The North Unit of East Creek Wildlife Management Area lies north of Mount Independence Road.

East Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is located in west-central Vermont in the towns of Orwell and Benson. The property is along East Creek and is in two separate parcels. The northern parcel is most easily accessed by boat from Lake Champlain via the mouth of East Creek. The southern parcel has a parking area by the dam on Mount Independence Road in Orwell, and also on Cook Road. A small portion of this WMA is closed as a refuge and is clearly marked and signed (see map). The 419 acres comprising the WMA are owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

Mount Independence is just to the west of the mouth of East Creek. There was a companion fort to Fort Ticonderoga here, and the area was strategically important during the American Revolution. The fertile portion of the Champlain Valley drained by East Creek has been farmed since early European settlement. Parcels of land that comprise the WMA were acquired from neighboring farmers. The first one-half acre was bought from Wilford Brisson in 1955. The State sometimes bought good farmland and then swapped it with farmers for wetland parcels. There are three dams on the WMA. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) owns much of the remaining wetland in the lower reaches of the Creek. Thus, between TNC and State ownership, much of the East Creek wetland complex is conserved.

Funds to purchase land for the WMA were provided by the Pittman-Robertson Act, which created a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

East Creek flows north, draining a low-lying part of the Champlain Valley. Mount Independence borders the west bank of the river mouth. Other small, steep hills separate the river valley from Lake Champlain. During glacial maximums, when Lake Champlain was larger, Mt. Independence was sometimes an island, and East Creek was a part of the lake. The parcel along the South Fork of East Creek is a broad-leaf emergent marsh created by three impoundments, with a narrow upland border. The northern parcel nearer the mouth is a natural emergent marsh with water levels regulated by Lake Champlain. The area contains Vermont’s largest narrow-leafed cattail marsh, with a good deal of wild rice as well. Some uncommon plants occurring in the East Creek marshlands are lake cress, slender naiad, green dragon, sweet joe-pye weed, false hop sedge, and cat-tail sedge. Ospreys are beginning to nest by the Creek. Bald eagles may also be seen. Remember it is against the law to harass or harm endangered species.