Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary

Orwell, VT 135 acres Download Map

Preserving a Slice of the Northeast’s Glacial Past in Vermont’s Champlain Valley

Standing in an oak forest or on the colorful shores of a beaver pond at the future Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary, it might be difficult to imagine a time when a sheet of ice nearly a mile thick sat atop the land. But a closer look at the landscape elements of these 135 acres opens a window into the distant past, inspiring gratitude for Wolf Tree’s biological vibrance today—and underscoring the historical and ecological value of this verdant piece of the Champlain Valley.

Reading Ancient and Recent History in the Landscape

As the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated 13,000 years ago, it formed Glacial Lake Vermont in its wake. The northern portion of what is now Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary sat on the icy shores of this massive waterbody. The parcel’s southern portions, meanwhile, dipped beneath the ancient lake’s muddy waters, which were 900 feet deep in spots. This history is evident in Wolf Tree’s soils, which are mostly sand, silt, and gravel.

Another clue about the property’s natural history resides in these soils. Clay substrates underlay limited areas of the property. These deposits are a vestige of the pre-colonization Champlain Valley, when Valley Clayplain Forest, a rare natural community in Vermont, ringed Lake Champlain. Centuries ago, these substrates were canvas to a more diverse array of oaks, maples, hickories, and many other plant and animal species. Given the freedom to grow old and rewild according to evolutionary processes, Wolf Tree might someday once again host Valley Clayplain Forests.

Though Lake Vermont may be long gone, water still has its place on the Sanctuary. A beaver dam in an unnamed stream which bisects the property maintains a large pond in its south-central portion. Water exiting the pond eventually finds its way to Lake Champlain, highlighting how Wolf Tree’s protection contributes to aquatic health both on the property and farther afield.

Mighty Oaks and Hickories—and Canine Inspiration

As much as Wolf Tree’s soils speak of its past, they also form the foundation of its modern natural communities. Along ridges running north to south over the property, Dry Oak-Hickory-Hophornbeam Forest, an uncommon natural community in Vermont, predominates. At lower elevations are Mesic Red Oak-Northern Hardwood Forest and Mesic Maple-Ash-Hickory Oak Forest. Food for wildlife, especially acorns and hickory nuts, is plentiful here. These communities also offer abundant habitat; shagbark hickory, in particular, provides critical roosting sites for Indiana, northern long-eared, and tricolored bats, all of which are federally endangered.

The origin of these forests lends the property its name. Like much of the Champlain Valley, Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary was mostly pastureland as recently as the early twentieth century. The discontinuation of agricultural use allowed succession to begin, with the parcel’s fields reverting to forest. This process was likely facilitated by old field trees that seeded the forests found on the property today. These impressive specimens, once referred to as “wolf trees” by foresters, are conspicuous in the present day, dwarfing the younger trees that surround them.

“Wolf tree” was once a pejorative—but no more. Foresters termed wolf trees as such because they believed the trees devoured sunlight and nutrients at the expense of the smaller trees around them. The label linked these giants to a widely reviled and misunderstood organism at the time, the wolf, perhaps to justify cutting them for their valuable timber. Forest ecology, however, has disproven this predatory conception of tree interactions and interrelationships. The Sanctuary’s name instead elevates as a positive what was once considered a negative, honoring both the magnificent trees that give rise to rewilding forests and the missing carnivores we now know are central to healthy, wild landscapes.

Wolf Tree Wilderness Sanctuary at a glance

Size: 135 acres

Location: Orwell, Addison County, Vermont

Context: Sandy soils and clay deposits from the last Ice Age give rise to uncommon natural communities anchored by oaks and hickories in Vermont’s Champlain Valley.

Objective: Forever-wild ecological sanctuary to provide habitat and food sources for wildlife and protect Lake Champlain inflows.

Wolf Tree Map