The floodplain forest along the river provides a habitat for cavity-nesting ducks like wood ducks, common goldeneyes, and hooded mergansers. Black ducks, mallards, and blue-winged teals also breed here. Belted kingfishers and eastern kingbirds forage along the river. Forest-dwelling songbirds, raptors, and woodpeckers live in the silver maple swamp. There are woodcock in the swamps and uplands.

Rock River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a 296-acre parcel located in Highgate in northwestern Vermont. Primary access is from a small parking lot and boat put-in on the east side of US-7 by the Rock River Bridge. Canoes can also be launched where Saint Armand Road crosses the River. One may walk into the WMA from Saint Armand Road. The land is owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

This WMA is a mix of emergent wetland and floodplain forest bisected by the Rock River. The Rock River is a slow-moving stream that arises in Canada and flows south to Lake Champlain. Soils are mostly heavy, poorly drained Champlain Valley clays. The natural community lining the riverbanks is a silver maple-sensitive fern riverine forest, which is adapted to wet conditions. There is also some cattail marsh, water willow shrub swamp, buttonbush shrub swamp, and sedge meadows. Some rare plants that occur in the WMA are small bedstraw, cursed crowfoot, yellow water-crowfoot, and Gray’s sedge.