Case Study: Ecological corridors in ecological networks
This case study is part of the IUCN Guidelines for conserving connectivity through ecological networks and corridors illustrating initiatives around the world that are working toward maintaining, enhancing, and restoring ecological connectivity. See all case studies here.
Sustaining forested landscape connections in the northern Appalachians: The Staying Connected Initiative
By Jessica Levine, The Nature Conservancy
Key lesson
In the United States, conservation easements are an important tool to permanently secure connectivity.
Context and challenge
The 32 million-ha Northern Appalachian–Acadian ecoregion – which includes parts of five US states and three Canadian provinces – contains the largest expanse of temperate broadleaf forest remaining in the world. Protected areas within the region include a national forest, state and provincial parks, national parks and conservation easements. Yet these tracts are nested within a matrix of rural development and human uses. The region is only a half-day’s drive from several major urban centres, including New York, Boston and Montreal, and is increasingly in danger of fragmentation from roads and other human development. In 2009, public agencies and private organisations from across the bi- national region formed the Staying Connected Initiative (SCI) to address this challenge.
Approach
The SCI is a partnership of over 55 organisations, including natural resource and transportation departments from the US states and Canadian provinces of the region, conservation organisations and universities. Partners actively collaborate to maintain, enhance and restore landscape connectivity across this large region. On-the-ground efforts are focused on ensuring landscape permeability, today and into the future as the climate changes, in nine highest-priority linkage areas (Figure 1). In these, partners apply a combination of strategies to conserve connectivity, recognising that no single strategy is sufficient and that partners have different areas of influence and expertise. Primary strategies include:
- Strategic land protection of priority parcels for connectivity such as forested pathways and riparian corridors;
- Land-use planning to steer development away from critical connectivity areas;
- Community outreach and engagement to build awareness and appreciation among private landowners and encourage private land management to maintain landscape permeability;
- Habitat restoration in key locations such as wetlands and roadside parcels; and
- Facilitation of the movement of wildlife under roads by means of improved bridges and culverts, signage and fencing.
At the regional scale, partners share best practices and lessons learnt through webinars, meetings and written communications.
Figure 1. Staying Connected Initiative region and linkage areas © The Nature Conservancy
Examples of ecological corridors
The Northern Green Mountain linkage area encompasses 2,923 km2 and is centred on the spine of the Green Mountains. The linkage area stretches from Mt. Mansfield State Forest, which contains Vermont’s highest peak, north to Mont Orford National Park in Quebec. Most of the area is forested, with agriculture and small towns and villages in the many valleys that bisect the mountain spine. Within this linkage area, Jackson Valley is an important ecological corridor along the US–Canada border (Figure 2). A 2010 study of the 379-ha parcel found that it served as a key trans-border ecological corridor for a range of animals. Jackson Valley links conserved Atlas Timberlands to the south, Jay State Forest to the east, and a 652-ha preserve in Quebec, protected by Nature Conservancy of Canada, to the north. In 2012, with funding from the US Forest Legacy Program, The Trust for Public Land completed years of work to conserve Jackson Valley. A conservation easement, held by the state of Vermont, prevents development and subdivision in the ecological corridor and requires sustainable management for wildlife, timber, public recreation and soil conservation. The corridor is open to hikers and skiers, and for other forms of non-motorised recreation.
Conservation of this parcel as an ecological corridor is leveraged by the work of many SCI partners on both sides of the border. This work includes land protection in other parts of the linkage (over 12,140 ha to date), technical assistance to municipalities on land-use planning to steer development away from critical ecological corridors, scientific studies along major roadways to identify potential sites for wildlife mitigation measures, and outreach to private landowners on sustainable forest management.
Figure 2. Jackson Valley Ecological Corridor in the Northern Green Mountains linkage area © The Trust for Public Land
Results
Since 2009, SCI government and land trust partners have secured permanent protection of over 222,500 ha in the nine linkage areas. At least 30 land-use plans in the linkage areas, and all five state Wildlife Action Plans in the region, explicitly incorporate wildlife connectivity. Partners from SCI helped to develop and advance the 2016 Resolution on Ecological Connectivity passed by the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, and SCI government agency partners are leading its implementation. The resolution acknowledges the importance of ecological connectivity from a climate adaptation perspective and calls on relevant agencies within the 11 jurisdictions to work together for improved connectivity through transportation improvements, land protection, forest management and other efforts.