State Land Spotlight: Black Hut WMA
Rhode Island’s northwest corner: a part of the state that contains large woods, large deer and large tracts of state land open to hunters, anglers or anybody looking for peace and quiet. Black Hut Management Area in Burrillville is one such Management Area that surrounds Spring Lake a few miles south of the Massachusetts border, and about halfway between Woonsocket and the Connecticut border.
The first 500 acre acquisition that started Black Hut came in 1960 using funding from the Pittman-Robertson Act. Passed in 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act (PR) placed an excise tax on firearms, ammunition and other hunting equipment. This tax, self-imposed by hunters, now accounts for the lion’s share of funding for conservation land through the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Fund (WSFR) and has been a reliable source of funding that the State of Rhode Island has used time and again. These PR funds have accounted for the majority of the now 1,684 acres that encompasses Black Hut. The most recent acquisition came in 2022 when a small 30 acre parcel was added. Black Hut is nearly all forest land. Rocky, gravelly soils and mature, upland hardwood forest of red or black oaks, with limited mixed pine stands comprise the majority of its habitat types. Open understory of blueberry, huckleberry and limited briar make for excellent habitat to grow large deer, and large blocks devoid of trails add an extra level of challenge for hunters. Several field areas maintained in native, warm season grasses are stocked with pheasants during the season and one small water impoundment was installed on the property as well. The large forest blocks of Rhode Island’s northwest corner need to be experienced to be truly appreciated. In other areas it can be hard to avoid distant road noise, running into other users of the management area or similar markers of civilization. Here, with the exception of the trail you came in on as evidence of human impact, you can experience the solitude that only the big woods can provide.
