It All Begins With Habitat

By Steve Walker

“The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it. The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” So wrote Aldo Leopold some sixty years ago.

Three short years ago this month, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) issued its Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. More often referred to as the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), this document sets the course for the future of wildlife conservation in Maine. Never before has this Department undertaken a more all-encompassing planning effort including the identification of 213 Species of Greatest Conservation Need, 21 priority habitats, and 140 Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance. The plan is the embodiment of topics discussed in the past two articles discussing your ever-evolving state wildlife agency: answering to broader charges with limited funds. More importantly, this plan addresses every cog and wheel necessary to maintain a healthy, hunt-able, and fishable Maine landscape for future generations.

The SWAP, similar to a municipal comprehensive plan, considers each of the Department’s public roles and responsibilities concerning wildlife and habitat conservation, and breaks them down into prioritized, implementable actions. The purpose: to direct limited funds and Department resources to issues and opportunities that result in the greatest conservation benefit for the State of Maine. The SWAP planning process was originally created as part of the Congressional Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program that allocates State Wildlife Grant monies to states with accepted comprehensive wildlife plans.

As outdoor enthusiasts, we know, but often take for granted, that Maine still has large, healthy and robust landscape scale habitats. Unless you have friends or relatives in the D.C. to Boston urban expanse the extent of habitat loss and fragmentation elsewhere in the eastern US is very foreign. Biologists at MDIF&W have long recognized the great opportunity Maine has to learn from states to our south and to better balance future conservation and development, an opportunity that positions Maine to be a leader in future outdoor recreation. Compared to many other states, Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife found itself well ahead of the conservation-planning curve as we began SWAP drafting. Since the 1970’s we have realized the importance of focusing on habitat health and not just species populations for long-term success. Our habitat planning got its start with the concern of a potentially catastrophic oil spill along our coast line in the late seventies, and was subsequently fueled by the building boom of the 1980’s. MDIF&W mapped and cataloged the highest value wildlife habitats in our coastal communities and eventually developed a mapping protocol statewide based on the USGS map grid and land sub-units. The intent was to highlight those areas most critical to maintaining sensitive species and their habitats and provide this information to inform planning decisions at all levels of government.

By 2000, the concept of Beginning with Habitat had started to congeal. Together with sister agencies and non-governmental conservation organizations, MDIF&W developed a straightforward and very intuitive approach to guiding effective landscape level conservation planning. The model is simple: 1) start your conservation planning by taking a good hard look at the state of your local landscape; 2) identify the key ingredients that maintain local habitat functions (remaining large undeveloped areas, rare species and natural community types, and greenways along streams, wetlands, and ponds that provide linkage between); and 3) identify local actions that can protect and conserve these elements as local growth decisions are made. The theory is also simple: if habitat functions are maintained as we develop, most of Maine’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need will continue to successfully find habitat opportunities without direct, and costly, Department intervention. Additionally, using this umbrella approach to habitat protection will keep common species common. The result will be a landscape that provides traditional hunting and angling opportunities, open space values, maintain rural character and promote Quality of Place.

To date, the Department has provided Beginning with Habitat data and tools to well over 200 of Maine’s organized towns, most of the state’s 100+ land trusts, and has been successful in partnering with other state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation, and the State Planning Office to utilize Beginning with Habitat’s common language and data sets in day-to-day project planning, permit review, and public outreach efforts. Our next article will highlight the successes and challenges of putting Beginning with Habitat to work throughout the state in an effort to preserve our collective Quality of Place and outdoor heritage.

Steve Walker is a wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and currently coordinates Maine's Beginning with Habitat program.

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

It All Begins With Habitat