Wildlife Corridor
Table of Contents
Introduction
Wildlife corridors are spaces that have been left wild or rewilded to provide safe spaces for wildlife. They can consist of wide open spaces, and specialized areas built to facilitate safe crossing past dangerous roads, or rail lines.
Threats to Wildlife
Habitat fragmentation is a major threat to wildlife as it can lead to starvation, thirst, inability to find mates, or deadly consequences during seasonal migration. When animals are forced into smaller and smaller areas, their gene pools suffer, causing inbreeding, disease, and deformities.
Effectiveness
Simple acts from humans to help reconnect spaces has proven to help wildlife flourish, as well as reduce human and animal fatalities associated with road collisions. Under and overpasses, or biopasses can reduce road fatalities by 85% to 99% in some places. Dam removals have allowed species like salmon to renew their annual breading journey where it was once impossible. Reducing boat speed and using marine spatial planning has been shown to reduce whale crash fatalities.
What to Expect on This Page
This page includes information about spaces ranging from national parks and roadway bridges or underpasses, to aquatic eco-systems. In the aquatic sections we discuss dam removal and bypass options, marine spatial planning, and more.
A Note to Planners
Many of the resources and guides listed here are for specific regions. Bare in mind that they are offered as examples of known designs suited to those regions and their specific wildlife species. You may need the advice of local conservationists, geologists, and construction specialists to determine which are most suited to your ecosystem, local laws, geology, and weather patterns before investing in new or refurbished infrastructure.
Biopasses
Design Considerations for Wildlife Crossings talks about building a biopass from an engineering perspective. It offers a graph showing the percentage of benefits from different types of intervention to help indicate which are the most or least cost effective, as well as helping to prepare for the legally required steps and costs of implementation before beginning a project.
Conserving Wildlife On and Around Maine’s Roads "This brochure outlines how Maine’s local planning boards, comprehensive planning committees, local public works departments, regional transportation planning groups, and state transportation agencies can use these strategies to improve and maintain Maine’s wildlife habitats."
Practical Guidelines Ecology in Practice: Improving Infrastructure Habitats Along Roads (PDF) "This document contains guidelines on how ecological principles can be fully incorporated in the different phases from planning, to preparation and decision to implementation. These aspects are addressed with a landscape, ecotone, and habitat perspective. The document contains a general introduction on roadside challenges and concepts, the ecological principles underpinning the approach, and guidelines from a landscape perspective, to edge and ecotone effects, to roadside habitat quality. The specific guidelines are based on comprehensive reviews of the scientific and grey literature in the project Ecology in practice: Improving infrastructure habitats along roads (EPICroads). With a European perspective, the guidelines target an audience of strategic and operational planners at road authorities."
Wildlife Crossing Structure Handbook Design & Evaluation in North America
Canopy Crossings & Canopy Rope Bridges
These structures can help primates, sloths, and other species safely avoid human contact or deadly vehicle accidents when roadways bisect their habitats. Some tree-dwelling species such as koalas were not found to actually use the bridges, so it is important to ensure the design will be used by the target species, appealing to the target species, and if so also safe for frequent use by that species as well as others.
Targeted Field Testing of Wildlife Road-Crossing Structures: Koalas and Canopy Rope-Bridges (PDF) "The suitability of structures installed to enable safe passage of wildlife across a road is most frequently determined by monitoring of structures after new roads are built. Rarely are new structures field tested before installation. We installed canopy rope-bridges in an area frequented by koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) with the explicit aim of determining whether koalas might use such structures. Rope-bridges were of four different designs to maximise the likelihood that one might be used, as a precursor to further replication. Infrared cameras were installed on the rope-bridges as well as on two nearby reference trees to compare frequency of use. Over a monitoring period of 2.9 years no koalas were detected on the rope-bridges whereas koalas were recorded on the reference trees on 34 and 41 different 24-h periods. Rope-bridges may not be suited to an arboreal mammal that is inclined to travel along the ground to move between trees."
Habitat Corridors
"Habitat corridors reconnect fragmented habitat. This boosts species long-term survival prospects by providing access to more resources and potential mates. Corridors are particularly important for migratory pollinators such as monarchs and hummingbirds as they require suitable habitat throughout their entire migratory range. While it is ideal for habitat corridors to be continuous (structural connectivity), patches of disconnected habitat in close proximity to one another are effective as well (functional connectivity)." - Journey North: Habitat Corridors
Dams
Dams, weirs, and other obstructions have made some migration routes totally impassable to keystone species such as salmon and eels.
