About Beginning with Habitat
Beginning with Habitat is a habitat-based landscape approach to assessing wildlife and plant conservation needs and opportunities. The goal of the program is to maintain sufficient habitat to support all native plant and animal species currently breeding in Maine by providing each Maine town with a collection of maps and accompanying information depicting and describing various habitats of statewide and national significance found in the town. These maps provide communities with information that can help guide conservation of valuable habitats.
Program Overview
The landscape approach to habitat conservation was initially developed by the University of Maine's Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (CFWRU) under the direction of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) (Krohn and Hepinstall 2000). Data on plants, natural communities, and wildlife habitats of national interest were later added by the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
By overlaying maps of the habitat needs of all of Maine's vertebrate species with Maine's primary land cover types (forests, fields, wetlands) in a geographic information system (GIS), the CFWRU reports that 80-95% of all of Maine's terrestrial vertebrate species would likely be present if riparian habitats, high value animal habitats, and large habitat blocks are protected.
The Beginning with Habitat booklet and accompanying maps provide you with habitat data and conservation recommendations in three primary areas that you can use to build a system of interconnected and conserved lands.
Riparian Habitat is the transitional zones between aquatic habitats and wetlands and dry or upland habitats and includes the banks and shores of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, and the upland edge of wetlands. Riparian Habitat provides habitat for many plants and animals occurring in Maine. Towns have the opportunity to protect a large portion of Riparian Habitat simply by fully enacting and enforcing Maine's Shoreland Zoning provisions. This includes a 75-foot buffer around second order and larger streams and a 250-foot buffer around rivers, lakes, ponds, and non-forested wetlands greater than 10 acres.
High Value Plant and Animal Habitats include Rare Plant Locations and Rare or Exemplary Natural Communities; Essential Habitat (designated for some endangered animals); Significant Wildlife Habitat (for deer, waterfowl and wading birds, heron rookeries, nesting seabirds, and shorebirds); and Rare Animal Locations (for endangered species and species of special concern) as identified and mapped by the Maine Natural Areas Program and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. High Value Habitat for USFWS Priority Trust Species is also included. Several of these habitats are offered some degree of protection under state law but may warrant further local protection.
Large Habitat Blocks provide habitat for certain plants and animals not already included in Riparian or High Value Habitats. These blocks are especially important to species with large home ranges, such as bobcat, and other species, such as the black-throated blue warbler, who may have small home ranges but will only be successful over the long term in larger habitat blocks. Large blocks also are likely to include a wider diversity of species than smaller blocks. Conservation of Large Habitat Blocks also presents opportunities to promote and preserve active farmland and woodlots, provide recreational opportunities, conserve aquifers, and maintain scenic vistas.
Supplemental maps showing private conservation and public lands; watersheds; wetlands; and habitat for USFWS priority trust species give you information you can use in your land use planning and protection efforts.
We hope the data, maps, written material and suggestions for local conservation strategies will help inform and guide your town's growth in such a way that 50 years from now those who want to can still fish, hunt, photograph or watch wildlife and otherwise enjoy the wealth of a rich and diverse outdoor heritage.
