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Newsletter Winter 2009
In This Issue
Planning for Habitat Resilience
NEW Data: BwH Partners Map Habitat Connectivity
Aligning Transportation and Wildlife Concerns
Working Together for ME's Wildlife
About BwH
Beginning with Habitat (BwH) provides objective and comprehensive plant and wildlife habitat information to equip local decision-makers with the necessary tools to make informed and responsible land use decisions that mesh wildlife habitat conservation with future growth needs.
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Recent Presentations
Cooper, Lamoine, Sidney, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Wiscasset, and Woodstock.
Upcoming Presentations
  Feb 23- Cornish
Mar 12- Freedom
Mar 16- Eliot
Mar 26- Poland 
Apr 28- Etna
 
For the most up-to-date schedule, visit the BwH website.
Map Updates
Between July '08 and January '09 BwH maps were updated for the following towns/regions: 
 
Acton, Appleton, Belgrade, Berwick, Biddeford, Bremen, Bristol, Clifton, Dedham, Eliot, Freedom, Holden, Hope, Kittery, Lamoine, Lebanon, Liberty, Lincoln, Montville, Morrill, Mount Vernon, North Berwick, Owls Head, Palermo, Rockland, Saint George, Sanford, Searsmont, Sebago, Shapleigh, Sidney, Sorrento, South Berwick, South Bristol, South Thomaston, Southwest Harbor, Standish, Thomaston, Tremont, Union, Waldoboro, Warren, Wells, Wiscasset, Woodstock, Yarmouth, and York. 
  
   To view these maps, visit the BwH website or contact us.
Featured Focus Area
 
Scarborough Marsh is the largest contiguous salt marsh in Maine. Follow the link above to learn more.
 
BwH Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance are natural areas that contain unusually rich concentrations of at-risk species and habitats. These non-regulatory areas are intended to build awareness of these exceptional areas and provide momentum for strategic conservation efforts. To date 140 Focus Areas have been identifed by BwH. 
Announcement
Is your town interested in forming a Conservation Commission? The Maine Association of Conservation Commissions is available to provide information and assistance. Contact them at 207-878-8933 or visit www.meacc.net.
Planning for Habitat Resilience in a Changing Climate
 
For the past seven years, Beginning with Habitat (BwH) has offered plant and animal habitat information to land trusts, towns and others to assist with local conservation planning decisions. Data has been presented with ideas for tools that would result in local plans necessary to conserve a functional network of lands to support Maine's rich biodiversity 50 years from now and beyond. But what about the wild card that is climate change? Does the BwH model address habitat needs under a scenario of increasing temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and rising high tide lines?
 
Green house gas contributions since the industrial revolution have resulted in gradual changes in Maine's climate. Even if we all commit to cutting green house gas emissions over the next few years, climate change models predict that the State of Maine will experience significant changes in our physical environment over the next century, including a 3�-10� F increase in average annual temperature, a 2-14% increase in precipitation and a two foot rise in sea level.
 
Planning proactively to best ensure future habitat resilience in the face of a changing climate has never been more important. Current BwH information can help. Program improvements now underway will more clearly layout the following steps for developing a local habitat climate change adaptation plan.
  
Step 1: Maintain Terrestrial Habitat Connectivity
 
We do not know what exactly Maine forests or other natural communities will look like in the future as species shift their ranges in response to changing temperatures and precipitation patterns. One thing we can control is how permeable our built landscape will be. By planning for undeveloped "green belts", or habitat corridors that connect conserved habitat blocks, we can better support gradual species range shifts through and around developed areas.
 
See NEW Data: BwH Partners Map Habitat Connectivity for more information on habitat corridor mapping.
 
Step 2: Maintain Aquatic Habitat Connectivity
 
It is critical now that we take a close look at how culverts and similar road crossing structures are designed and installed to protect Maine's economically important recreational fisheries. This need will become even more important as changes in precipitation are expected to lower stream flows in summer months and increase storm flows in winter and spring. Utilizing proper designs to handle future events will not only provide habitat benefits, but will offset future replacement costs.
 
See Aligning Transportation and Wildlife Concerns for more information. 
 
Step 3: Protect Undeveloped Low Lying Coastal Areas
 
Saltmarshes, dunes, and other coastal floodplain habitat types will need space to migrate inland as sea level rises. These habitats support many of Maine's Species of Greatest Conservation Need, and also provide coastal towns with protection from storm surge and related flooding. Strategic planning to protect remaining, undeveloped low elevation uplands adjacent to coastal wetlands is likely our best bet for allowing these habitat types to migrate inland with the shifting high tide line.
 
