Join Great Hollow’s naturalist, John Foley, for a guided hike to the Cranberry Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Patterson, NY. Cranberry Mountain was initially a 464-acre hunting cooperative and game species habitat management demonstration area, owned and managed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. In 2011, federal Highland Conservation Act funding was used to purchase and protect an additional 600 acres of land, enlarging the area to over 1,000 acres. Natural and managed habitats at Cranberry Mountain today include mature forest, fields, shrublands, human-made impoundments, and emergent wetlands. An important species at Cranberry Mountain is the New England cottontail rabbit, which is listed in New York as a Species of Special Concern. Cranberry Mountain falls within a New England Cottontail Focus Area and plans are in place to remove large tracts of mature forest to create the shrubland and young forest habitat that this species requires. We will discuss this controversial plan and the importance of habitat management for the conservation of wildlife.