Status of New Hampshire s Conservation Lands

Transcription

1 Status of New Hampshire s Conservation Lands SB 388 and beyond April 2015

2 Purpose of the SB 388 Study Committee Current composition of conservation lands: Acreage & percentage resource protection Geographic distribution Entities holding lands Identify strengths and weaknesses of current portfolio (public and private) in relation to: Drinking water supplies Land base for farming and forestry Protection fish and wildlife habitat Providing outdoor recreation opportunities

3 Methodology & Data Sources Study Methods: Best available natural resource GIS datasets Statewide scope & scale Augmented GRANIT conservation lands datalayer Key datasets: Habitat Wildlife Action Plan, Natural Heritage EOs, large forest blocks Wetlands USFWS National Wetlands Inventory & hydric soils data Land Cover USGS national land cover data set, updated every ~5 years Farm Soils lands with prime, statewide important agricultural soils Drinking water source water protection areas, wellhead protection areas, aquifers Forestry productive forest soils

4 What is Protected Land? Permanently Protected: Permanently protected by legal means Cannot be developed Remains in a largely natural status Agricultural & forestry uses permitted except on ecologically significant lands Current Status of GRANIT data: 4% of database is not legally protected, but has mandates to manage for natural land cover (e.g., Dartmouth s Second College Grant 1% is unprotected but 50% or more land in natural condition Another 5% is of unknown status

5 The big picture

6 Our State 32% protected (1.85M acres)

7 K acres Agency Type 1996 Acres 2014 Acres Change Percent Change Federal 760, ,252 61, % State 217, , , % Municipal 128, ,280 52, % Quasi-Public 5,673 10,320 4, % Private 149, , , %

8 Agency Type Number of Tracts Total Acres Percent of Total Federal , % State 1, , % Municipal 4, , % Quasi-Public , % Private 3, , % 10,224 1,850,584

9 And more nuanced regional views

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11 Elevation Range % of State % Protected >3, % 99.99% % 92.1% % 70.1% % 26.9% % 14.7% % 24.9%

12 How are we doing protecting land that is important for water?

13 Source water 7% land area 45% protected 7% developed Community wells 5% land area 16% protected 19% developed

14 13.5% land area 25% protected 28% land area 30% protected 12% developed

15 Farms and forests

16 Most productive soils <7% land area 12% protected 20% developed Active farmland <4% land area 13% protected

17 2/3 of statewide land cover 42% protected 500 5,000 acre blocks 25% of all forest blocks 18% conserved

18 Forest Blocks >5,000 acres 2.3 million acres 57% protected Forest Blocks >10,000 acres 1.9 million acres 63% protected

19 Our wildlife and natural heritage

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21 Significant Wildlife Habitat 40% of high-ranked habitat protected 52% of Tier 1 protected Rare Species Occurrences More than 4,000 occurrences 37% protected

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23 NHWAP Habitat Types NHWAP Habitat Types in Rank Order of Rarity NHWAP Habitat Types Total Land Area Percent of State Land Area Area Protected Percent Protected Dunes % % Cliffs 5, % 5, % Salt Marsh 6, % 1, % Alpine 7, % 7, % Pine Barrens 18, % 4, % Rocky Ridge/Talus Slopes 28, % 18, % Peatlands 57, % 19, % Floodplain Forests 112, % 37, % Marsh & Shrub Wetlands 142, % 39, % Grasslands >25 Acres 232, % 28, % High Elevation Spruce-Fir Forest 243, % 228, % Appalachian Oak-Pine Forest 576, % 107, % Lowland Spruce-Fir Forest 770, % 362, % Northern Hardwood-Conifer 1,027, % 566, % Hemlock-Hardwood-Pine Forest 2,263, % 471, % 5,492, ,901, %

24 Recreation opportunities

25 Convenient Accessibility Municipalities >10, minute drive (10 mile radius 54% of total state population 20% of conserved land Municipalities >20,000 10% of conserved land

26 Regional & Local Trails 2,700 miles mapped 82% on conserved land Regional systems = 150 miles 52% protected All long distance trails = 443 miles 30% protected

27 Next steps with SB 388 Committee recommendations included: Fully fund LCHIP and constitutionally protect dedicated funds State funding of existing programs: Agricultural land program (ALP) and Source Water protection fund Create Legislative Commission to develop NH priorities for future state investments in land conservation (SB38)

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29 Technical Report For more information Forest Society: The Nature Conservancy: