Hirundo Wildlife Refuge
{{Short description|Wildlife refuge in Maine, USA}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Hirundo Wildlife Refuge
| iucn_category = IV
| photo = File:HirundoWildlifeRefugee.jpg
| photo_alt =
| photo_caption = The Pushaw Stream in Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in April 2018.
| map = Maine
| map_alt = Map showing location of Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in Maine
| map_caption =
| location = Penobscot County, Maine, United States
| nearest_city = Old Town, ME
| coordinates = {{coord|44.98718|-68.78533|display=inline, title}}
| area = {{convert|2402|acre|ha}}
| established = 1965
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = University of Maine
| url = http://www.hirundomaine.org/
}}
Hirundo Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge covering {{convert|2402|acre|ha}} along Pushaw and Dead streams in Old Town, in Penobscot County, Maine. The refuge was founded in 1965 by Oliver Larouche from his parents' {{convert|3|acre|ha}} camp. The refuge was donated as a trust to the University of Maine in 1983 by Larouche and his wife, June. The refuge is a living laboratory where current and past scientific research has been conducted. Hirundo is just downstream of Pushaw Lake and includes part of the Caribou Bog wetland complex, which is one of the largest wetlands in Maine.{{cite web |title=Hirundo Wildlife Refuge |publisher=Hirundo Wildlife Refuge |url=http://www.hirundomaine.org/ |accessdate=December 18, 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921104119/http://www.hirundomaine.org/ |archivedate=September 21, 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |first=Aislinn |last=Sarnacki |title=Naturalists unearth Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, ‘an unknown gem’ |date=April 11, 2012 |newspaper=Bangor Daily News |url=http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/11/outdoors/naturalists-unearth-hirundo-wildlife-refuge-an-unknown-gem/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618070854/http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/11/outdoors/naturalists-unearth-hirundo-wildlife-refuge-an-unknown-gem/ |archivedate=June 18, 2012 |url-status=dead }} The refuge is also the site of the National Register-listed Hirundo Site, a prehistoric Native American habitation site with evidence of 4,500 years of occupation.{{cite web|url=http://www.hirundomaine.org/about-hirundo/archaeology|title=Archaeology|publisher=Hirundo Wildlife Refuge|accessdate=2015-04-03}}
Recreation
The refuge is open to the public daily from 9:00 am until sunset, and there is no fee for admission. There are opportunities for canoeing, geocaching, and photography in the refuge. There are {{convert|7|mi|km}} of hiking trails, including three interpretive trails with self-guiding brochures. Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are permitted in winter. Hunting, trapping, smoking, fires, pets, bicycles, motorized vehicles, digging, and picking plants or rocks are not permitted.
Archaeology
The Hirundo archaeological site is one of the first places in eastern Maine that provided evidence of human habitation during the so-called Vergennes Phase (c. 3000 BCE), although this identification was tenuous because of the weakly stratified nature of the site.{{cite journal|title=Site 95.20 and the Vergennes Phase in Maine|last=Cox|first=Steven|journal=Archaeology of Eastern North America|volume=19|date=Fall 1991|jstor=40914334}} The site was discovered by amateurs in 1971, and first professionally excavated in 1972–75. Finds at the site included stone projectile points and tools, including plummets (weights) probably used for fishing. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Category:Protected areas of Penobscot County, Maine
Category:Protected areas affiliated with the University of Maine
Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Penobscot County, Maine
Category:1965 establishments in Maine