Massachusetts National Guard

Training facilities for the Massachusetts National Guard are located on Upper Cape Cod at Camp Edwards and Otis Air Force Base. Camp Edwards includes areas of scrub oak that are home to what is probably the healthiest population of New England cottontails, a species whose range has contracted and whose numbers have fallen over the last half-century. Staff biologists use prescribed burning to create dense habitat for cottontails and other wildlife. By monitoring rabbits equipped with radio-telemetry collars, the researchers study how New England cottontails use and move about in scrub oak and pitch pine habitats.