrimack River Merriman Mt. Major Nash Stream Nottingham Nursery Opechee Bay Page Page's Corner Paugus Bay Percy Pine River Piscataquog Powwow River Prescott Province Road Ragged Mountain Reed's Ferry Rock Rimmon Russell Russell-Abbott Russell-Shea Saltmarsh Pond Sanborn Scribner-Fellows Second Presidential Sentinel Mountain Shadow Hill Shaker Shieling Sky Pond Soucook River Southeast Stevens Pines Strawberry Hill Sugar Hill Swain Taylor Totten Trails Upton-Morgan Urban Forestry Center Vienna Smith Vincent Wade Walker Welton Falls West Iron Works Road White Farm William Thomas Woodman
Wildlife management areas	Cornish

Other

New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

Protected areas of Vermont

Federal

National Historical Park	Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park
National Wildlife Refuges	Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
National Forest	Green Mountain National Forest
National Wilderness Areas	Big Branch Wilderness Breadloaf Wilderness Bristol Cliffs Wilderness George D. Aiken Wilderness Glastenbury Wilderness Joseph Battell Wilderness Lye Brook Wilderness Peru Peak Wilderness
National Recreation Areas	Moosalamoo National Recreation Area Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area
National Trails	Appalachian Trail North Country Trail
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Missisquoi River Trout River

State

State Parks	Alburgh Dunes Allis Big Deer Bomoseen Boulder Beach Branbury Brighton Burton Island Button Bay Camel's Hump Camp Plymouth Coolidge Crystal Lake D.A.R. D & H Rail Trail Elmore Emerald Lake Fort Dummer Gifford Woods Grand Isle Green River Reservoir Half Moon Pond Hazen's Notch Jamaica Kamp Kill Kare Kettle Pond Kingsland Bay Knight Island Knight Point Lake Carmi Lake Shaftsbury Lake St. Catherine Litte River Lowell Lake Maidstone Molly Stark Molly's Falls Pond Mount Ascutney Mount Philo Muckross New Discovery Niquette Bay North Hero Quechee Ricker Pond Sand Bar Sentinel Rock Seyon Lodge Silver Lake Smugglers' Notch Stillwater Sweet Pond Taconic Mountains Ramble Thetford Hill Townshend Underhill Waterbury Center Wilgus Woodford Woods Island
State Forests	Aitken Arlington Black Turn Brook Boyer Calvin Coolidge Cambridge Camel's Hump Dorand Downer Granville Gulf Reservation Groton Hapgood Jay Jim Jeffords Jones Long Trail Lord Lower Clarendon Gorge Lyndon Mathewson Mollie Beattie Mount Carmel Mount Cushman Mount Mansfield Okemo Proctor-Piper Putnam Roxbury Rupert Thetford Hill Townshend Victory Washington West Rutland William C. Putnam Williams River Willoughby
Natural Areas	Amity Pond Big Falls of the Missisquoi Button Point Cambridge Camel's Hump Campmeeting Point Cascade Falls Daniel's Notch Emerald Lake Fisher-Scott Memorial Pines Gifford Woods Granville Gulf Hamilton Falls Hazen's Notch Highgate Cliffs Kingsland Bay Lake Carmi Bog Lords Hill Lucy Mallary Bugbee Marl Pond and Swamp Mendon Peak Morristown Bog Moss Glen Falls (Granville) Moss Glen Falls (Stowe) Mount Mansfield Peacham Bog Shrewsbury Peak Spectacle Pond Tabletop Mountain Terrible Mountain Tinker Brook Weybridge Cave Willoughby Cliffs Worcester Range

Private

v t e National Wildlife Refuges of the United States
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming American Samoa Guam Puerto Rico U.S. Minor Outlying Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

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