Landowners Incentive Program
Maine Landowner Incentive Program
Building on the tremendous success of Beginning with Habitat, the Maine Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) has initiated the planning necessary to implement the recommendations developed by Beginning with Habitat and other initiatives to conserve important habitats for rare, threatened, and endangered wildlife, plants, and natural communities in Maine. LIP funds are being used in Maine to initiate a landowner incentive program that offers a variety of tools to landowners for rare and endangered plants and wildlife habitat conservation including funds for conservation easements, cooperative management agreements and habitat management activities.
The program is funded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is administered by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife while the Maine Natural Areas Program facilitates outreach for the Program. MDIFW and MNAP staff convenes the Maine LIP Steering Committee which include representation from: MDIF&W, MNAP, ME Forest Service, ME Department of Agriculture, USFWS Gulf of Maine Project and USFWS Field Office, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine Audubon. With wide representation across Maine’s conservation community, the Steering Committee provides an important outreach and program coordination function.
Background of the Maine Landowner Incentive Program
In addition to boasting the most diverse collection of plant and wildlife species in the entire state, Southern and coastal Maine also include some of the rarest occurrences of these species. Unfortunately, critical habitat in these areas is quickly being fragmented or completely lost due to increased development.
To help address these threats, the Maine Department of Conservation’s Natural Areas Program and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife undertook a systematic survey of high value habitats supporting rare species and high quality natural communities in southern and coastal regions.
The results of this effort produced a valuable mapped suite of species-at-risk Focus Areas that include the best examples of rare species populations and high quality natural habitats in Maine.
The culmination of this work came when the State of Maine received $1.3 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the establishment of a Landowner Incentive Program. Designed to protect these identified rare, threatened and endangered species habitats, the program provides private landowners with financial and/or technical assistance for managing their lands for the protection of rare plant and animal habitats.
As a result of the Maine Landowner Incentive Program, more than 2,500 acres of critical habitat within 15 eligible focus areas are set to be protected. In addition, resources will also be available to protect habitat for bald eagles, piping plovers and Furbishs lousewort, an endangered plant along the St. John River.
Eligible Focus Areas
Twenty Focus Areas across Maine were selected as sites for conservation efforts. Landowners in these twenty Focus Areas are eligible for funding (see Overview Map):
Bald Eagles
For nearly 25 years, both federal and state jurisdictions have listed bald eagles, as either “endangered” (1978-1995) or “threatened” (1996-present) in Maine. The state’s population accounts for 75% of eagle numbers resident in the northeastern U.S. and the scarcity of public lands across Maine shifts most of habitat conservation responsibility to the private landowner. Some eagle habitats are on conservation lands, but private landowners remain the champion of species recovery in Maine. Incentives are pivotal to keep private individuals as long-term conservation partners.
Piping plovers
About three-quarters of the pairs of piping plovers nesting in Maine nest on 17 privately-owned beaches in the state. Many of these beaches are highly-developed, and management of these endangered birds requires careful negotiations with landowners. Each year, over 90% of landowners give wildlife biologists permission to fence and sign areas of their land to benefit plovers. Many landowners have asked for help to improve habitat including restoring dunes and dune grass and replacing eroding beach trails with temporary wooden walkways.
Beach management has been extremely successful in Maine. Maine’s population has grown from just 13 pairs in the early 1990s to 50-60 pairs in the last 3 years. The plover population has increased its distribution to new privately-owned beaches, increasing the complexity of managing this endangered resource.
Landowners currently have no incentives for protecting nesting plovers. Plover beaches are protected by state and federal statutes, but there has been little opportunity to offer positive reinforcement for those who agree to host an endangered bird on their beach. We anticipate that incentives will help develop a positive working relationship between private landowners and state, federal, and municipal managers.
Furbish’s Lousewort
Maine’s only federally listed Endangered plant, Furbish’s lousewort is a perennial wildflower endemic to the St. John River in northern Maine with a few small populations in adjacent New Brunswick. It is currently known to occur from the confluence of the Big Black River in Maine to Andover, New Brunswick with at least ninety five percent of the plants occurring upriver of Fort Kent. Conserving this unique river ecosystem where Furbish’s lousewort and over thirty other rare plants grow, depends upon the cooperation of those who own and use the riverbanks.
Studies suggest that conservation of the lousewort can go hand-in-hand with human activities. Permanent alteration of the riverbank habitat, specifically clearing the trees on the top and slope of the riverbank are the major threats to the plant. Home building, logging, and farming are not damaging as long as enough tall trees are left at the top of the bank to shade and stabilize it. Fishing and swimming will not harm the lousewort either, as long as the steep parts of the bank where they grow are left alone.
MNAP, working together with the USFWS, the Upper St. John Land Trust and the Northern Maine Development Commission, has developed an ambitious outreach effort to work with landowners to improve stewardship and protection of the habitat of the rivershore. Opportunities exist to improve the conservation status of these species through management agreements, conservation easements, and donations. Through this project we will work directly with landowners to find out how we can help them meet their needs while also protecting the unique riverbank habitat.
Application Process
As funds become available, the LIP Steering Committee will announce an open application period. Currently, all funds for the Beginning with Habitat Focus Areas award have been allocated. Please check back often, as we anticipate further funding.
Available LIP Resources
A Landowner's Guide to Conservation of Furbish's Lousewort and the St.John River [PDF]
PDF document describing conservation ideas for Furbish's Lousewort and the St.John River
LIP 06 Application [PDF]
Application materials for FY 06 funds
LIP 06 pre-proposal [PDF]
pre-proposal application for FY 06 funds
LIP Fact Sheet [PDF]
2 page fact sheet describing LIP
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