Bypass
Removal
Dams often have other negative impacts on humans, wildlife, and ecosystems, including water security issues and power shortages with the increased weather fluctuations caused by climate change. By removing man-mad obstructions, we can help repair ecosystems, and allow ancient migration patterns resume, boosting ocean life and inland ecosystems alike!
How-To Guides
Stream Barrier Removal Monitoring Guide (PDF) "presents detailed methods for each of the critical monitoring parameters except for macroinvertebrate and fish passage assessment. Because of the considerable variability associated with assessing these biological parameters, only general guidance is given here. The Monitoring Guide also presents important additional monitoring parameters that practitioners may choose to use on a case-by-case basis."
Call for Broad Level Classification for Dam Removals
Session C3- A Broad Level Classification System for Dam Removals "Conceptual models of dam removal processes, backed by extensive expertise, provide a solid foundation for the deconstruction of dams. In this paper we propose a broad level classification system for dam removal projects to initiate the creation of better conceptual models for future dam removal projects. Although removing dams is not a new endeavor - people have been removing dams for almost as long as they have been building them - there is little literature on the responses of different riverine systems to dam removal. The authors of this paper have been involved in over 100 dam removal projects and have found some obvious patterns and similarities in responses between specific "categories" of dam removals. Owners, practitioners and regulators need an accurate conceptual model to help predict project outcomes at the initial stages of a project. Several current papers point to the fact that a solid conceptual model is a critical element to a successful advanced numerical model. Academics and researchers need a compiled experience base such that their research results can be more appropriately applied to a variety of projects and regions. This paper focuses on our initial endeavor to categorize dam removal efforts based on past experience in order to better predict the outcomes and potential impacts of dam removal projects, as well as start to develop conceptual models for dam removal. Key issues include, when is the removal of a dam a simple effort that could be completed quickly at minimum cost, and with little to no potential for long term impact on the river system? Which projects should include more detailed analysis and take more precautions before the dam is removed? The hundreds of dams already removed have started to unveil the answers for us. Wide impoundments with fine grained sediments respond very different than steep narrow impoundments with coarse grained sediments. Some dams have no impounded sediment stored behind them at all, while others have a century or more of accumulated sediment within the impoundment. The system response to a removal can vary greatly if the downstream channel is significantly degraded or if the sill of a dam is left in place during the removal. The results and complexity of a dam removal project can vary widely depending on these factors and others. Our classification system will help expand the discussion of whether dam removal projects fall into predictable categories, that once sorted, may help to answer many of these questions up front."
Hedgerows
Not only can hedgerows act as wildlife corridors, but they can also provide vital food sources, shelter from extreme weather and nesting, plus they help absorb pollutants including air, soil, and water pollution.
7:02 minute video explains how reviving our iconic hedgerows can fight climate change while combating habitat fragmentation.
Overpass
Approach Ramps
These can help small and short-legged species access ledges and stepping stone ponds.
Ledges
These can be as simple a a piece of wood board fixed to the side of a tunnel or culvert for small species to use. Generally mice, rats, snakes, and amphibians such as toads use these.
Stepping Stone Ponds
"Not likely to use structure unless located within or adjacent to their preferred habitats, in a migratory route, or during dispersal. Amphibian habitat can be created with series of ponds in a stepping-stone pattern connecting wetland habitats separated by highway Figure 42 provides an example of this pattern on a wildlife overpass."
Human Paths + Vegetation Strips
Paths for humans can also be included along side a vegetation strip for wildlife. This may make the most sense for projects within greenways, but human presence often deters species who generally avoid humans.
Vegetation
Depending on the species, vegetation can disuade some species from using a biopass, while others will not use a biopass without vegetative cover. Vegetation can offer food to hungry travelers from herbivores to pollinators.
Depending on the target species, local environment, and the stability of the overpass, plantings can include anything from native grasses and wildflowers to shrubs and trees.
Greenways & Greenbelts
Greenways are interconnected strips of vegetative spaces that wildlife and humans can use. They are generally along water ways, making use of flood-prone areas for the use of recreation or safer bike and hike areas compared to local roadways. Some communities have built their greenways via prohibitions on building in known flood areas, or specifically to prevent urban areas from expanding into farmland.
