The New England cottontail is the only rabbit native to New
England, but it's struggling to survive. The major reason for
its decline is the loss of early successional forest, especially
dense deciduous thickets. The habitat that remains continues to
be lost or degraded by development, changes in forest practices,
and invasion of non-native plants. The cottontail is a candidate
for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service will make a determination as to its status
in 2015. The goal of this conservation program is to turn a 5% -
9% annual population decline of the New England Cottontail into
an 11% - 21% annual rate of increase by 2018. NFWF is interested
in funding conservation activities for the cottontail that take
place in the states of Maine and New Hampshire. NFWF has worked
with state and federal agencies, academic experts and
conservation groups to develop a detailed Business Plan and set
of funding priorities that we believe will allow cottontail
populations to