Reestablishing a Healthy and Resilient North America—: Linking Ecological Restoration with Continental Habitat Connectivity

The Northern Appalachians are one of the most intact temperate broadleaf forests in the world. However, this extraordinary region is increasingly at risk of being fragmented into a series of disconnected ecological islands by second-home development and roads. A 2011 study by The Nature Conservancy concluded that forests in this region are highly fragmented by 1.2 million km of permanent roads, enough to loop the equator 29 times (Trombulak et al. 2008). Nearly half the forest occurs in blocks <2,000 ha (about 5000 acres) in size that are encircled by major roads, resulting in an almost 60% loss of local connectivity.

This loss of local connectivity presents significant challenges to animal populations in their efforts to simply meet their basic life needs. Many species of wildlife need to move great distances, find food and breeding areas, migrate between winter and summer habitats, or disperse from an overcrowded natal territory. Large carnivores, such as American black bears (Ursus americanus), can range up to 16 km in a single day and up to 155 km over the course of a season, while occasional long-distance movements of dispersing or relocated animals can exceed 500 km (Powell 1997).

Unfortunately, the Northern Appalachians are not alone when it comes to fragmentation of wildlife habitat and corridors. Across North America and the world, habitat for keystone species, which require large ranges to forage, find mates, and thrive, and which occur in relatively lower numbers but have a disproportionate effect on the health and resiliency of their ecosystem, is disappearing at unprecedented rates. Many scientists cite loss of habitat as the biggest contributor to our current extinction crises.

As species extinctions and extirpations increase due to this lack of wildlife habitat connectivity, the effort to create networks of core protected areas connected by protected wildlife linkages has become an essential conservation priority to ensure the long-term survival of wide-ranging wildlife. This loss of local connectivity compromises the gene pools of isolated populations, which in turn accelerates long-term regional loss of overall wildlife diversity, especially for small, shrinking, or threatened populations of species like Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) and black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes).

Finally, conservationists around the world are increasingly united by concern over the threats posed to the Earth's biological diversity by rapid human-induced climate change. Conservation biologists now agree that the best way to promote the survival of climate-threatened species is to establish resilient networks of connected and suitable habitats so that plants and animals can migrate to keep pace with changing environmental requirements.

Wildlands Network was created in 1991 when scientists, led by founder and father of conservation biology, Michael Soulé, began to realize none of North America's protected areas are large enough to sustain wildlife and nature for the long term. Animals, especially wide-ranging species, need large connected habitat to locate food and find mates. According to Soulé, "Our principal ambition is to create real, functional habitat connections on an unprecedented (continental) scale." It also has become very clear that large, connected habitat has significant benefits beyond these keystone species. Large carnivores, wide-ranging animals, and natural disturbance regimes are fundamental to the health of ecosystems because they perform essential regulatory functions, protect a large array of species, conserve life-supporting ecological processes, and provide resiliency in the face of climate change.

Wildlands Network envisions an intricate web of wildways interlinked throughout North America. The main strands of this web are 4 Continental Wildways (large corridors for wildlife) spanning North America's major mountain ranges and coasts: the Eastern, Western, Pacific, and Boreal Wildways. While public lands are certainly key to jump-starting these Wildways, even in western North America existing protected areas and public lands are inadequate to meet conservation connectivity goals. Major restoration efforts are needed on a scale not heretofore attempted.

In November 2010, Wildlands Network co-hosted the first "Ecological Restoration for Continental Conservation" workshop with the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) at the High Lonesome Ranch in DeBeque, Colorado. The workshop...