Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area

Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) is located in central Maine's Waldo County. Waterfowl production areas are wetlands (and surrounding uplands) that provide breeding, resting, and nesting habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, water birds, and other wildlife. About 95 percent of the Nation’s waterfowl production areas occur in the prairie potholes region of the Midwest (USFWS 2007). Carlton Pond WPA is the only waterfowl production area in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) North Atlantic-Appalachian Region.

The creation of Carlton Pond WPA was authorized by administrative action on July 15, 1964, and the WPA was officially established when the first parcel was acquired on November 24, 1965, under the authority of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act and Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act. The 1,068-acre Carlton Pond WPA is managed as part of the Northern Maine Complex National Wildlife Refuge.