In 2006, the NH Fish and Game Department and its partners, including UNH Cooperative Extension, completed the NH Wildlife Action Plan - the most comprehensive assessment to date of wildlife and wildlife habitats that occur within our state. Its purpose is to identify the wildlife species and their habitats in the "greatest need of conservation."

The overall role of the plan is to serve as a blueprint to guide the Fish and Game Department in efforts to restore and maintain populations of threatened and endangered wildlife species, and just as importantly, to keep common species from becoming endangered. Additionally, the plan was designed as a tool for use by communities and private landowners to help identify, conserve and manage critical wildlife and their habitats throughout the state.

This year, Extension will play a key role in its implementation. Supported through a grant from NH Fish and Game, Frank Mitchell, Amanda Stone and Matt Tarr will host educational workshops for communities and landowners. These workshops will teach communities how to use maps, developed as part of the plan, to guide local efforts for identifying and conserving critical wildlife habitat.

Landowners and consulting natural resource professionals will learn how to identify critical wildlife habitats in their field, and how to maintain and enhance those habitats for the wildlife that use them. Below is a list of dates and locations for upcoming Wildlife Action Plan workshops offered by UNH Cooperative Extension:
Westmoreland: March 31 - Westmorland Town Hall
Gonic: May 5 - Waste Management of NH
Lancaster: June 2 - North Country Resource Center

There also will be an in-service training March 8 in the Merrimack County Cooperative Extension office for Extension staff and Natural Resource Conservation Service staff to learn how they can use the plan to guide communities and landowners in conserving and managing critical wildlife habitats in our state.

Contact Matt Tarr (matt.tarr@unh.edu) for more information about the workshops listed above or for more information about the New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan.