Otter Creek Swamps Natural Area

Otter Creek is an ideal waterway for flat water canoeing. See directions below for canoe access. Please read our Preserve Visitation Guidelines.

What to See: Plants

At least 10 different natural community types and variants are represented in the Otter Creek Swamps, including red maple-black ash swamp, northern white cedar swamp, floodplain forest and sedge meadow. One of only three examples of the red maple-white pine-huckleberry swamp documented in Vermont is located here, and the largest example of red maple-northern white cedar swamp in New England occurs in the swamp complex.

There are 32 rare and uncommon plant species in the swamp, including eastern Jacob's ladder, American hazelnut, nodding trillium and cuckoo flower.

What to See: Animals

Over 43 species of birds have been seen in the swamps, including as many as 15 different species of migrating waterfowl. In the spring flocks of mallards, pintails, American widgeons, green- and blue-winged teals, buffleheads and snow geese, as well as unusual visitors like tundra swans, congregate on the flooded fields bordering Otter Creek.

Blue-spotted salamanders live in the Salisbury Swamp, and significant populations of uncommon species like the four-toed salamander and the wood turtle have been identified within the wetland complex.