Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife releases 2025-2035 Maine Wildlife Action Plan

AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has completed the 2025-2035 Maine Wildlife Action Plan, a wildlife conservation blueprint that provides voluntary, non-regulatory strategies for protecting Maine’s most vulnerable fish and wildlife and leverages additional federal conservation funding.

For the past two years, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife worked collaboratively with the Maine Natural Areas Program, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, and Maine Audubon on the Plan. Over 100 conservation partners participated, and over 323 public comments were submitted.

“Maine’s most vulnerable wildlife are at the crossroads. We have seen significant declines in birds and other species during our lifetimes,” said MDIFW Commissioner Judy Camuso. “This plan provides a blueprint to help protect Maine’s natural heritage, and prevent further decline of one of Maine’s most treasured resources, our fish and wildlife and the woods and waters they call home.”

The resulting Plan identifies 721 Species of Greatest Conservation Need, representing species that are declining in Maine, are intrinsically rare or for which Maine has a unique stewardship responsibility. These species are found in freshwater aquatic, terrestrial and marine ecosystems. This is an increase from the 2015 Maine Wildlife Action Plan, which identified 378 species of greatest conservation need. The bulk of the increase is driven primarily through the inclusion of plants, which were not part of earlier plans, closer examination of inland invertebrates and declines in additional bird species.

The most commonly identified threats associated to species and their habitats include development and land conversion resulting in habitat loss, climate change and severe weather, invasive species, pollution and lack of knowledge. The Action Plan includes conservation actions that are proposed specifically to address these threats. These actions are all designed to prevent further decline of these species, are voluntary and non-regulatory. Halting these species’ decline now would prevent the need for more restrictive and expensive conservation methods or even possible listing under the state or federal endangered species act.

“Over 90% of Maine is privately owned. All of Maine’s citizens and our visitors understand the importance of Maine’s vast natural resources,“ said Alex Fish, MDIFW’s endangered and threatened species coordinator. “Maine’s Wildlife Action Plan identifies priority conservation species and provides a menu of strategies for landowners, conservation entities, and members of the public to help stem the decline of Maine’s most vulnerable species. This is a plan for everyone.”

Maine’s Wildlife Action Plan is not only a roadmap to helping species in decline throughout Maine, it also provides the Department and others the ability to apply for federal, state and tribal wildlife grants, which help supplement funding for Maine’s vast wildlife diversity.

For more information, please view the Maine Wildlife Action Plan on the MDIFW website at https://www.maine.gov/ifw/fish-wildlife/wildlife/wildlife-action-plan/index.html.