Gulf of maine coastal program

We may also provide matching funds, consult with partners, conduct outreach and offer technical support in developing pre- and post-restoration monitoring protocols.

We can also offer GIS and database management services and we can use our motorboat to transport partners to offshore restoration sites. Working in partnership with other federal and state agencies and non-government organizations, we have restored degraded coastal wetlands in order to improve the biological productivity of salt marshes for migratory waterbirds and native fish in Maine.

Over the past decade, our office has been actively involved in partnerships to complete more than 75 projects that have restored an estimated 2, acres of coastal wetlands. Gulf of Maine Coastal Program staff has provided biological and technical expertise in identifying, planning and designing restoration projects, developing the capacity of locally-based conservation partners, developing permit applications, conducting outreach, and designing and implementing monitoring protocols.

Our funding often supports key restoration activities not often funded by other partners i. Working with partners, we have implemented major salt marsh restoration projects at the following sites. Post-restoration monitoring work continues at many of these sites, and Phragmites control and monitoring work is ongoing at Scarborough Marsh.

We protect and restore important habitat for all 12 species of native diadromous searun fish in Maine. Restoring rivers and increasing populations of native searun fish is important for more than fish. Re-establishing searun fish boosts the biological productivity of the entire river corridor, as well as our estuaries and oceans -- for everything from aquatic insects, mussels, waterbirds and furbearing mammals to commercially and recreationally important fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

In order to protect and restore habitat for diadromous fish, our office provides funding and technical expertise, and we collaborate with dozens of conservation partners, including other USFWS offices, other federal and state agencies, NGOs, private landowners and corporate interests. Over the last decade, our office has been actively involved in partnerships to complete more than on-the-ground projects that benefit diadromous fish, leading to:.

Restoration techniques include a wide array of strategies, including:. The reader must perform their own due diligence and use their own judgment in the selection of any professional. By using our website you are consenting to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy. Toggle navigation. Select a County.

We work closely with other federal and state agencies, non-government conservation groups, willing landowners and other local partners to identify and assess, protect and restore: seabird, wading bird and eagle nesting islands, coastal wetlands and upland buffer, with an emphasis on high value waterbird habitat, estuaries, rivers and riparian corridors that support all of Maines native diadromous searun fish, rivers and riparian corridors that support Atlantic salmon in federally listed rivers and the Penobscot River, lands and waters that support other coastal federally endangered and threatened species, such as: shortnose sturgeon, bald eagle, roseate tern and piping plover, large blocks of contiguous and intact habitat, and lands that support the purposes of Maine's coastal national wildlife refuges.

Northeast Region. Fact sheets, reports, and links The list below includes fact sheets, written reports and publications that our staff has produced, helped partners produce, and a select list of other publications that you may find helpful in supporting specific habitat protection and restoration activities.

Program Overview PDF 1. In , the Fund has been funded directly through the U. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Fund supports voluntary community-based initiatives that help permanently protect Atlantic salmon watersheds, restore degraded habitat, build organizational capacity, conduct outreach, support applied research, and encourage best management practices of local industries that may impact salmon habitat.

Our staff helps identify funding priorities and frequently provides technical expertise in identifying, designing and implementing high priority projects. These publications, produced in and , describe and summarize our work with locally-based conservation groups, state agencies, industries and landowners to recover wild Atlantic salmon in Maine. Beginning with Habitat provides information on habitat from a variety of sources, identifying: riparian corridors rare plants and high value natural communities, identified by Maine Natural Areas Program high value wildlife habitat for specific species or groups of species, based on site surveys conducted by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife important habitat for the 91 species included in our U.

Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Watershed Habitat Analysis, based on habitat modeling unfragmented blocks of habitat, public and conservation lands, watersheds, and wetlands.

First envisioned and promoted by Gulf of Maine Coastal Program staff, then funded and managed through the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, the report provides a clear vision and recommendations in three areas: Fisheries, Cumulative Impacts, and Open Space.

Coastal Choices videos You can download these five inspiring conservation success stories and listen to them as five separate six to eight minute-long videos. All five videos are supplemented with two-page companion pieces that direct you to additional web resources. This project, intended to encourage people to work together to protect our coastal heritage, was made possible largely with a funds provided by the Maine Coast Protection Initiative, supplemented with additional dollars contributed by our Gulf of Maine Coastal Program and other partners.