In 2007, American Wildlands conducted a comprehensive assessment of the most important habitat connections, or “linkages,” in the U.S. Northern Rockies – our Priority Linkage Assessment. We interviewed more than sixty state, federal and independent biologists – those biologists with the most direct knowledge of how and where wildlife move across the landscape – to get their professional, expert opinion regarding wildlife movements and critical habitat connections. This assessment focused on the movement needs of four carnivore species (grizzly bear, wolf, wolverine and lynx) and four ungulate species (elk, moose, bighorn sheep and antelope).

Photo by Phil Knight

Through this assessment, we identified more than one hundred (100) critical habitat linkages – surpassing our 1990s corridors analysis as the most comprehensive assessment and identification of wildlife corridors to date in the U.S. Northern Rockies. We also identified the following list of threats to habitat connectivity and wildlife movement on public lands, private lands and across highways and railroads:

• Private land subdivision and lack of county planning
• Conversion of large-scale agricultural and forest lands to suburban development
• Private ranchland management to benefit wildlife (addressing fencing, sanitation issues, etc.)
• Predator-livestock conflicts and social intolerance, particularly of predators
• Forest management and energy development on public lands
• Road building and motorized access (summer and winter) on public lands
• Wildlife mortality on highway/railroad corridors

American Wildlands’ staff asked each expert we interviewed to rate each linkage based on its ecological quality, conservation threat, and conservation opportunity. Based on these ratings, we are prioritizing each linkage into one of five hierarchical groups of threat and opportunities (very high, high, intermediate, low, very low). Ecological quality considers the importance of the linkage to local or regional wildlife connectivity and the current condition of the linkage. The various conservation threats are listed above. Conservation opportunities include, for example, working with conservation-minded land owners and identifying potential conservation easements.

American Wildlands will complete these Priority Linkage Assessments in the first quarter of 2008, the results of which will serve as the foundation of American Wildlands’ work for years to come. More information about our regional and local landscape level project areas can be found at these links:

High Divide Regional Corridor
Crown of the Continent Regional Corridor
Cabinet-Purcells Regional Corridor