With an emphasis on connection across partner organizations and challenges facing the environment, the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game on Friday released a five-year strategic plan to guide the agency’s work through 2030.

Entitled “Connections: Working Together for Nature,” the plan lays out numerous wide-ranging goals and strategies in a “roadmap” designed to guide the department, as well as its four divisions, to conserve biodiversity, build climate resilience and promote environmental justice, according to Commissioner Thomas O’Shea.

“This is an urgent time for all of us,” O’Shea said in an interview. “In order to meet that urgency, we need to be really clear about what our priorities are.”

The four divisions of the DFG are the Office of Fishing and Boating Access, the Division of Ecological Restoration, the Division of Marine Fisheries and the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Within its plan, the DFG has laid out five main priorities, each with individual goals: restore and conserve habitats to encourage biodiversity; protect floodplains and complete culvert projects; encourage further carbon sequestration; ensure equitable access to natural resources, which promotes conservation; and increase food security.

Highlights include protecting up to 6,000 acres of land per year, up from an average of 3,000; designating 10% to 15% of upland forests as forest reserves; decarbonizing all department facilities; and development of a pilot program to increase accessibility to the department’s public resources, particularly near environmental justice communities, such as Charlemont and Hawley. 

In line with the theme of connection, O’Shea said all of these priorities and their associated challenges tie into one another, along with “relevance,” which ensures the work they are doing is “relevant and important to all Massachusetts residents.”

“Things like extreme weather, heat and climate change, are impacting our natural resources … We know there’s a real connection between the mission of our work and climate, that places that are more biodiverse also tend to be more resilient,” O’Shea said. “That’s why we talk about focusing solutions on the intersection of biodiversity, climate and environmental justice.”

Here in the Valley, O’Shea said the Connecticut River embodies the theme of connections with fish and humans alike relying on it, which makes it a key target for flood-resiliency measures. Other work in the region includes continuing partnerships with organizations like the Kestrel Land Trust, which has worked to conserve forests and riverways in the Connecticut River Valley for 50 years.

“Think about the connections throughout the whole Connecticut River itself, with fish passage, think about our floodplain forest for restoration … It’s a very important ecological landscape and we already have a lot of focused projects in that landscape already,” O’Shea said. “The Connecticut River Valley is a very, very important part of the biodiversity in Massachusetts.”

These priorities, O’Shea said, also tie into goals laid out by the Healey-Driscoll Administration, including Gov. Maura Healey’s Executive Order 618, which ordered the DFG to review all executive departments’ biodiversity efforts and lay out biodiversity goals for 2030, 2040 and 2050, as well as strategies to reach them.

“I commend the team at the Department of Fish and Game for bringing the full force of the agency to combating climate change and protecting our most precious natural resources,” Healey said in a statement. “Under the new strategic vision led by Commissioner Tom O’Shea, the department is taking action to ensure Massachusetts’ rich ecosystems and diverse wildlife thrive and are accessible to all.”

The Department of Fish and Game’s comprehensive strategic plan can be read at bit.ly/46OIrde.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.