Targeting conservation lands for better connectivity

Protecting biodiversity often depends on maintaining and restoring habitat across landscapes. While conservation programs can provide important resources for doing so, deciding where those investments can provide the greatest benefits is often a challenge. Incorporating connectivity into these decisions can help ensure that individual conservation actions also contribute to larger and better connected networks of key habitat.

One opportunity is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a national program in the U.S. that supports conservation practices on private agricultural lands. CRP lands currently encompass over 25 million acres in the U.S. and provide a large network of wildlife habitat, along with supporting natural resources that improve overall ecosystem health.

Townsend, B.C., Nibbelink, N.P. and Dwivedi, P. 2026. A spatial prioritization approach for identifying future Conservation Reserve Program opportunities to enhance longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) ecosystem connectivity. Environmental Management, 76(9): 303. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-026-02593-z

New research provides a practical approach for incorporating connectivity into CRP planning. Researchers focused on agricultural fields in the Southeastern U.S. that could be eligible for CRP and suitable for restoration of longleaf pine, a key ecosystem that once covered a large portion of the Southeast but has been greatly reduced and fragmented.

They combined USDA field data with existing longleaf pine maps and other datasets to identify fields located near existing longleaf pine habitat. Fields were considered potential connectivity opportunities when at least 10% of the surrounding 3-km landscape was already occupied by longleaf pine.

The researchers then used connectivity modeling to compare each field under current conditions with a scenario in which the field was restored to longleaf pine. This allowed them to estimate the potential increase in connectivity, or “uplift,” associated with enrolling each field in CRP.

The analysis identified more than 3,100 potential CRP opportunities across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Areas with particularly high opportunities included the Sandhills of North and South Carolina, the Florida Panhandle, and central Florida.

The results also showed that restoration sites located near existing, clustered longleaf pine patches could provide greater connectivity benefits than more isolated sites. This provides a useful way for managers to think beyond individual fields and consider how multiple conservation investments could work together to create more connected habitat.

The approach could help conservation practitioners identify where CRP enrollment could provide additional connectivity benefits while also supporting longleaf pine restoration. While it isn’t intended to replace local knowledge or landowner considerations, it can provide another source of information for deciding where conservation investments could have the greatest landscape-level benefits.

Importantly, the framework is not limited to longleaf pine or the Southeastern U.S. Similar approaches could be adapted to other ecosystems, species, and land conservation programs by identifying potential restoration sites, considering the surrounding landscape, and estimating how new habitat could improve connectivity. As conservation programs increasingly seek to deliver multiple benefits across larger landscapes, tools that incorporate connectivity into existing programs can help turn conservation priorities into on-the-ground action.

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Hampshire	2026	SB592	Enables regional, conservation, and energy resource planning for habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors
New Hampshire	2019	SB200	Requires the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to consider fish and wildlife crossings and mitigation measures in all future road and culvert projects
New Hampshire	2016	SB376	Requires the fish and game department to identify existing and needed wildlife corridors connecting wildlife habitats in the state and to make recommendations for legislative changes

State	Year	Policy	Description
Maine	2023	LD258	Appropriates $7.5 million to Department of Transportation to improve roadways with potential adaptations for wildlife
Maine	2023	LD1881	Establishes compensation fee program relating to fish and wildlife habitats and associated corridors, including compensation paid by solar energy development
Maine	2023	LD508	Requires Department of Environmental Protection to review its permitting laws concerning climate change, habitat connectivity, ecological resilience, and coastal environments

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Jersey	2025	S3618	Directs state agencies to develop a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
New Jersey	2024	S3916/A5486	Expands eligibility for existing wildlife fencing programs by including farmers leasing farmland
New Jersey	2007	NJAC7:13	Requires the state to incorporate wildlife crossings or a natural bank for terrestrial threatened and endangered species and/or species of concern when a new bridge or culvert project would cause habitat fragmentation

State	Year	Policy	Description
New Mexico	2023	SB72	Appropriates money to new Wildlife Corridors Fund for implementation of wildlife crossing projects under New Mexico Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
New Mexico	2022	HB 2	Allocates funding for projects to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and allows the Department of Transportation and Department of Game to implement their Wildlife Corridors Action Plan
New Mexico	2019	SB 228	Requires the creation of a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that includes comprehensive guidance to agencies for identifying, prioritizing and maintaining important areas for wildlife movement

State	Year	Policy	Description
Washington	2023	HB1216/SB5196	Requires Department of Ecology to prepare environmental impact statements for clean energy projects that consider impacts to habitat connectivity and wildlife migration corridors
Washington	2022	SB5689	Provides funding for US 97 Wildlife Crossing Improvements project
Washington	2019	SEO 1031.02	Recognizes the effect of roadways in creating barriers to wildlife movement, breeding, and migrations; the Washington State Department of Transportation will promote and support Practical Solutions and Planning and Environmental Linkages to integrate habitat connectivity and biodiversity plans; will make use of the highway prioritization map known as Habitat Connectivity Investment Priorities; and will corporate and coordinate with other agencies involved in wildlife habitat protection, specifically along highways

Connecting Science to Conservation

Targeting conservation lands for better connectivity

Townsend, B.C., Nibbelink, N.P. and Dwivedi, P. 2026. A spatial prioritization approach for identifying future Conservation Reserve Program opportunities to enhance longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) ecosystem connectivity. Environmental Management, 76(9): 303. DOI: 10.1007/s00267-026-02593-z

Related Posts

Targeting conservation lands for better connectivity

Forest plantations as stepping stones for connectivity in agriculture

Connected, heterogeneous oil palm landscapes reduce pest abundance

About the Author: Heather Cayton

State	Year	Policy	Description
Vermont	2023	Act59	Vermont's 30x30 law that commits to conserving and maintaining an ecologically functional landscape that sustains biodiversity and maintains landscape connectivity
Vermont	2016	Act 171	Primarily focuses on timber harvesting regulations, but calls for a study of necessary revisions to planning statutes that protect contiguous areas of forestland from fragmentation and promote habitat connectivity between forestlands