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National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Draft Business Plan for the New England Cottontail March 24, 2009

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National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Draft Business Plan for the New England Cottontail March 24, 2009 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Draft Business Plan for the New England Cottontail March 24, 2009 NFWF NE Cotton Biz Plan.indd 1 8/12/09 10:40:06 AM What Is a Business Plan? A business plan serves two broad, primary functions. First, it provides specific information to those (e.g., prospective investors) not familiar with the proposed or existing business, including its goals and the management strategy and financial and other resources necessary to attain those goals. Second, a business plan provides internal guidance to those who are active in the operation of the business, allowing all individuals to understand where the business is headed and the means by which it will get there. The plan helps keep the business from drifting away from its goals and key actions through careful articulation of a strategy. In the context of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s conservation efforts, business plans represent the strategies necessary to meet the conservation goals of Keystone and other initia- tives. Each business plan emphasizes the type(s) and magnitude of the benefits that will be realized through the initiative, the monetary costs involved, and the potential obstacles (risks) to achieving those gains. Each of the Foundation’s business plans has three core elements: Conservation Outcomes: A concrete description of the outcomes to which the Foundation and grantees will hold ourselves accountable. Implementation Plan with Strategic Priorities and Performance Measures: A description of the specific strategies that are needed to achieve our conservation outcome and the quantitative measures by which we will measure success and make it possible to adaptively revise strategies in the face of underperformance. Funding and Resource Needs: An analysis of the financial, human and organizational resources needed to carry out these activities. The strategies and activities discussed in this plan do not represent solely the Foundation’s view of the actions necessary to achieve the identified conservation goals. Rather, it reflects the consensus or majority view of the many federal, state, academic or organization experts that we consulted with during plan development. In developing this business plan, the Foundation acknowledges that there are other ongoing and planned conservation activities that are aimed at, or indirectly benefit, keystone targets. This busi- ness plan is not meant to duplicate ongoing efforts but, rather, to strategically invest in areas where management, conservation, or funding gaps might exist in those broader conservation efforts. Hence, the aim of the business plan is to support the beneficial impacts brought about by the larger conser- vation community. Draft | March 24, 2009 | i ii | March 24, 2009 | Draft Summary This business plan maps out a 10 year plan to protect and restore New England cottontail populations and the ‘early successional habitat’ they depend on in Maine and New Hampshire. It was created in active collaborations with universities, agencies, and non-profit organizations involved in the cotton- tail’s conservation. The cottontail is one of four species — bog turtle, American woodcock, and gold- en-winged warbler — that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is targeting as part of a broader effort to conserve early successional habitat. This business plan will guide every aspect of the Foundation’s anticipated $3.5 million in grant-making associated with this species and its habitat. Ultimately we hope that the strategy and activities described herein are adopted by the broader community of agencies and organizations working on the same goals and responsible for the additional $6.2 million of investments identified as necessary to conserve the cottontail. The New England cottontail is a rabbit that is unique to the Northeastern United States. It has dis- appeared from approximately 86% of its former range, and has been petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Monitoring for the species demonstrates that declines in the species distri- bution continue and approximately 2/3 of all known occupied patches for the species are classified as habitat “sinks” because average mortality exceeds emigration. The goal of this plan is to turn a 5% – 9% annual decline into an 11% – 21% annual rate of increase in 10 years. To accomplish this goal resources will be focused on the following strategies: a. Restoring and creating habitat. Cottontails have too little remaining habitat and that that remains is of low quality. Activity — Restore, create and maintain at least 2,000 acres of high quality habitat. b. Protecting key habitat. Development threatens many of the most important areas for the conservation of cottontails. Activity — Protect at least 500 acres of core habitat. c. Managing landowner concerns about regulation. State protection of the cottontail and possibly federal protection under the Endangered Species Act have made landowners con- cerned about voluntarily increasing cottontail populations on their land. Activity — Provide regulatory assurances that reduce or eliminate landowner concerns about their flexibility to use land. d. Changing forest management practices. Forestry practices once created extensive habi- tat for cottontails and other species to use. Activity — Encourage slightly larger harvests and changed harvest practices to increase habitat availability. e. Expand markets for biomass-to-energy. Long-term survival of the cottontail depends on habitat being continually maintained. The ability to sell cleared woody debris and biomass to energy companies provides the best market opportunity to sustain habitat. Activity — Develop contracts with already established energy producers. Draft | March 24, 2009 | iii iv | March 24, 2009 | Draft Contents What Is a Business Plan? . .i Summary. iii What Is ‘Early Successional Habitat’?. 1 Conservation Need. .2 Conservation Outcomes. 5 Implementation Plan. 6 Funding Needs. 14 Evaluating Success. 15 Long-Term Foundation Support . 16 Ancillary Benefits. 17 Range Map . 18 Acknowledgements. 19 Draft | March 24, 2009 | v What Is ‘Early Successional Habitat’? Succession is the gradual replacement of one community of plants and associated wildlife with anoth- er community. In the Northeastern U.S. and Canada, gaps in the forest canopy created by fire, pest outbreaks, logging, agriculture, or beaver activity create important wetland, grassland, shrub and young forest habitats which are collectively called ‘early successional habitats.’ These early succes- sional habitats are in decline throughout the region. Every state wildlife agency in the region has identified the conservation of early successional habitat as a top priority through their state wildlife action plans. It is a priority for the Ruffed Grouse Society, Wildlife Management Institute, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve [add others working on early successional habitat]. Restoring and protecting early successional habitat provides open space, buffers important drinking water supplies, and helps maintain high wildlife diversity close to some of the most densely populated parts of America. Figure 1. Succession is the gradual replacement of one community of plants and associated wildlife with another community. Draft | March 24, 2009 | 1 Conservation Need The New England cottontail is a rabbit species that is unique to the Northeastern United States. It has disappeared from approximately 86 percent of its former range, and has been petitioned for list- ing under the Endangered Species Act. The US Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a status assess- ment and found that listing of the cottontail was warranted, but precluded by other listing activities. Subsequently, the species was designated as an official candidate for listing. Due to the imminence and magnitude of the threats to the species, a listing priority number of 2 was assigned to the spe- cies, making it the highest priority listing action within Region 5 of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The States of New Hampshire and Maine have recently designated the species as “endangered” under their respective state endangered species laws. It is a priority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service in both Maine and New Hampshire have made the cottontail a priority for conservation program funding. Among the thousands of plants and ani- mals that are imperiled or at risk, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently designated this as one of 190 ‘spotlight species.’ Monitoring for the species demonstrates that declines in the species distribution continue. In New Hampshire in 2007, the species was recently found in only 14 of the 23 sites that it was known to occupy in 2004. Similarly, it was found in only 12 of the 53 Maine sites occupied in 2004. Approximately 2/3 of all known occupied patches for the species on a rangewide basis are classified as habitat “sinks” because mortality often exceeds emigration. The New England cottontail is (or was) a game species and many other species that depend upon this habitat are also prized by hunters. This includes the moose, white-tailed deer, ruffed grouse, and American woodcock. Expanding and restoring this habitat will help expand game resources for hunt- ers and will expand the economic benefits that states and communities receive from hunters. It is a model species for conservation because habitat for the species is easily managed for and because the rabbit is most associated with a vegetative state that is easily created
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