In an attempt to build social justice, some communities have created funds to buy frequently flooded homes, so that residents facing poverty have a meaningful opportunity to buy a home in a safer location, without worrying about the new owners being stuck in a flood-prone building. Since rescuing, evacuating, and rebuilding in flood-prone areas is so costly to communities, these home-buying programs are a particularly cost effective method for keeping residents safe, and reducing climate disaster costs in the future.
Click the Greenbelts button to learn more about different types of greenways, their benefits, and locations of existing greenways around the world.
Underpasses
Culverts
"Man-made in-stream structures (e.g., culverts, dams, levees, or tide gates) can become physical barriers that impede fish passage and reduce connectivity through habitat fragmentation. Passage may also be impeded by stream diversions, water intakes, or other structures that injure fish or cause stranding. Even un-maintained fishways can impede or prevent fish access to critical habitat. Where fish passage is obstructed longitudinally within the stream, the downstream transport of habitat elements (sediment, water, wood and other material) is often obstructed as well, along with the upstream and downstream passage of many species of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals that use stream corridors for migration and as daily movement corridors." - https://people.wou.edu/~taylors/g407/restoration/WA_Dept_Forestory_2004_Fish_Passage_Techniques.pdf
Culverts and other biopass constructions can help fish migrate, breed, and flourish. Other species including newts, frogs, and many more can also benefit from properly built, or retrofitted culverts.
Effectiveness of Ledges In Culverts For Small Mammal Passage (PDF) "This two-year study is the first study to our knowledge that applies an experimental procedure to evaluate the utility to small mammals of ledges installed in culverts. This appears to offer a significant and inexpensive means for increasing the permeability of roadways to small mammals. This research project demonstrates that small mammals readily make use of ledges in water-filled culverts to pass under roadways."
How to Make Wildlife-Friendly Culvers
Culverts on their own, poorly places, or made of inappropriate materials may prevent use by wildlife, harm, or even kill wildlife. That is why we have gathered resources focused on building appropriate designs, or retrofitting badly built culverts.
Fish Friendly Culverts (PDF) Proper design, installation, and maintenance can protect both roadways and fish" Includes graphs, maps, and suggestions for sources of assistance.
Guidelines for Culvert Construction to Accommodate Fish & Wildlife Movement and Passage (PDF) "This document is intended as a general guideline to assist in the design, planning, and placement of culverts to minimize impacts to and ensure fish and wildlife passage and movement."
Guidelines for the Design of Fish Passage for Culverts in Nova Scotia (PDF) "The planning, design and installation of new culverts and the maintenance of existing culverts must meet requirements for fish passage under the Canadian Fisheries Act (1985). The purpose of this document is to provide procedural and technical information to ensure that engineers and other design professionals properly incorporate fish passage into watercourse crossings."
Guidelines for the Design of Stream/Road Crossings for Passage of Aquatic Organisms in Vermont (PDF)
Retrofitting Existing Structures for Wildlife Passage: Assessment Tools Forest Service US offers tools to help assess if retrofitting is appropriate, a process outline, photos or existing designs.
Waterway and Wildlife Crossing Policy and Design Guide (PDF) by MaineDOT "For Aquatics Organism, Wildlife Habitat, and Hydrologic Connectivity"
Marine Spatial Planning
Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) "is becoming a key management approach throughout the world. The process includes the mapping of how humans and wildlife use the marine environment to inform the development of management measures. An integrated multi-species approach to identifying key areas is important for MSP because it allows managers a global representation of an area, enabling them to see where management can have the most impact for biodiversity protection. However, multi-species analysis remains challenging. This paper presents a methodological framework for mapping key areas for marine megafauna (seabirds, pinnipeds, cetaceans) by incorporating different data types across multiple species. The framework includes analyses of tracking data and observation survey data, applying analytical steps according to the type of data available during each year quarter for each species. It produces core-use area layers at the species level, then combines these layers to create megafauna core-use area layers. The framework was applied in the Falkland Islands. The study gathered over 750,000 tracking and at-sea observation locations covering an equivalent of 5495 data days between 1998 and 2015 for 36 species. The framework provides a step-by-step implementation protocol, replicable across geographic scales and transferable to multiple taxa. R scripts are provided. Common repositories, such as the Birdlife International Tracking Database, are invaluable tools, providing a secure platform for storing and accessing spatial data to apply the methodological framework. This provides managers with data necessary to enhance MSP efforts and marine conservation worldwide." - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X17307790?via%3Dihub
How To Improve Marine Spatial Planning
Overhauling Ocean Spatial Planning to Improve Marine Megafauna Conservation
Risk to Animals from Electromagnetic Fields Emitted by Electric Cables and Marine Renewable Energy Devices Understanding the risks these pose to various species and using that information in conjunction with marine spatial planning may be critical for preserving migration routes and healthy wildlife populations.
