Pratt Refuge

Location Duxbury, VT
Acreage 471
Protected Since 2000
Featured Recreation Land

Just southeast of Camel’s Hump State Park, Pratt Refuge blends beauty, birdsong, and cutting-edge conservation science

Looking for a little solitude? You might find it high up on Ward Hill in Duxbury, Vermont. This hidden gem reveals a dramatic view of Camel’s Hump, Vermont’s most iconic mountain. This is a quiet, secluded space. You may feel you have it all to yourself. But don’t be fooled: the place is teeming with life.

Fred Pratt, who conserved this land in 2000 and later donated it outright to us, has logged sightings of nearly 120 bird species since 1970. Migratory songbirds travel far and wide to take shelter in the land’s two acres of meadow and in the surrounding forest. So, pull up, slow down, and take in all that this birding paradise has to offer.

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Public Access
Dogs Allowed

Pratt Refuge is accessible by car, though parking is limited at the moment. Visitors can walk a small birding loop or birdwatch from the comfort of a bench.

The entrance to the birding loop is across from the driveway where there’s a break in the tree line. Cross the stonewall and follow the path through the field. Hunters and intrepid hikers are welcome to explore the forest but note that there are no trails except for the birding loop.

Open dawn to dusk.

For more information, contact Caitlin Cusack, VLT forester.

Open dawn to dusk
Do not enter the cabin
Dogs must be leashed
Please carry in and carry out all trash
No camping
No bikes or mechanized vehicles beyond the driveway area
Visitors are encouraged to wear safety orange during hunting seasons
Travel is at your own risk

Ward Hill is off of Route 100 between Waterbury and Waitsfield.

From Waterbury, look for a right turn on Ward Hill Road shortly after Harwood Union Middle and High School.

From Waitsfield, Ward Hill Road will be .8 miles on your left after where Route 100B splits off from Route 100 (stay on 100).

About 2.1 miles up Ward Hill Road look for a hand-painted sign at the bottom of the driveway that says “Pratt.” The driveway will be on the left side of the road. Please note that it’s a very steep driveway!

We will be installing a parking lot at the top of the driveway. Until this work is completed, however, the best place to park is on the road shoulder opposite the driveway.

Hunting is allowed on the property by anyone with a hunting license. For questions, please contact Caitlin Cusack, VLT forester.

The Pratt Refuge story

“Birds are like flowers or plants or butterflies; they are pretty, but you get close to them and realize they also do amazing things to stay alive,” said Fred Pratt (pictured here doing his favorite thing).

Fred donated Pratt Refuge to the Vermont Land Trust in 2019.

Fred’s respect for the resilience and ingenuity of birds is one reason he’s kept such meticulous records of bird sightings for over 40 years.

A family forest brings joy (and lots of birding)

Beginning in 1971, Fred and his wife Chris and their two children—John and Theresa—spent each summer on Ward Hill in South Duxbury. Together, they watched the forest come alive with the sights and sounds of warblers, vireos, flycatchers, and more.

The family’s launchpad to birding and other outdoor adventures was a seasonal cabin they built high up on the hill. From the deck, they could look out over a couple of acres of brush favored by migratory birds, and beyond to a dramatic view of Camel’s Hump.

Fred and Chris recorded nearly 120 species of birds on their land over the years.

Fred was determined to protect this land

Fred fought hard to keep Ward Hill wild. He invested his own funds to deter clearcutting and subdivision in the 1980s and ‘90s and advocated keeping electricity off the hill to discourage further development. The Pratts also added land to their forest, which, in 2000, they conserved with us.

In 2019, Fred donated his property outright to us so that others could enjoy its beauty and biodiversity for years to come. The land, now known as the Pratt Refuge, is open to the public.

Nature at the center

Pratt Refuge is a place that begs its human visitors to take a backseat to nature. There’s not much to do here but observe.

Look for songbirds along the small walking loop or take refuge on the wooden bench that looks out over a migratory bird breeding hotspot. Who knows? It might just change your perspective on these winged wayfarers.

Migratory birds inspire wonder

Fred recommends looking for birds in the fields in August and early September. He says there tends to be more flocks of birds then, along with birds of different ages.

“Migrating is an amazingly intricate operation… who teaches the birds how to do it?” Fred muses. “Who teaches them how to go down to Columbia for the winter and come back to the same tree in Vermont the following spring without a compass, or a map, or a GPS to tell them?”

No one knows. But with a little patience, you might be one of the lucky ones to witness part of their journey.

(Pictured: A red-eyed vireo)

Video overview of the Pratt Refuge

In this short video, VLT forester Caitlin Cusack shares some of the highlights of the Pratt Refuge.

A scenic lab for conservation science

Like many other places we own, the Pratt Refuge is also a home for research in land management practices and climate change.

Studying climate change in the forest

UVM researcher Melissa Pastore is studying the effects of more frequent freeze-thaw cycles at the Pratt Refuge.

Vegetation pulls carbon dioxide from the air; this carbon is then stored in the soil. But when the soil is disturbed (such as during freeze-thaw cycles) it can release carbon back into the atmosphere. As our winters warm, the amount of time that Vermont has continuous snow cover is also reduced.

These increasing freeze-thaw cycles raise concern about the forest’s ability to collect and hold substantial amounts of carbon in the soil.

Melissa collected soil samples and compared them against samples from higher elevations on Camel’s Hump that tend to have a thicker snowpack. Read more about her findings here.

Deer overpopulation

Deer are amazing creatures, but too many can be too much of a good thing for young trees.

Overabundant deer are hungry and unhealthy—and they ruin the health of the forest around them, too. Young shrubs and trees don’t stand a chance against continuous grazing. In Vermont, some areas have surging deer populations that are posing a serious threat to the next generation of forests.

At the Pratt Refuge, we are using a fence to study forest regeneration. It is one of several places where we have built a deer-proof fence in the woods. The idea is to study the health of the young trees within these fenced areas over several years and use the findings to improve forest health elsewhere.

In this short video we explain why we are building a deer fence at the Pratt Refuge.