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Wildlife Division
The Wildlife Division oversees the management of all wildlife resources in the state, and is charged with the preservation, protection, enhancement and wise use of these resources.
Since the Department was established in 1880 to protect big game populations, it has broadened in scope to include protection and management of nongame wildlife as well as the protection and restoration of endangered species.
In order to achieve this, the department protects and enhances wildlife habitat, owns over 60 wildlife management areas that total over 106,000 acres, and aquires land to protect wildlife resources while allowing access for hunting, trapping and wildlife watching.
The division is comprised of two sections, the management section and the research section.
The management section is comprised of 17 regional biologists located in 7 Regional offices across the state. These biologists work on all wildlife species but focus their work within their Region. The regional biologists work on a wide range of projects from deer data collection to waterfowl surveys to habitat management.
Our research and assessment section (RAS) is based in our Bangor office, where we have 20 species specialists that work on one, two, or a small group of species, such as moose, bear, deer or waterfowl. The RAS biologists focus their work on monitoring and assessing wildlife populations and conducting a wide range of research projects; often in collaboration with the University of Maine.