Local Conservation Issues: Wildlife
Identifying Significant Wildlife Habitat
Mitigating Road Impacts on Wildlife
Riparian Buffers
Identifying Significant Wildlife Habitat
The New Hampshire Fish & Game Department recently completed a project to map potentially significant wildlife habitat throughout the state. Referred to as a "coarse filter" approach to mapping wildlife habitat, the project mapped generalized habitat features that would benefit a multitude of wildlife species.
This information will be useful in helping to establish land protection priorities in Hollis and will help inform the development review process for the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission.
View a slide presentation (pdf; 1.4 mb) that illustrates what habitat features were mapped and what wildlife species would benefit from the conservation of those features.
View the map of unfragmented habitat 
blocks of Hollis (pdf; 1.2 mb). Unfragmented habitat blocks are areas not impacted by roads and development. The darker the shade of green on the map, the larger the habitat block.
View the map of co-occurring habitat features overlaid atop unfragmented habitat blocks (pdf; 0.8 mb). The computerized mapping process allowed the various habitat features to be "sandwiched" together to create a co-occurrence map. The darker the shade of red on the map, the more habitat features that overlap with each other.
Some general guidelines for identifying potentially significant wildlife habitat from these maps include:
1) Look for larger, non-linear habitat blocks (each mapped habitat block is labeled with its acreage).
2) Look for larger habitat blocks with a number of co-occurring (i.e., overlapping) habitat features.
3) Potentially significant areas can also be identified for specific species of conservation concern. Following is a list of species of conservation concern that have been recorded in Hollis followed by the habitat features that correspond with their habitat needs (the link will take you to the Enature.com profile for that species if available):
a) Eastern hognose snake - large unfragmented blocks containing areas with sandy soils. Although soils were not included in this mapping effort, this information is available for the Hollis area and could be incorporated into the Hollis maps.
b) Blanding's turtle - all of the turtles that call Hollis home would benefit from conserving large unfragmented blocks that contain a variety of wetlands for breeding, as well as agriculture and other non-forested areas for nesting.
c) Spotted turtle
d) Wood turtle
e) Marbled salamander - vernal pools. Clusters of wetlands < 5 acres in size is a coarse, but largely inadequate means of mapping vernal pools. Currently little vernal pool information exists for Hollis, or for that matter, the entire state. To assist with conserving marbled salamanders and other vernal pool creatures, vernal pools in the town should be mapped. New Hampshire Fish & Game recently published a book on how to do just that.
f) Brook floater mussels - maintaining water quality is the key to maintaining habitat for brook floater mussels and banded sunfish. To do so, adequate riparian buffers must be maintained (minimum of 100 feet, but more is better).
g) Banded sunfish
Refer to the slide presentation for additional strategies to conserve these wildlife species.
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Mitigating Road Impacts On Wildlife
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| Culverts like this one on Nevins Road provide a barrier to wildlife attempting to travel along the brook pictured below. Guidelines developed by UMass Cooperative Extension, MassHighways, and others, provide culvert design options to allow for better wildlife passage. |
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Roads have impacts on wildlife and wildlife habitat that are disproportionate to the area of land that they occupy. For many species, roads act as barriers to movement; effectively segregating or fragmenting wildlife populations, and denying individuals access to vital habitats. High traffic volumes also lead to direct mortalities as individual animals try to cross a highway. These and other factors can lead to the extirpation or substantial reduction of local populations. To learn more about road impacts on wildlife, read this overview (pdf) written by Scott Jackson, University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Wildlife Specialist, and regional expert on road and wildlife issues.
Road impacts can be mitigated to some degree. Scott Jackson teamed up with Mass Highway, the
Massachusetts Riverways Program, Massachusetts Watershed Initiative, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to develop stream and river crossing design guidelines that would allow for better fish and wildlife passage and river/stream continuity. These guidelines could be adopted at the local level.
For more information on road and wildlife issues and methods for mitigating road impacts visit these sites:
Mitigating Transportation Impacts on Fish and Wildlife, UMass Cooperative Extension
Critter Crossings, U.S. Department of Transportation
Habitat and Highways Campaign, Defenders of Wildlife
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