Current Projects
Downeast Deer and Riparian Habitat
Aquatic Connectivity
Working with state, federal, and nonprofit fisheries habitat managers, this KMF project offers technical assistance to identify, prioritize, and remove barriers to fish passage in high priority watersheds, starting with the Pleasant River drainage within the Penobscot River watershed. Training programs, and/or technical and financial assistance are provided to landowners, depending their interests and needs.
Maine contains 90% of the intact brook trout habitat in the eastern United States, and a significant concentration of the nation’s native brook trout habitat is located within this watershed. Brook trout are a critical species for the recreational fishing industry in northern Maine; improving brook trout habitat will have direct economic benefits to guides and tourism businesses in the region who will be able to claim access to the best trout fishing in the east.
However, logging roads, culverts, and bridges along the tributaries can block fish passage, depending on their state of repair. In the lower and mid Penobscot River watershed, 770 severe culvert fish barriers have been identified. Investing coordinated resources and expertise in this region to improve stream crossings and stabilize stream banks is a wise use of private and public funds with significant potential economic benefits.
Initial Pilot
NRCS worked with the Appalachian Mountain Club to remove three culverts on their property. Two of the three culverts were severe barriers to fish passage. NRCS engineers designed the remediation work to remove the culverts and restore the stream banks in accordance with the landowner’s wishes. Prior to construction, stream monitoring data was collected, and brook trout were removed from the construction site. USFW secured the necessary permits and funded the project in its entirety. There were no costs to the landowner, but the landowner was responsible for hiring the contractor. The removal of the three culverts has reconnected three miles of stream habitat identified by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as wild brook habitat. An assessment of the project’s effectiveness will be made by comparing MDIFW’s data on the project area streams before and after barrier restoration work.
Next Steps
Keeping Maine’s Forests is coordinating with other interested adjacent landowners to broaden the effort within the Pleasant River basin and to other regions of Maine.
Downeast Deer and Riparian Habitat Project Summary
Fisheries Habitat Restoration – slideshow (5 MB)
Downeast Deer and Riparian Habitat
The white-tailed deer is the most important big game species in Maine, both economically and culturally. Deer traditionally winter in “yards” – mature softwood stands – often located on or near streams they use as travel corridors. Dense coniferous stands provide protection from wind and cold and reduce snow depths. Management of stream corridors to provide these dense stands has the additional benefit of enhancing aquatic habitat for salmon, brook trout, and other valuable game species.
Currently, there are no economic incentives for landowners to engage in deer habitat management. The goal of this project is to create a positive, non-regulatory incentive for landowners to manage for deer habitat along streams over a large block of land, thereby improving deer and fish habitat. Improving the populations of these game species will, in turn, benefit the recreation industry in Downeast Maine.
Participating partners in this project own and/or manage approximately 1 million acres of forest in eastern Maine, and have established cooperative relationships as neighboring Downeast forest managers. MDIFW is a central partner in this effort as well.
- Downeast Lakes Land Trust (DLLT)
- American Forest Management AFM)
- Maine Bureau of Parks & Lands (BPL)
- Lyme Timber
- Passamaquoddy Tribe
- Wagner Forest Management
Project partners DLLT, MDIFW, BPL, Lyme Timber, and the Passamaquoddy Tribe have mapped priority deer habitat and riparian corridors in the Downeast region extending from the Machias to the Saint Croix rivers. MDIFW is currently adding additional historical data to these maps. The partners will meet again to establish priorities (including a core of habitat corridors), will work to develop landowner incentives and mechanisms, and will then evaluate them with industrial forest managers within the project area.
Downeast Deer and Riparian Habitat Project Summary
Western Mountains and Lakes
Located at the heart of the 26 million-acre Northern Forest lies a contiguous block of one million acres stretching from the Upper Androscoggin River watershed in New Hampshire through the cross-border Mahoosuc Range and up to the High Peaks of Maine. This region contains exceptionally productive, large blocks of working forest, famed waterways and wetland complexes, and some of New England’s most dramatic high elevation ridgelines and mountain peaks. It is home to small rural villages like Errol, New Hampshire, towns like Bethel, Maine, and larger economic hubs like the noted forest manufacturing centers of Berlin, New Hampshire and Rumford, Maine.
Placing particular focus on the Upper Androscoggin River to Mahoosucs/High Peaks, the goal of this pilot project is to create a national model of integrated efforts in forest conservation, economic development, green energy, and community well-being by:
- strengthening the forest products economy;
- broadening the utilization of wood energy;
- enhancing jobs in the nature-based tourism industry; and
- maintaining a stable base of forestland through landowner incentives and permanent conservation.
Project Objectives and Strategies
-
Strengthen the forest products economy
Help increase competitive advantage, visibility, and market share for local wood producers by providing targeted technical assistance and grant funding.
Broaden the utilization of wood energy
Catalyze dispersed adoption of biomass energy by facilitating a transition from fossil fuels to woody biomass for heat in local communities, businesses, and residences.
Enhance tourism and other services
Enhance tourism jobs and related economic activity while improving visitor experiences by delivering workforce development, technical assistance, and branding.
Create or enhance payments for ecosystem services
Increase and diversify funding streams for private landowners through incentive payments for stewardship that enhances a range of ecosystem services. Model new tools and practices for landowners to earn revenue from emerging markets for carbon sequestration and water quality that are provided by sustainable forest management.
Stabilize the forest land base
Permanently conserve key pieces of the region’s forests through a diverse mix of conservation tools, including private working forest conservation easements, community forest acquisitions, and targeted enhancements to existing state and federal lands.
Strengthen public-private partnerships – Enhance the quality of existing partnerships by increasing organizational coordination.
Western Mountains and Lakes Summary