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A Publication Featuring The Information Services Technology of Maine State Government

Habitat-Based Approach to Open Space Planning

By Molly Docherty, Elizabeth Hertz, Colleen Gesauldo, Richard Dressler, and John McPhedran 

An array of public and private organizations including the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Department of Conservation, Maine State Planning Office (SPO), US Fish and Wildlife Service, Maine Audubon Society, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission, and Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) have collaborated on a project that provides digital data and maps of wildlife habitats, natural areas of statewide significance, and other natural resources for local planning purposes and voluntary land protection. This project combines multiple data sources to give municipal officials, planners, and landowners a more comprehensive view of the potential impacts of development on natural resources within their communities.

In cooperation with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and others, Dr. William Krohn of the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Services Division (University of Maine) developed a landscape model that identifies the key wildlife habitat components that are needed to ensure the survival of wildlife species regularly breeding in Maine in the mid-1990s. This model was used to identify the habitats (riparian habitats, high value habitats, and large unfragmented habitat blocks) provided in the series of tools developed for local planning. Based on the landscape model and associated data, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife partnered with the Maine Natural Areas Program, a division of the Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide a single source of habitats important to the conservation of native plant and animal species.

Additionally, the Wells NERR furnished parcel-by-parcel coverage of all lands under conservation ownership in southern coastal Maine. Other natural resource information provided as part of this project includes the National Wetlands Inventory data, SPO wetland characterization data, and watershed boundaries. Because the project maps are developed with a regional perspective using US Geological Survey 1:24,000 base maps, towns will need to provide updated local information related to current development and community infrastructure. As growth zones identified by individual towns are digitized, they may be compared to the digital version of the natural resource information to facilitate the identification of areas for conservation or open space as well target areas for future growth.

Data and maps provided to towns are intended to be used for planning purposes only and are not regulatory in nature. The project partners envision that local officials and planners will use the maps and GIS coverages in the development of Comprehensive Plans and Open Space Plans. Other organizations such as land trusts will also benefit from the compilation of natural resource data provided for town planning.

As of spring 2001, a pilot project that will eventually involve most of the southern Maine coastal towns from Kittery to Scarborough, is underway to test the natural resource GIS planning tools. The town of Kennebunk is the forerunner in the pilot; Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission will provide planning assistance to all towns in the project. Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission staff will also strive to assist the local officials and planners in developing the capacity to analyze the data and produce GIS maps independently. If the pilot project proves successful, then the GIS applications will eventually be made available to all of the organized towns in Maine. However, additional funding will need to be secured to expand this effort statewide.

The Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife regional biologists and Maine Natural Areas Program staff will serve in an advisory capacity to local planning boards, comprehensive planning committees, and conservation commissions in the future to facilitate use of the GIS products from this project.

Funding for this project was obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, Maine Department of Conservation, Maine’s Loon Plate Fund, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Funds, and Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The following individuals are the lead representatives for their respective agencies in the development of this project and may be contacted for further information.