A comprehensive new report from the Native Plant Trust and the Nature Conservancy is calling for conservation of an additional 2.3 million acres in specific habitats and locations across New England to protect native plants and the species that depend on them.
Mark Anderson, the conservancy’s director of conservation science, said time is running out to address crashing insect populations and pollinators such as butterflies, which have declined nearly 40 percent.
“But the science is clear that that is largely due to habitat loss and habitat degradation. And there are examples where restored habitats or conserved habitats have been able to reverse that trend,” he said.
One example, Anderson said, is the importance of wetlands to bird populations. Wetlands cover 12 percent of New England, but they are critical to sustaining almost half the population of plants, birds and wildlife, according to the report.
“So I think it’s really critical that we think about — if we want a future that we share with all other forms of life that we evolved with, we have got to start devoting habitat space to other species,” he said.
The 250-page report includes an interactive mapping tool to give policymakers, state and federal agencies and land trusts information about where to protect climate-resilient sites that capture plant and habitat diversity and how to spend conservation dollars efficiently.
The rapidly changing climate is expected to stress the ability of individual species and entire habitats to adapt. The report calls on landowners to ensure that another 5.2 million acres in the region is effectively managed to preserve genetic diversity.
“So we’ve got on our hands quite a crisis and it’s urgent. I don’t know what the answer is if we don’t meet these goals,” Anderson said.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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