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Commission advances $75,000 grant application to update Natural Areas Plan; members debate wildlife corridors and climate resiliency
Summary
The commission is finalizing a $75,000 Community Action Grant application to fund a Natural Areas Plan update, mapping and public engagement. Members reviewed seven plan goals, discussed definitions, debated whether to 'encourage' or 'provide' wildlife corridors, and proposed adding climate resiliency language.
The Topsham Conservation Commission is preparing a Community Action Grant application seeking $75,000 to update the town’s Natural Areas Plan, produce mapping deliverables and support public engagement and consultant work.
Staff said the application will be submitted in the first week of June with award notifications expected in early fall; if funded, the commission plans to finalize an RFP and hire a consultant in the fall to deliver mapping layers and public-engagement work that can be incorporated into the town’s GIS portal.
Commissioners reviewed the seven goals from the original Natural Areas Plan — retaining rural character and protecting key natural resources, encouraging working farms and forests, expanding public-access and trail connections, providing wildlife corridors, building trust and improving public information — and proposed modest wording changes (for example, changing 'preserve' to 'preserve and enhance' for recreation access).
Members debated how prescriptive the plan should be on wildlife corridors. One member urged caution about language that would imply regulatory requirements, saying it is more feasible for the plan to "encourage" maintenance and creation of wildlife corridors and to use mapping to inform future code updates rather than to mandate corridor requirements now. Commissioners agreed the plan could be used to inform future subdivision or site-plan code revisions that might reward corridor creation as part of open-space provisions.
On definitions, members recommended cross-referencing the comprehensive plan to clarify terms like 'natural areas' and 'rural character' so the Natural Areas Plan and comp plan use consistent language. Several commissioners proposed explicitly adding climate-resiliency or related language to the goals and noted the town’s recently adopted climate action plan could be referenced for consistency.
The commission asked staff to circulate the draft grant materials on Submittable and to bring a final application to the June 1 meeting for review prior to the submission date. Commissioners also discussed outreach ideas, including public tables at voting and QR flyers to raise awareness of the Natural Areas Plan update.
Next steps: finalize grant application for early-June submission, present the application to the commission on June 1 for final review, and proceed with RFP drafting and public engagement planning if funding is awarded.
