Action Alert - Update

IFW Committee votes to add 14 animals, including the Barrow's goldeneye, to Maine's endangered and threatened list.

The Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee of the Maine Legislature held a work session Tuesday, March 13 on a bill to update the state’s list of endangered and threatened species and add 14 animals to the list, including New England cottontail, least bittern, Barrow’s goldeneye, and short-eared owl.

Getting these 14 new species on Maine’s endangered and threatened species list is the first step to protecting them. Lawmakers were urged to maintain the integrity of the list and base decisions on science, not politics.

The committee vote on LD 366, An Act to Make Additions and Deletions to the List of State Endangered and Threatened Species, was "ought to pass as amended."

What’s at Stake

Based on scientific data about the health of a species’ population, the list:

• helps businesses, landowners, government agencies, and others know which wildlife is rare and vulnerable in Maine. It can help eliminate uncertainties, costly petitions, and legal action.
  
• provides a reason for landowners to work cooperatively with the state, and creates opportunities for positive public education about Maine wildlife for Maine residents and visitors.
  
• allows the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to develop management and recovery plans for listed species and review projects that might affect them, assuring negative impacts are avoided or minimized wherever possible.

By helping to protect species at risk, the list also can help protect rare habitat.

Proposed Additions in 2007

Endangered: a mammal (New England cottontail), a bird (least bittern), a fish (redfin pickerel), a butterfly (juniper hairstreak), and a dragonfly (rapids clubtail).

Threatened: five birds (Barrow’s goldeneye, black-crowned night heron, common moorhen, great cormorant, short-eared owl), two butterflies (purple lesser fritillary, sleepy duskywing), a dragonfly (boreal snaketail), and a freshwater mussel (brook floater).

 

Barrow's goldeneye

The Barrow's goldeneye winter along Maine’s shoreline in very small numbers.

Extensive surveys by Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife have shown a low population estimated to be greater than 250 but well below the criteria of 500 that would qualify it for threatened status (worldwide Barrow's goldeneye number fewer than 200,000 individuals).

Habitat quality on the wintering grounds may be reduced due to alterations of aquatic habitats (e.g., river channelization, increased sediment loads from agricultural and industrial practices, loss of coastal and interior wetlands, and increased pollutant exposure). Oil spills are a potentially serious threat, and could affect this species directly or indirectly by impacting food resources (e.g., blue mussels).

More Information

Fact Sheet

Purposes and benefits of the list.

What happens when a species is added to the list.

The process for updating the list.