Climate Resilience

Nature-based Solutions for Loss of Biodiversity

Municipal Officials & Professionals

Backyard & Neighborhoods

Land Managers or Stewards

Youth, Parents & Teachers

Effective plans to address loss of biodiversity (both plants and animals) benefit from landscape-scale projects that cross community boundaries, as well as active protection of existing priority landscapes to prevent loss before it happens. However, there are shovel-in-the-ground projects that can be implemented within your own town/city. Community education and opportunities to participate in scalable habitat creation tend to be successful because of people’s love for nature and wildlife. There are two main strategies that will help reduce biodiversity loss, and each has associated Nature-based Solutions.

Nature-Based Strategy 1:

Protect Existing Priority Landscapes

Permanently protect through conservation restrictions, forest and farm restrictions.

Nature-based Solutions

Protect priority forestlands and fields
Protect wetlands
Protect riparian buffers (streambanks)
Protect coldwater fisheries
Protect priority wildlife habitat
Protect wildlife corridors

Nature-Based Strategy 2:

Restore/Create Natural Landscapes

Nature-based Solutions

Remove invasive species
Restore/create wetlands
Restore riparian buffers (streambanks)
Convert lawns/turf to meadows
Dam removal
Culvert replacement
Create pollinator and wildlife habitat

Site Studies: Loss of Biodiversity

The pace of development in our communities, the fracturing of connected wildlife habitat, and our changing climate are combining to take a significant toll on the diversity of plants and animals for which our region is renowned. This includes forest, fields, and wetland, as well as micro habitats that are rare and unique. Loss of habitat threatens plant life as well as the birds, fish, pollinators, and other wildlife that depend on them. This collection of case studies identifies specific sites in each focus community that are at risk for loss of habitat and the natural plant and animal communities that depend on that habitat. Each Site Study includes a map with site-specific NbS recommendations, a link to the site on an interactive DataViewer, and Nature-based Solutions Project Templates for the recommended NbS. Maps in our Nashua River Watershed-wide Map Atlas can also aid in identifying existing land cover types such as priority forest and farm lands, areas most likely to be developed, landscapes that are a priority for ecological planning. We encourage you to further explore additional sites and solutions through each town-specific NbS Recommendations Report (links below).