© Pete Saloutos/Panoramic Images (Maine Title Image Large)
Beginning with Habitat Focus Areas
© The Nature Conservancy Beginning with Habitat Focus Areas Image
Beginning with Habitat (BwH) Focus Areas are natural areas of statewide ecological significance that contain unusually rich concentrations of at-risk species and habitats. These areas were identified by biologists from the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP), the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. The BwH Focus Areas support rare plants, animals, rare natural communities, outstanding examples of common natural communities, significant wildlife habitats, and their intersections with large blocks of undeveloped habitat. They range in size from 220,000 acres surrounding the Baxter Region to 250 acres on the Nash Islands in Addison. Their boundaries are drawn based on the following:
- Concentrations of rare plants, rare animals, rare or exemplary natural communities, significant habitats
- Unfragmented / roadless blocks of land
- Watersheds
- Topographic gradients
- Coastal features such as eel grass beds, marine worm flats, horseshoe crab breeding areas.
You can learn more about the BwH Focus Areas here.