Hirundo Wildlife Refuge
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Hirundo Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge covering along Pushaw and Dead streams in
Penobscot County Penobscot County is a county in the U.S. state of Maine, named for the Penobscot Nation on Wabanakik. As of the 2020 census, the population was 152,199. Its county seat is Bangor. The county was established on February 15, 1816, from part of ...
,
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. The refuge was founded in 1965 by Oliver Larouche from his parents' camp. The refuge was donated as a trust to the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...
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 Pushaw Lake is a shallow, warmwater lake in Penobscot County, Maine, United States about north of Bangor and west of Orono. The lake is part of the towns of Orono, Old Town, Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Huds ...
and includes part of the Caribou Bog wetland complex, which is one of the largest wetlands in Maine. 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.


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 Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...
, and photography in the refuge. There are 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. It 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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1975.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Penobscot County, Maine This is a list of properties on the National Register of Historic Places in Penobscot County, Maine. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Penobscot County, Maine, ...


References

{{reflist Protected areas of Penobscot County, Maine Protected areas affiliated with the University of Maine Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Penobscot County, Maine 1965 establishments in Maine Protected areas established in 1965