Central Maine Hunting Report: December 27, 2006
James Dorso Wildlife Management Area
In April 2006 one of the best wildlife habitats to be found in central Maine, Ruffingham Meadow Wildlife Management Area, was renamed in honor of James Dorso. The newly signed James Dorso Wildlife Management Area is located in Searsmont just off of Rt. 3 between Augusta and Belfast.
Jim Dorso served as a wildlife technician for the MDIFW for over twenty years before retiring in 1989. Jim became known as the father of Maine’s waterfowl nesting box program. Jim began making nesting boxes after seeing the idea and illustrations in a Popular Mechanics magazine. He built several, placed them near his house, and was amazed at their success when he found eggs in them that nesting season. Within a few years, he had built and was maintaining 150 of them.
In 1965, Jim was laid off from his job at the S.D. Warren Paper Mill in Gardiner, but was quickly presented with an opportunity from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to oversee the nesting box program. He accepted, and began a program that was modeled after his earlier private success with nesting boxes. Jim’s program demonstrated a level of success that was unrivaled through out the country and contributed measurably to local waterfowl populations.
Ruffingham Meadow was one of Jim’s favorite wetland habitats where he banded females in the spring and conducted nest box maintenance each winter. Jim was successful in establishing a viable breeding population of common goldeneyes at Ruffingham Meadow by transplanting them from other areas farther north. Common Goldeneyes continue to nest at Ruffingham each spring.
Originally, Ruffingham Meadow consisted of an old lake basin that was transected by Thompson Brook and Bartlett Stream. The basin was overgrown with sedges, grasses, sweet gale, willow, dogwood and alder. The wildlife management area was formed through the acquisition of approximately 30 privately owned tracts. These parcels received limited use for the production of wild hay and grazing. Acquisition began in 1946 and was completed during the early 1950′s when the water control structure was constructed. Water levels are managed to provide stable water levels during the waterfowl-nesting season and provide maximum amounts of brood cover.
Ruffingham Meadow is approximately 610 acres in size and consists of 386 acres of inland wetland and some 224 acres of upland habitat. The upland portion is predominantly mixed forestland with an additional five acres of field and alders. The WMA is part of a 17 square mile watershed originating from two streams (Bartlett Stream and Thompson Brook) on Frye Mountain in Montville. The wetland portion of this area is a shallow and deep fresh marsh – shrub swamp association bordered by bog, flooded woodland and forested upland. The upper reaches of the wetland are routinely flowed by beaver creating additional wetland habitat for wildlife.
Ruffingham Meadow offers outstanding waterfowl hunting and deer hunting in the uplands. Centrally located between Augusta and Belfast, it is an ideal place to canoe, bird-watch and enjoy wildlife. Make a point to check out the new James Dorso Wildlife Management Area.