Low lying coastal areas are shown on BwH Map 1: Water Resources and Riparian Habitats.
 
Step 4: Retain Examples of Habitat Diversity
 
As rare natural community types and habitat conditions for already rare plant and animal species becomes even less available on the landscape through incremental changes in land use, the potential for these species and communities to respond to the changing climate is gradually lost. Many uncertainties remain in our ability to predict how species will adapt to climate change, but making choices now that at least provide for today's diversity on the landscape will better the chances for rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species to adapt to increasing challenges in the future.
 
Rare plants, animals, and natural communities are shown on BwH Map 2: High Value Plant and Animal Habitats.
 
Riparian CorridorConnectivityNEW Data: BwH Partners Map Habitat Connectivity
 
To assist local planners with conserving a network of functional habitats that allow for species movement and range shifts, BwH partners have updated undeveloped habitat blocks and are mapping landscape connections at multiple scales.
 
Plants and animals require habitat connectivity whether to find a mate, attract a pollinator, find prey, or disperse seeds. A landscape fragmented by roads, dams, and development presents a barrier to the movement of many species and is one of the greatest threats to the health of Maine's fish and wildlife. Conserving large blocks of habitat and maintaining or restoring landscape-scale connectivity, or habitat corridors that connect undeveloped habitat blocks and enable species to more freely move across the landscape, is a priority in planning for habitat functionality now and for habitat resiliency, particularly as climate changes cause geographic range shifts. 
 
Larger intact blocks of habitat are essential for keeping common species common and for supporting Maine's species diversity as well as for their contributions to open space and recreation, water quality protection, and natural resource based industry. The locations where undeveloped blocks remain in our towns are identified on BwH Map 3: Undeveloped Habitat Blocks. Undeveloped habitat blocks data has been recently updated by BwH to include an improved method for delineating block boundaries and to reflect changes in the landscape. Newly revised undeveloped block and unfragmented forest coverage will appear on BwH maps starting in March 2009. Knowing where these intact landscapes occur is the first step in their protection.   
  
As you are reading this, biologists from The Nature Conservancy, Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and Maine Audubon are using the best available scientific information and species-specific models to identify and map the features on the Maine landscape that are most important for maintaining habitat connectivity. A map and supporting materials displaying and describing potentially important habitat corridors will be included in the BwH package of information in 2009. The identification of habitat corridors will help guide towns, regional groups, and resources agencies on the best places to conserve to maintain habitat connectivity and to better support species movement and gradual species range shifts through and around developed areas. 
 
RoadsAligning Transportation and Wildlife Concerns: Improving Maine's Roads for WildlifeAlwives- S. Walker
 
Information and tools are available to assist local planners with designing and maintaining more habitat friendly roads and crossing structures.
 
As development sprawl spreads further from towns and cities, more roads are being constructed in Maine's rural areas. Roads and their associated traffic result in direct habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, degraded habitat quality, and increased wildlife-vehicle collisions. Roads and traffic also limit the ability of species to adapt to a changing climate, limiting movement and the availability of suitable habitat for both aquatic and terrestrial species and resulting in potential species declines and local extinctions.
 
Well planned, built and maintained roads and wildlife-crossing structures can, however, help maintain habitat quality and connectivity, allow for species adaptation to a changing climate, and can make Maine roads less dangerous to both wildlife and to people. Local planning boards, comprehensive planning committees, public works departments, and regional transportation planning groups can follow the lead of Maine's Department of Transportation and implement strategies to improve and maintain Maine's wildlife habitats. For more information and opportunities to align transportation and wildlife concerns:
 
  • "Conserving Wildlife On and Around Maine's Roads" provides more information on the effect of roads on wildlife and suggests local and regional strategies to plan and design roads for wildlife conservation.
  • Municipal road acceptance policies and design standards help towns maintain habitat values and provide incentives to craft more habitat friendly projects. Visit the BwH Toolbox for example standards.
  • The Maine Department of Transportation's "Waterway and Wildlife Policy Design Guide" provides guidance for the installation, replacement, repair and maintenance of both aquatic and terrestrial crossing structures (culverts, bridges, boxes, etc.).

