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On Oct 5, 2001, Secretary of Environmental Affairs Robert Durand announced BioMap: Guiding Land Conservation for Biodiversity in Mass. He said, "This is a blueprint for protecting the state's biological biodiversity and is an exciting new planning tool to help focus our land conservation efforts." The BioMap identification process is based on extensive biological data and a "systematic evaluation of over 7000 site-specific records of rare plants, rare animals, and natural communities gathered over the past 22 years in the Natural Heritage database...The BioMap identifies those areas of Massachusetts most in need of protection to conserve biodiversity for generations to come."
These priority areas are called
CORE HABITATS. And one of these
core habitats is the entire Estabrook Woods,
including the entire proposed development area of the Middlesex School. At left
is a map from the state's BioMap report, with annotatations showing the
Middlesex School project area.
The BioMap program is managed by the state's
Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program in the Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife, Westboro Office. Information on the BioMap program and technical
reports is available at <www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/nhesp>.
MassGIS BioMap is posted at <http://www.state.ma.us/mgis/laylist.htm>
(under the Conservation/Recreation subhead). An interactive program to make more
detailed map information accessible will be available at the Natural Heritage
website in the spring of 2002.