Land Trust Outreach

The Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) work closely with land trusts to conserve high value habitat in Maine by integrating important natural resource information into on-going land trust planning and protection efforts.

MNAP and MDIFW have developed a system that uses multiple sources of information to identify landscape-scale ecologically significant areas. These areas are called "Focus Areas" and typically include rare species, species assemblages, and other natural features that are considered significant on a statewide basis. Focus area selection criteria were developed to aid in the selection of sites. For each focus area, Focus Area Descriptions and maps are created and presented to the appropriate land trust(s). To date, focus areas have been selected for the southern, mid-coast, and downeast areas.