Quick Links:

• Overview of CAPS MassDEP Data
• Important Habitat Maps
• GIS Data

Overview of CAPS MassDEP Data:

The MassDEP issued it's "Massachusetts Wildlife Habitat Protection Guidance for Inland Wetlands" in March 2006. In this guidance, MassDEP adopted a new approach to wildlife habitat management via assessment and mapping of important wildlife habitat for use in wetland protection review. This approach utilizes the Conservation Prioritization and Assessment System (CAPS) developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create a statewide set of maps that depict Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance.

Completed maps depict polygons representing the 40% of the landscape with the highest potential wildlife habitat value as measured by CAPS. Areas within the polygons that are also within Wetland Protection Act jurisdiction represent "Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance" and may trigger detailed review (See Section III of the MassDEP guidance document).

Currently, Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance maps have been completed for 112 communities in western Massachusetts (see status map).

It is estimated that statewide mapping of Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance will be completed by the end of 2009. As new areas of Massachusetts are assessed additional town maps will be posted on this web site and updated maps will be created for those towns for which Important Habitat Maps previously existed. The maps now posted on this web site are the most current versions available and were last updated on June 1, 2008.

Habitat Maps: [back to top]

PDF maps depicting Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance are available for the following 112 communities in western Massachusetts, plus a single map encompassing the entire region. Each map depicts important habitat overlaid onto USGS topographic maps; this helps provide geographical references for important habitat polygons. File sizes are quite large (2-6 Mb) and download times will be long unless you have a high-speed internet connection.

The habitat maps provided here were specially created to meet MassDEP specifications to support regulatory review under the Wetlands Protection Act. Additional results of CAPS assessments suitable for a wide range of conservation planning activities in western Massachusetts are also available [click here for Mass IEI data].

GIS Data: [back to top]

GIS data (ArcGIS grid) corresponding to the DEP habitat maps for the combined region of western Massachusetts are available here. [click here for GIS data]. Note, the zip file contains a single Arc grid for the entire region with a single class value for Habitat of Potential Regional or Statewide Importance.

Acknowledgements: [back to top]

Funding support for CAPS was provided by UMass, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, The Trustees of Reservations, and MassDEP. Data sources include the Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS). UMass is partnering with MassDEP to provide the results of CAPS analysis as part of a new approach to wildlife habitat management via assessment and mapping of important wildlife habitat for use in wetland protection review.

Contact Information: [back to top]

For assistance with interpretation of CAPS results or to report technical difficulties regarding access to the information on this page, please contact either Scott Jackson (sjackson@umext.umass.edu) or Kasey Rolih (krolih@nrc.umass.edu).