Primary Map 1:
Water Resources and Riparian Habitats
About Map | Data Components | Background Information | Strategies for Local Action
This map depicts riparian areas associated with major surface water features and important public water resources. Developed areas may be located within some of the riparian areas shown. This map does not depict all streams or wetlands known to occur on the landscape and should not be used as a substitute for on the ground surveys. It should be used as a planning reference only and is intended to illustrate the natural hydrologic connections between surface water features. Protecting riparian habitats protects water quality and can help to maintain habitat connections across the landscape.
Data Components: (Data Sources)
Impervious/Developed Areas- Impervious surfaces including buildings and roads.
Public Water Supply Wells
Source Water Protection Areas- Buffers that represent source water protection areas for wells and surface water intakes that serve the public water supply. Their size is proportional to population served and/or by the type of water supply system. These buffers range from 300 to 2,500 feet in radius.
Lakes, Ponds, Rivers, and Coastal Waters
Intermittent Streams and Brooks
Perennial Streams and Brooks
Subwatersheds- Drainage divides grouped together to form subwatersheds.
Drainage Divides- the smallest hydrologic unit mapped in Maine. They contain watershed boundaries for most ponds and rivers in Maine.
Wetlands- The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) uses aerial photos from the mid-1980's to identify wetlands based on remote sensing techniques of photo interpretation. This process did not result in a comprehensive mapping of wetland resources and typically under represents wetland occurrence on the landscape, especially forested wetlands. The presence of wetlands needs to be determined in the field prior to conducting activities that could result in wetland disturbance.
Riparian Habitat- depicted by a 250-foot-wide strip around Great Ponds (ponds 10 acres in size and greater), rivers, the coastline, and wetlands 10 acres in size and greater, and by a 75-foot-wide strip around streams. These areas identify potential riparian habitat only. In some places, riparian habitat may already be affected by development or otherwise degraded.
Aquifers- including only those with a flow of at least 10 gallons per minute.
In addition, Map 1 (paper version) includes an inset map showing a regional view of watersheds, a diagram depicting the relationship of ground water and surface water, and a brief description of Maine's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act.
Wetlands include such familiar terms as bogs, marshes, swamps, and salt marshes, but also include lesser known and appreciated forested wetlands and vernal pools. Wetlands are some of the most productive natural areas in the world, and provide habitat for many types of wildlife, including waterfowl and wading birds; frogs, turtles, and snakes; fish; and shellfish. Wetlands naturally control floods, filter pollutants, retain nutrients, and reduce erosion. They also provide a myriad of educational and recreational opportunities including boating, hunting, trapping, fishing, and photography. Most wetlands in Maine are given some level of oversight through the permitting process under state law, but small wetlands, including vernal pools, and forested wetlands receive very limited, if any protection. Cumulative loss of wetlands has led to significant stormwater runoff problems in some Maine communities and threatens to eradicate local populations of some wildlife species -- especially those that move between several small wetlands to meet their habitat needs. In addition, extensive development adjacent to wetlands has degraded the functions and values of many wetlands. Conservation of wetlands and surrounding riparian habitat is essential to ensuring that the full complement of Maine's plants and animals persist on the landscape.
Riparian habitat is the transitional zone between open water or wetlands and dry or upland habitats. It includes the banks and shores of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, and the upland edge of wetlands. If individual towns do a good job of implementing existing shoreland zoning regulations, up to 80% of Maine's terrestrial vertebrate animals that use riparian areas for a part of their life cycle will benefit. Riparian habitat also benefits water quality by buffering and filtering runoff before it affects other water sources.
Development may destroy an area of riparian habitat, but its effects reach far beyond the new construction. Habitat fragmentation may divide the range an animal needs to survive. Blanding's and spotted turtles, for example, need both wetland and upland habitats. Development may prevent the turtles from reaching their required feeding, resting, and breeding locations. Quality of habitat may further be degraded with the advent of invasive plants along roads. Often populations of predatory animals such as raccoons and skunks increase with the addition of roads.
Maine's Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act controls land uses and placement of structures within the shoreland zone and helps to minimize the impact of development in riparian areas. Areas falling under the formal protection of this act are determined at the municipal level and enforced by municipal officials. Unfortunately, not all towns' provisions have a comprehensive view of animal and plant requirements in the zone and many towns have not adequately enforced the Shoreland Zoning Act. The act does not usually prevent development, but it does place conditions on development to reduce some of its harmful consequences.
Increasingly, towns are realizing the value of implementing local wetland rules and water body setbacks that exceed state minimum requirements. Several examples are found in the Beginning with Habitat Toolbox portion of this site.
- Work with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to prioritize waterbodies (streams, lakes and ponds) in your town that support recreational fisheries or habitat for rare species. Increase the protection afforded these waterbodies throught local shoreland zoning or overlay districts. See the BwH Toolbox sections on Open Space Planning and on Land Use Ordinance Tools for example tools.
- Consider creating additional local protections, especially along smaller wetlands and first order streams, and adopting shoreland and buffer guidelines. See the BwH Toolbox section on Wetland and Shoreland Zoning Tools for examples.
- Conduct an information and outreach effort to educate landowners about the value of shoreline and wetland habitats; alert landowners to their responsibilities under the Shoreland Zoning Act and how responsible land use benefits all who share the waterbody.
- Review public access opportunities (boat launches, bank fishing, and walk in access availability) at each of your town's waterbodies to assess where appropriate access is lacking.
- Prioritize conservation opportunities in riparian areas. Visit our Financing Habitat Protection section in the Beginning with Habitat Toolbox for a list of funding sources. Think creatively. The US Fish and Wildlife Service North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants, Land for Maine's Future Water Access grants, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's In-Lieu Fee programs may be good places to start.
To learn more about specific strategies for local action, visit the Beginning with Habitat (BwH) Toolbox or contact BwH.
