What We Do
The Gulf of Maine Coastal Program provides technical expertise, funding, planning, and strategic direction to support healthy populations of fish and wildlife. We work in coastal habitats and watersheds taking an ecosystem landscape scale approach to maximize our effectiveness. We focus our efforts on habitat Protection, Restoration and Connecting People to Nature.
Protection
We help our partners protect land and water by providing them with detailed maps and habitat information. This helps focus grant applicants on fish and wildlife values and increases the likelihood that their grants will be successful. We provide technical support to communities addressing climate resilience and adaptation planning. By providing knowledge and information about important species and habitats, we ensure these are accounted for as part of efforts to address impacts of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change .
Restoration
Our staff provides biological and technical expertise in designing, coordinating and implementing restoration activities at salt marshes, on seabird nesting islands and along rivers. We actively coordinate with partners to design, fund, permit, and implement restoration projects. We may also provide matching funds, consult with partners, conduct outreach and offer technical support in developing pre- and post-restoration monitoring protocols. We can also offer GIS and database management services
Connect People to Nature
Our Connect People to Nature efforts serve to link the mission of the USFWS with the interests of Gulf of Maine communities. Along with our partners, we provide opportunities for citizens to become knowledgeable and active stewards. We work with partners to share our knowledge of species and habitats, we lead and support community restoration projects, identify and guide citizen science projects.
