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Protect habitat
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| Downeast coast. |
Credit: USFWS |
We work with willing landowners, land trusts, watershed associations,
town officials and other federal and state
agencies to acquire and permanently protect high value habitat before
it is lost, degraded or fragmented by encroaching development pressures.
To-date,
we have provided technical support to prioritize
and help fund short-term and long-term partnerships that have led to
the permanent protection of more than 1.68 million acres at 343 sites
in Maine. Successful projects have included:
- riparian protection corridors extending most of the length of several
of Maine's federally-listed Atlantic salmon rivers (i.e. Dennys, Machias
and Ducktrap Rivers),
- dozens to thousands of acres of coastal wetlands and associated
upland buffer (i.e. Cobscook Bay, Lower Kennebec Estuary, Pleasant
Bay),
- dozens of seabird, wading bird and bald eagle nesting islands,
- landscape-scale blocks of intact northern forest timberland easements
covering hundreds of thousands of acres,
- other smaller acreage yet high value habitat protection initiatives,
often linked to nearby conservation efforts, and
- lands that support the purposes of Maine’s National Wildlife Refuges.
We use biological data from many partners, our experience with GIS
mapping and our expertise in coastal Maine ecology to identify
and assess important habitat and create habitat maps and databases.
We share biological information with conservation partners, and if your
proposed project has high value for waterbirds, searun fish and/or federally
threatened or endangered species, we may be able to help inform and/or
support your land acquisition effort by:
- providing you with habitat maps and biological data, and explaining
how to use the information to support your habitat protection project,
- offering advice in assessing whether or not your land protection
project is likely to compete successfully for USFWS
federal funding sources, and/or
- providing substantial strategic advice and assistance in developing
successful USFWS proposals (including writing or reviewing grant text,
reviewing the budget, creating maps, calculating wetland acreages,
etc).
Our office does not own and manage land; instead we facilitate acquisition
of high value habitat by other organizations
with the commitment and capability to permanently and effectively steward
natural resources and manage recreational uses.
Contact:
Stewart Fefer
USFWS Gulf of Maine Coastal Program
207-781-8364 x 17
stewart_fefer@fws.gov
Habitat protection fact sheets and links
Habitat protection funding
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