Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge (for the Red-Bellied Cooters): Public Meeting

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is having a public meeting to discuss its main alternatives for the Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge.   

You may be unaware that there is a 200 acre National Wildlife Refuge bordering Myles Standish State Forest.  That makes sense. It is totally closed to public access at the present time. It was put in place in 1983 to protect the Plymouth Red Bellied Cooter, an endangered turtle.

This is a followup meeting to one held in April 2012. At this point, the options are:

• Keep things the way they are

• Open the refuge up for certain public uses, including hunting (but not fishing) and hiking.

If you want to know more about the Massasoit Refuge, what the FWS is doing or have questions about cooters, don’t miss this opportunity. 

The meeting is also being offered from  2pm to 4pm. If you are unable to attend, you are invited to submit comments in writing, via fax, email, etc. before the deadline on May 16th.

The draft plan is available online at: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Massasoit/what_we_do/conservation.html

The plan itself is at:

Massasoit NWR management plan draft

Public comment is invited until May 16th. To submit comments, obtain additional information, or request the plan in hard copy or on CD-ROM, please contact:

Libby Herland, Project Leader
Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex
73 Weir Hill Road
Sudbury, MA 01776
Phone: 978/[masked]
Fax: 978/[masked]
Email: [masked] (Please put “Massasoit CCP” in the subject line)