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  • Working Together for Maine's Wildlife: State Wildlife Action Plan Highlights Conservation Priorities and Builds on the BwH Model
     
    Spotted Turtle- J. MaysBwH's collaborative approach to habitat conservation is the core strategy of Maine's State Wildlife Action Plan.
     
    The tremendous diversity of lands and waters in Maine, stretching from tidewater to the North Woods, include a diverse collection of ecosystems, natural communities, and habitats that give rise to an astounding array of plants and wildlife. Maine's woods, waters, shorelines and array of species are the foundation of Maine's famous quality of place. They support Maine's healthy environment, rural character and high quality of life and they provide recreational opportunities to millions each year- all to the great benefit of local communities and the state's economy.
     
    To strategically guide the conservation of this incredible array of fish and wildlife, their vital habitats and the valuable benefits they provide, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Department of Marine Resources, the agencies responsible for the management of Maine's fish and wildlife resources, and numerous partners joined together in an all-encompassing planning effort to create Maine's State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). The plan assesses the condition of the states wildlife and habitats, identifies the problems they face, and prioritizes actions that are needed to conserve them over the long term. Similar to a municipal comprehensive plan, the SWAP provides a vision for conserving Maine's wildlife resources and serves as a roadmap for statewide conservation action, setting priorities for the state's fish and wildlife programs, directing limited funds and department resources to issues and opportunities that will result in the greatest conservation benefit, and ensuring Maine's important resources and a healthy huntable and fishable Maine landscape will be available for future generations to enjoy. While the plan addresses Maine's array of fish and wildlife, priority actions focus on 213 Species of Greatest Conservation Need- species with a moderate to high potential of state extirpation without management intervention and/or protection. The SWAP planning process was created as part of the Congressional Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program that allocates State Wildlife Grant monies to states with accepted comprehensive wildlife plans.
     
    Maine's SWAP not only directs the priorities of the state's fish and wildlife agencies, but it also guides collaborative efforts and serves as the stimulus to the state's wildlife conservation partners to strategically prioritize their individual and coordinated conservation efforts as well. Your town or landtrust, for example, can adopt SWAP priorities and actions into local land use plans and projects, working together with conservation partners toward a set of common goals.
     
    BwH Core Strategy of SWAP
    The primary challenges affecting wildlife diversity in Maine are the conversion and fragmentation of habitats as a result of poorly planned development. Most land use decisions are made locally in Maine; therefore, landscape-scale habitat conservation at the local level is the best opportunity for maintaining Maine's highly valued landscape and the wildlife it supports. Each municipality must find approaches and tools that best address its own local conservation priorities and that best respond to the specific concerns of local landowners.
     
    Acknowledging this challenge to habitat conservation, BwH has been made the core strategy of the SWAP and Maine's approach to wildlife conservation. BwH compiles habitat information from multiple sources, makes it accessible to local decision makers, conservation organizations and landowners to use proactively and works with communities to design a landscape that allows Maine's array of wildlife and their vital habitats to remain well into the future and, at the same time, accommodate the growth a community needs. Adequate habitat protection for all Maine's native plant and animal species will be ensured by a range of voluntary conservation measures by public and non-profit entities and private landowners, as well as appropriate infrastructure siting and universal practices such as riparian setbacks.
     
    Maine's Conservation Priorities
    The SWAP has also adopted BwH Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance as statewide conservation priorities. Focus Areas are natural areas that contain exceptionally rich concentrations of at-risk species and natural communities and high quality common natural communities, significant wildlife habitats, and their intersection with large blocks of undeveloped habitat. These non-regulatory areas are intended as a planning tool and to build awareness and concentrate conservation initiatives in those areas of the landscape with the greatest biodiversity significance. Focus Areas provide tremendous opportunity to leverage private, state and federal conservation funding.
     
    At this time 140 Focus Areas have been identified statewide. Ninety-three, located in the southern portions of the state were adopted in the original version of the SWAP. Since that time, 47 additional Focus Areas have been identified in coastal regions (See BwH's Fall 2008 Newsletter) and, most recently, in Northern and Western Maine.  Maine's western and northern Focus Areas encompass many of the state's unique landscapes including high peaks, wild rivers, and diverse peatland ecosystems.
     
    A map of BwH Focus Areas and statewide conservation priorities and Focus Area descriptions are available online. BwH is currently completing and/or updating Focus Area descriptions for all 140 Focus Areas. 
     
    Beginning with Habitat Partners
    Beginning with Habitat Partners