NH Wildlife Action Plan

Taking Action for Wildlife!

 

How does NH Fish and Game and its many conservation partners around the state prioritize actions for wildlife and land management? How do you, as a member of your community and a landowner, become part of the movement to conserve and maintain New Hampshire’s natural environment? The entire state has a plan that guides conservation actions, so that you, your community, university researchers, biologists, land trusts, and other organizations are all working towards NH’s most important conservation goals. This is the New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan. This Plan first became available in 2005, and has now been completely updated and approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

The 2015 Wildlife Action Plan is a blueprint for conserving Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and their habitats in New Hampshire. New Hampshire's Plan identifies 169 SGCN, which represent a broad array of wildlife, and it focuses on the 27 habitats that support these species, such as lowland spruce-fir forest, salt marsh, shrublands, warm water lakes and ponds, vernal pools, and many others. Each SGCN and habitat has an individual profile that includes information about the population, threats, and actions needed to conserve these features in New Hampshire. The many actions listed in the Plan include activities like on-the-ground habitat work and research, land conservation, habitat management, collaborating with many conservation partners, and providing public education. It will take active participation by all Granite staters to implement the actions in the Wildlife Action Plan, and the Taking Action for Wildlife program is the best place to start.

 

2015 Wildlife Action Plan Downloads (all files in PDF format)

• Read the Executive Summary
• List of SGCN and Habitats

 

• Introduction, Table of Contents, Acknowledgements and other front pieces
• Chapter 1: Public Participation
• Chapter 2: NH Wildlife and Habitats At Risk
  • How NH Choses SGCN
• Chapter 3: NH Wildlife Habitat Conditions
  • Using the Wildlife Action Plan Maps
• Chapter 4: Wildlife Risk Assessment - Introduction
  • Chapter 4 includes:
    • Residential and Commercial Development
    • Agriculture and Aquaculture
    • Energy Production and Mining
    • Transportation and Service Corridors
    • Biological Resource Use
    • Human Intrusions and Disturbance
    • Natural System Modifications
    • Invasive and Other Problematic Species and Genes
    • Pollution
    • Climate Change and Severe Weather
• Chapter 5: Conservation Actions
  • Actions for landowners, communities and conservation organizations
• Chapter 6: Monitoring, Performance Evaluation, and Adaptive Management
• Chapter 7: Implementation

 

Wildlife Action Plan Appendices (all files in PDF format)

 

• A: Species Profiles
  • Mammals
  • Birds
  • Reptiles
  • Amphibians
  • Fish
  • Marine wildlife
  • Freshwater Mussels
  • Insects
• Individual species profiles can be found on the Species Occurring in New Hampshire webpage
• B: Habitat Profiles
  • Habitats
    • Table of Habitat Types and Associated Species
  • Individual habitat profiles can be found on the Habitat Types and Species webpage
• C: Crosswalks between Wildlife Action Plan Habitats and other habitat classification schemes
• D: Rare Plants Species and Wildlife Habitats
• Templates and Other Materials for Development of the Wildlife Action Plan:
  • E: Identifying and Ranking Risks
  • F: IUCN Categories and definitions
  • G: Evaluating Change in Risk Rank 2005-2015
  • H: Species and Habitat Profile Template
  • I: Regulatory Definitions
• Public Input:
  • J: Key Informants Interviews Report
  • K: Wildlife Stakeholder Input Session Report
  • L: Web Survey Report
  • M: Media Coverage
  • N: Partner Participation
• Success of the 2005 Wildlife Action Plan
  • 2005 Wildlife Action Plan Performance Evaluation

   

 

Eight Required Elements of the Wildlife Action Plan

 

The US Fish and Wildlife Service requires eight elements be included in state Wildlife Action Plans. These include: