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With the wide variety of habitat in Eaton, which areas are most critical for wildlife? To answer this question it is helpful to start by determining which species are in the most danger. Using information on populations, habitats, risks and status throughout the northeast, New Hampshire Fish and Game developed a list of 169 species of greatest conservation need, including 41 species on the state threatened or endangered lists.
Based on this list habitat throughout the state was ranked on its ability to support species of greatest conservation need as well as common species, based on habitat condition, species diversity, and human impacts.
The top 15% of habitat was designated highest ranked habitat. It is depicted in purple on this map of New Hampshire. You can see that not very much of the map is purple.
A second tier of high value habitat, based on regional conditions, is marked in green. This also includes priority natural communities important for plant diversity.
The orange areas add to this the top 50% of the resilient and connected network of supporting landscapes as ranked by the Nature Conservancy.
The map below was updated in 2020 as part of the NH Fish and Game Wildlife Action Plan. In the shows the habitat ranking in Eaton and neighboring towns.
You can see that there is a lot of purple in Eaton, which means Eaton has more than its share of the highest value habitat in the state. It also has a lot of the second highest ranked habitat, shown in green.
Notice that undeveloped areas around streams, wetlands, and open water are very important for many species.
Zooming in on this map will show you the boundaries of individual properties.
Since 2006, when the first rankings were done, land trusts, communities, agencies, and individual property owners have used maps like this one to prioritize parcels for land protection through acquisition, land management decisions, zoning, and regulatory changes.
Sources
The list of species of greatest conservation need and the habitat ranking map came from the Wildlife Action Plan of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department: https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/nh-wildlife-action-plan
Related topics: unfragmented land under 'People' and conservation maps under 'Maps'.
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