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Massachusetts Wildlife Conservation Strategy

Background of the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)

With the passage of federal legislation in 2001, a grant program was created to provide federal dollars administered by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for states to support conservation efforts aimed at preventing wildlife from becoming endangered. In order for states to continue to receive this funding, Congress has required that each state prepare a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) now known as Wildlife Action Plans.

The Massachusetts Wildlife Action Plan (62 MB) uses a habitat-based approach, linking types of wildlife in greatest need of conservation to critical habitats that are essential for the survival of the species. The following elements are included in the plan's strategy:

identification, distribution and abundance of key habitats and species;
descriptions, location and relative conditions of those habitats and community types essential to the conservation of key species;
problems affecting key species and habitats;
suggested conservation actions to conserve these key species and habitats; and
monitoring procedures to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed conservation actions.

MassWildlife Action Plan Outline

For ease of viewing or downloading, we recommend clicking on individual Plan chapters below. All chapters and appendices are in PDF format and require the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.

Cover Pages
Executive Summary
Where the Eight Required Elements can be Found
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter One: Introduction and Purpose
Chapter Two: Massachusetts Landscape Perspective: A History of Land Use in Massachusetts
Chapter Three: Issues Affecting Biodiversity (1.02 MB)
Chapter Four: Overview of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (4.21 MB)
Chapter Five: Methodology and Approach
Chapter Six: Key Species and Habitats in Greatest Need of Conservation (1.91 MB)
Chapter Seven: Overview of Conservation Strategies
Chapter Eight: Overview of Monitoring Species, Habitats, and Conservation Actions (1.28 MB)
Chapter Nine: Conservation Strategies, by Habitat (4.56 MB)
Chapter Ten: Species Summaries (14.69 MB)
Chapter Eleven: Schedule of CWCS Review and Revision
Appendices
- Appendix A: Massachusetts Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Species (1.16 MB)
- Appendix B: Species Included in the BioMap Project
- Appendix C: Species Included in the Living Waters Project
- Appendix D: Land Acquisition Process
- Appendix E: MassWildlife Landowner Incentive Program (LIP)
- Appendix F: Abbreviations and Glossary
- Appendix G: Internet Links
- Appendix H: Watershed Maps
  - Bashbish
  - Blackstone (1.79 MB)
  - Buzzards Bay (2.09 MB)
  - Charles (1.82 MB)
  - Chicopee (2.13 MB
  - Concord (1.62 MB)
  - Connecticut (2.08 MB
  - Deerfield (1.11 MB)
  - Farmington (1.01 MB)
  - French
  - Hoosic
  - Housatonic (1.28 MB)
  - Ipswich (1.25 MB)
  - Kinderhook
  - Millers (1.24 MB)
  - Mt. Hope Bay
  - Mystic
  - Narragansett Bay
  - Nashua (1.69 MB)
  - Neponset
  - North Coast (1.78 MB)
  - Parker (1.15 MB)
  - Quinebaug (1.42 MB)
  - Shawsheen
  - South Coastal (1.79 MB)
  - Taunton (2.48 MB)
  - Ten Mile
  - Weir
  - Westfield (1.77 MB)