Enough Habitat in the Right Places
Partners in the Young Forest Initiative include federal and state natural resource agencies, land trusts, conservation organizations, towns and counties, universities, timber products companies, and private landowners.
Partners share knowledge and resources in studying wildlife and how different animals use different habitats. They also work to preserve and make young forest and shrubland – thick, relatively short-lived habitats that many kinds of wildlife rely on for food and cover.
Using science-based land management techniques, partners try to create the right amount of young forest in the right places to ensure healthy populations of birds, mammals, pollinators, and other wildlife.
Flagship Species
We focus on making habitat for a select group of “flagship species” – an approach that supplies key food and cover resources to a wide variety of other kinds of wildlife, including both rare and common species.
When an area, state, or region has enough young trees and native shrubs, landowners use their properties in sound and economically viable ways, working forests thrive, and forest health and diversity get a boost.
Funding
The Young Forest Initiative uses a variety of grant programs to protect, restore, and enhance young forest and shrubland to benefit wildlife, people, and northeastern woodlands now and in the future.
Want to Make Some Habitat?
To learn more about opportunities to protect, create, and renew young forest and shrublands, please refer to the contacts below. Many states have private lands habitat specialists who can provide free advice on possible projects.
Full or partial funding may be available for habitat projects through state programs or from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program or the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
State Wildlife Agencies
Connecticut: deep.ctwildlife@ct.gov, 860-424-3011
Maine: info.ifw@maine.gov, 207-287-8000
Massachusetts: mass.wildlife@mass.gov, 508-389-6300
New Hampshire: wildlife@wildlife.nh.gov, 603-271-2461
New York: wildlife@dec.ny.gov, 518-402-8883
Rhode Island: dem.dfw@dem.ri.gov
Funding Resources
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Environmental Quality Incentives Program