Significant Wildlife Habitats

Significant Wildlife Habitats are defined under Maine’s Natural Resources Protection Act (NRPA), which is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

These habitats include:

Seabird Nesting Islands – seabirds live over the open ocean and return to land only once a year to nest. Their survival depends on undisturbed nesting habitat. Small, unforested, rocky islands like those off the coast of Maine are free of mammalian predators such as foxes, coyotes, and raccoons and (if far enough away from the mainland) from avian predators such as great horned owls. Many seabird species that were nearly eradicated in Maine by the end of the 19th century have recovered dramatically because of state and federal conservation laws and restoration efforts. In 1998, 234 Maine islands were afforded protection as Significant Wildlife Habitat for nesting seabirds under the Natural Resources Protection Act. For more information about seabird nesting islands, visit DEP’s web site.

Deer Wintering Areas – forested areas used by deer when snow gets more than 12 inches deep in the open and in hardwood stands, when the depth that deer sink into the snow exceeds 8 inches in the open and in hardwood stands, and when mean daily temperature is below 32 degrees.

Inland Waterfowl and Wading Bird Habitat – a high- to moderate-value habitat for inland waterfowl and wading birds is a wetland complex and a 250-foot-wide upland zone surrounding it. The quality of a wetland complex is determined by the dominant wetland type, the diversity of wetland types in the complex, the size of the wetland(s), the interspersion of the different types, and the relative amount of open water.

Tidal Waterfowl and Wading Bird Habitat – includes the following habitat types:

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds currently mapped by Maine Department of Marine Resources that are at least 2.5 acres in size
Mussel bars/beds
Emergent wetlands at least 2.5 acres in size
Mudflats at least 12.5 acres in size or adjacent to one of the above habitats such that the resulting complex is at least 2.5 acres in size

Shorebird areas – feeding and staging areas provide migrating shorebirds with the food resources they need to acquire the large fat reserves necessary to fuel their transoceanic migration to wintering areas. Shorebird areas can be feeding areas, roosting sites, or both. For more information about regulation of shorebird areas under NRPA, visit DEP’s web site.

Significant vernal pools – also referred to as a seasonal forest pools, are natural, temporary to semi-permanent bodies of water occurring in shallow depressions that typically fill during the spring or fall and may dry during the summer. Vernal pools have no permanent inlet and no viable populations of predatory fish. A vernal pool may provide the primary breeding habitat for wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale), and fairy shrimp (Eubranchipus sp.), as well as valuable habitat for other plants and wildlife, including several rare, threatened, and endangered species.For more information about identifying vernal pools and their regulation under NRPA, visit DEP’s web site.

Request digital data for Significant Wildlife Habitats.

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

Significant Wildlife Habitats