Your Town Fifty Years From Now

By Steve Walker

What wildlife species, and what hunting and fishing opportunities do you want in your town 50 years from now?

No matter how you might answer, your municipality, maybe simply by default, is answering this question right now, incrementally, with every land use decision made by your codes enforcement officer and at every planning board meeting. Your local outdoor heritage future can be shaped either by choice, or by chance. If having a choice is your preference, then you need to actively take part in getting the right information to local decision makers. Otherwise your municipality’s natural heritage may be left up to the chance that minimum shore land zone guidelines are adequate to buffer your favorite trout stream, or that the members of the planning board understand how the layout of a subdivision could impact your chances of getting a deer this Fall, or a brook trout next Spring. Habitat loss and fragmentation together make up the single biggest threat to Maine’s wildlife. How this issue is addressed on the ground is a choice that can only be effectively made at the municipal level.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Beginning with Habitat program was established several years ago as an umbrella approach of integrating habitat conservation priorities with individual municipal growth decisions. As an umbrella approach, Beginning with Habitat not only assists municipalities with fisheries and wildlife related issues, but also helps them address other local priorities such as maintaining rural character, supporting traditional farming and forestry, and providing outdoor recreational opportunities.

These issues are typically highlighted by local comprehensive planning efforts, but often hard to grapple with absent a good comprehensive understanding of the landscape. To date, the Beginning with Habitat program has provided over 220 Maine municipalities and numerous land trusts with maps and datasets that compile the most up-to-date habitat information as assembled by our natural resource partners from sister agencies and statewide conservation organizations. Delivering data to municipal committees, however, is just the start.

Ultimately, MDIF&W hopes that local awareness prompted by Beginning with Habitat maps and data will increase local appreciation of local wildlife resources and lead to effective local actions that strategically conserve habitat while supporting the growth needed to keep our municipalities vibrant. Meshing a conserved network of functional habitats with future growth plans is vital if we are to maintain Maine’s rich Quality of Place, our future economic advantage. Simply relying on mandatory habitat protections provided through one size fits all minimum state and federal regulations is not adequate if we are to protect the treasured destinations often known only by local sportsmen and sportswomen. Similarly, there will never be adequate funding, especially in these challenging times, to rely on state and federal dollars to buy the lands necessary to protect those cherished places.

Each municipality must find approaches and tools that best address its own local conservation priorities and that best respond to the specific concerns of local landowners. Acknowledging this challenge to habitat conservation, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has made Beginning with Habitat the foundation for Maine’s State Wildlife Action Plan. It is not enough to manage species by species any more or significant habitat by significant habitat. To successfully conserve Maine’s wildlife resources we must conserve habitat that will not only address the needs of rare, threatened and endangered species, but also keep common species common. Doing this successfully means taking the necessary steps to pro-actively conserve key habitats and their connecting corridors at the local level.

As sportsmen and sportswomen, the future of Maine’s natural resources rely largely on your participation in the public process. Who knows the woods and waters of Maine better? Please help your wildlife department get the word out to local decision makers. Has your municipality’s selectmen’s board received a Beginning with Habitat presentation? Does your planning board adequately consider wildlife resources when reviewing projects? Does your local land trust know where more public access is necessary?

We encourage you to visit our web site: www.beginningwithhabitat.org to view example maps and to learn more about our services. Familiarize yourself with the tools available to help municipalities address wildlife concerns and encourage local officials to contact Beginning with Habitat.

Successful conservation statewide depends on the actions taken by the conservation stakeholders in each municipality. How is your town going to look 50 years from now? Please email steve.walker@maine.gov if we can assist your municipality in making the choices necessary to conserve Maine’s 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.

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Your Town Fifty Years From Now