Mud Creek Pond - Alburg (333 acres)

About this Location

Mud Creek Pond is within the Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area

Mud Creek Pond (333 acres) is a site for the Vermont LoonWatch annual survey. Birders are encouraged to volunteer as often and whenever they are able. See Join LoonWatch for details.

About Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area

See all hotspots at Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area

Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is located in the northwestern corner of Vermont in the town of Alburg. It is mostly marshland, with a small upland component. Its 1,151 acres are owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The property extends from the Canadian border south to Mud Creek’s mouth in Ransoms Bay in Lake Champlain. The best access is from VT-78 as it crosses the Creek, where there is an old railroad bed that has been made into a biking and hiking path. There are times when access along the path is restricted. Please read and follow the posted regulations.

Green Woods Road in Alburg cuts through the northern end of the WMA. The heart of the marsh can only be accessed by small boats. Hunting in the Controlled Hunting Area is by permit only.

The area around Alburg and Swanton has a long history of occupation by Native Americans, notably by members of the Abenaki Tribe. Both Anglo-Europeans and French Canadians later settled in this part of Vermont. Alburg was chartered to Ira Allen in 1781; the town was named after him. Early settlers were mostly occupied with clearing forests and farming in the rich Champlain Valley soils; the latter is still the main land use in the Mud Creek drainage.

This WMA is a patchwork of many small land purchases. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department made its first acquisition in 1953, using Pitman Robertson funds. These funds, which are generated by a tax on firearms and ammunition, have been used for many subsequent purchases. State funding generated from the sale of hunting licenses has been used as well. The Nature Conservancy facilitated some of the most recent land acquisitions.

Mud Creek is a sluggish stream that arises in Canada and flows south to Lake Champlain. There is a water control structure that has raised the water level and created more marshland. The WMA is a mix of cattail-dominated emergent marsh, deep bulrush marshes, and forested swamps. Forestswamp communities include red maple-black ash, spruce-fir-tamarack, and red maple-northern white cedar. Right at the mouth of the Creek, there is a small section of lake sand beach. A rare plant called Torrey’s rush occurs in the marsh, as well as other interesting plants such as matted spike-rush, yellow water-crowfoot, nodding trillium, and cattail sedge. The State-endangered spiny softshell turtle is sometimes a summer visitor.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

Content from Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area guide and map, Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area IBA (Audubon) webpage, and Bruce MacPherson, Green Mountain Audubon Society

Last updated December 3, 2023