Sudbury Valley TrusteesConservation, Collaboration, and Community since 1953
Wildlife, Land, and Time
By Ron McAdow, Executive Director
As a place to live, eastern Massachusetts has many good qualities. Our livable geographic scale, rich cultural offerings, high value on education, and access to good medical care are all strong recommendations. For me, as an immigrant from the Midwest, the diversity of the landscape is another big asset. From the day I arrived here, in 1971, I found New England’s variety of land uses a pleasant change from the monotonous agriculture of Illinois, my native state.
People affect wildlife populations through predation and land use. Dramatic changes have taken place in the nearly four centuries since Europeans colonized this area. There were earlier changes, too, as glaciers and peoples came and went—but we have much more knowledge about what’s happened since the 1630s than we do about the disappearance of ice-age animals or about game management practices of Native Americans.
European colonists found beaver pelts so valuable for export that the industrious rodents had disappeared fromthe whole state by 1700, and from the Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet river basin decades earlier. In all his outings on foot and by boat, Thoreau would never have encountered one in his native state. Beaver we re-introduced to Massachusetts in 1920 and are now considered restored “to all suitable habitats.” Because beavers have numerous ecological benefits, conservationists try to meet the challenges of having them in the neighborhood.
No doubt the early extirpation of beavers was regretted, even by the person who trapped the last one. Wolves, on the other hand, were treated as public enemies and relentlessly persecuted. More elusive and resourceful than beavers, wolves survived in Massachusetts until the early nineteenth century, despite cash bounties paid for dead wolves beginning in 1630. Wolves have not returned, but coyotes, originally limited to the American west, have spread eastward and are now established as our largest canine predator. Wildlife authorities brought back the beaver, but coyotes introduced themselves.
Changing wildlife populations and the inter-related evolution of the Massachusetts economy and infrastructure are the topics in my slide lecture entitled “Massachusetts Land and Wildflife; the History of Our Landscape.” Naturally, the impact of SVT is part of the story! If you belong to a group that would like to host this free presentation, contact me to book a date.
