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The Official Website of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (MassWildlife)

Natural Heritage and Endangered Species

Natural Heritage LogoNatural Heritage Information by Town

The Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program has many resources available to help municipalities, land trusts, watershed associations, and others with biodiversity protection at the local level.
  • Rare Species Occurrences by Town - Natural Heritage maintains a list of all MESA-listed species observed and documented in each town. These lists are updated once a year or when there are approved MESA list changes. Also see the complete MESA list with links to many interesting species fact sheets.
  • Number of Certified Vernal Pools by Town - This page provides a tally of the number of vernal pools that have been certified in each town. Natural Heritage “certifies” the occurrence of vernal pools based on documentation of the pool's use by one or more groups of species that rely on vernal pools. See our Vernal Pool section for more information about vernal pool certification.
  • Town Core Habitat Reports and Maps - Intended for use in conservation planning, the Town Core Habitat Reports provide a summary of the rare species, natural communities, and freshwater habitats found in the BioMap and Living Waters Core Habitats identified in 336 of the Commonwealth’s 351 towns. The Core Habitat numbers in the reports are keyed to large-sized Town Core Habitat Maps that are available for order from Natural Heritage, see our Publications section.
  • Priority Habitat and Estimated Habitat Maps - Large-sized regulatory maps for use with the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA) and the Wetlands Protection Act can be viewed by contacting your town or city’s conservation commission or planning board. See our Regulatory Review section for many other ways you can view Priority Habitat and Estimated Habitat in your area.
  • NHESP GIS datalayers - Natural Heritage has created several GIS datalayers that will be of interest to those protecting biodiversity at the local level. These include sites that have been identified as Potential Vernal Pools and sites with Natural Communities of conservation interest.