Massachusetts Environmental Agencies Partner with The Nature Conservancy to Create Protected Areas for Wildlife Release
New program will better protect rare and endangered species
BOSTON, MA — July 17, 2008 — In an effort to enhance the protection and restoration of endangered species in Massachusetts, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and The Nature Conservancy today announced a new program to create a system of protected areas for the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable species.
Under an agreement between the Commonwealth and The Nature Conservancy’s Massachusetts Chapter, payments from developers whose projects impact rare species habitat will be used to permanently preserve larger, contiguous areas of quality habitat – an approach that scientists agree provides more value than project-by-project environmental mitigation. The Nature Conservancy was selected to partner with the Commonwealth on this project through a competitive bidding process.
“Our Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program has a keen understanding of the impacts various projects and activities are apt to have on specific state-listed endangered species, and can identify the species and habitats most frequently in need of conservation,” EEA Secretary Ian Bowles said. “This new program will ensure that environmental mitigation funds required by Natural Heritage are put to the best possible use.”
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Portrait of a water snake, Massachusetts. Photo © Cheryl Rose
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Under the new program, scientists from both the Department of Fish and Game’s (DFG) Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) and The Nature Conservancy will first identify state-listed species that are appropriate for this “protected areas” approach. Once these species have been determined, the partners will combine their scientific and conservation expertise to select geographic areas most suitable for this protection.
After these criteria are in place, applicants for development permits will have a more effective method for offsetting their projects’ impact to rare species habitat. If DFW determines that an applicant has made every reasonable effort to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts at the development site, the agency may choose to issue the permit and ask the applicant to offset the impact to the species at another location. One option would be for the applicant to pay a determined sum to The Nature Conservancy, which will use the funds exclusively for the preservation of lands within the geographic areas selected jointly by the Conservancy and DFW.
Although The Nature Conservancy will receive the funds directly from project applicants, the Conservancy does not play a role in the permit decision-making process, and does not determine how much money is required to adequately offset impacts to species. Those decisions are made exclusively by the DFW.
"This initiative is designed to add regulatory flexibility to our implementation of the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, and will lead to better conservation outcomes for the Commonwealth’s endangered species," said Mary Griffin, Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game.
By focusing protection efforts in a few selected areas, the Conservancy will create larger, higher-quality habitat than could be created by attempting to mitigate impacts near each individual permit site. This “protected areas” approach is similar in concept – though much smaller in scale – to the system of forest reserves the Commonwealth established in 2006.
“Creating a handful of larger ‘core’ areas, rather than a series of very small ones, is the key to helping rare species survive,” said Loring Schwarz, Acting Director of The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. “What’s more, these protected areas can help populations of rare species become stronger and more resilient, which is particularly important as the Commonwealth’s animals and plants adapt to the impacts of climate change.”
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.
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