What Is a Wildlife Corridor?

Wildlife Corridors

What is a Wildlife Corridor?

A wildlife corridor is a link of wildlife habitat, generally native vegetation, which joins two or more larger areas of similar wildlife habitat. Corridors are critical for the maintenance of ecological processes including allowing for the movement of animals and the continuation of viable populations.

Why are they needed?

Some species need to travel long distances to survive some species, such as wolves, grizzly bears, elks, cougars, lynx, etc., need to travel long distances to survive. Sometimes protected habitat areas are large enough to provide the needed space, but often they are too small, and without safe corridors to move around, the animals are exposed to all kinds of dangers. The corridors provide a kind of safety valve for protected habitats that are too small, allowing especially the large carnivores to find ways to roam to their heart's content between different 'islands' without being exposed to potentially fatal dangers.

They help protect genetic diversity one of the dangers of isolated habitats is that, over time, genetic diversity will be reduced and inbreeding will lead to vulnerability to various diseases and genetic defects. Just allowing some migration and exchange of precious genetic materials with other populations can reduce genetic risks and make species more robust in the face of all kinds of threats.

Some wildlife corridors are naturally occurring, some need to be created Sometimes, wildlife corridors were already present and all we need to do is protect them. For example, sometimes a narrow valley between mountains will act as a natural funnel and help bring species from one area to another. But sometimes, there are no natural corridors, and nature needs our help. That's where conservation NGOs like the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, and others, come into play.

Governments need to play a role Animals and plants don't care much about political borders. Many habitats overlap different countries, and many important wildlife corridors (natural or artificial) cross state lines. That's why cooperation from governments is crucial, and while it's probably too much to expect that legislators will be very knowledgeable in that area, we should at least make sure that they are disposed to listen to the experts and make forward-looking decisions to help protect many precious species and habitats.

2 Examples?

The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative is a landscape-scale conservation corridor that stretches along the eastern coast of Australia from Victoria to far north Queensland. The Initiative is a strategic response to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change, invasive species, land clearing and other environmental stresses on an area that contains high biodiversity. The Great Eastern Ranges corridor stretches over 3,600 kilometres and encompasses the longest adjoining mountain forests and woodland systems in Australia. Nearly two thirds of the threatened species and three quarters of the vegetation communities found in Australia are in the Great Eastern Ranges corridor.