Examples
North America
Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) Marine Protected Area is the first indigenous planned and lead example of marine spatial planning, as the Canadian government continued to pull out of plans, leaving the community frustrated after 20 years of unproductive talks. The area is protected by the Coastal Guardian Watchmen.
Organizations
North America
Coastal Guardian Watchmen "provide a regional stewardship focus, each Nation monitors and stewards its own territory, carrying on its unique stewardship traditions."
Tools
Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Toolkit "The MSP toolkit provides practitioners with practical guidance, examples of tools and methods that are necessary for designing and carrying out the MSP process in an LME context."
Existing Wildways
or
Wildlife Corridors
Africa
Cameroon
"The year 2022 marked a watershed for the Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS). As world leaders, stakeholders and activists for the protection of nature concerted and raised their voices to find sustainable solutions to climate change and a deal to reverse global biodiversity loss, CWCS made vital contributions in the crusade to keep the planet safe. Imbued with invaluable field experience, we stepped into the sea through the launch of the first Marine Protected Area (MPA) and Industrial Fishing Project in Cameroon.
This is a flagship participatory project that will support sustainable exploitation of marine coastal resources through advocacy against unsustainable industrial fishing practices and develop guidelines for management of marine section of Douala-Edéa National Park."
Kitenden Corridor
"Nestled between the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Park lays the Kitenden Corridor. IFAW, working with the local Maasai community, secures 26,000 acres, part of which makes up the migratory route that allows wildlife to freely and safely move between Kenya and Tanzania. Daily reports provided by IFAW-funded community rangers reveal large numbers of healthy wildlife populations traversing from Tanzania to Kitenden Conservancy and the Amboseli National Park. From April and May 2021, there was an average of 5,524 wildlife sightings in the Kitenden conservancy alone.
How did the Kitenden Corridor become a safe haven for wildlife? The answer lays in the unique partnership between community rangers, IFAW, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and Tanzania National Park Law enforcement officials. Working alongside the local Maasai community, we have developed a specialized system of community rangers who monitor and protect this transboundary landscape. These IFAW funded community rangers, who include IFAW’s Team Lioness, one of the first all-women ranger groups in Kenya, act as the first line of defense against poachers in Amboseli National Park. Through close relationships with the OOGR community, our officers are able to gain insider knowledge and prevent wildlife crime before it happens." - https://www.ifaw.org/news/coordinated-efforts-kenya-tanzania
Europe
UK
Existing Marine Conservation Zones (interactive map) "There have been 31 Marine Conservation Zones designated in the Eastern Channel so far, from the chalk reefs of Dover to Deal, to the seagrass beds of Torbay, Devon."
North America
Western Wildway
"In western North America, Wildlands Network envisions the world’s most extensive network of protected, connected lands: the 6,000-mile Western Wildway, also known as the Spine of the Continent. Achieving this grand vision will require coordinated conservation across international borders.
For more than 2 decades, we have been working with partner groups from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to establish a contiguous network of private and public conservation lands along the spine of the Rocky Mountains and associated ranges, basins, plateaus, and deserts—from Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental to Alaska’s Brooks Range.
Protecting and connecting key core areas is crucial to rewilding the Western Wildway, where wildlife habitats have been destroyed and fragmented by centuries of human development and resource exploitation. As in the Eastern and Pacific Wildways, we’re reconnecting the Western Wildway by promoting the restoration and protection of pivotal wildlife corridors in the region.
The Western Wildway will ultimately provide wide-ranging wildlife like wolves, cougars, and other animals with room to roam, while also sustaining important ecological processes like pollination and carbon storage, and safeguarding our natural heritage for future generations.
We have worked with our partner organizations to identify the most ecologically important and vulnerable landscapes in the Western Wildway. The resulting Wildlands Network Designs (WNDs) serve as blueprints for conservation action."
"Migration is a huge feat of endurance requiring great strength and stamina. However, today birds face additional threats caused by human activity. Hungry, exhausted birds may arrive at a stopover site, only to find that it has been destroyed by farming or urbanisation. Every year, millions of birds are illegally killed by hunters, or collide with man-made structures such as powerlines. And climate change is causing habitats to shift or disappear." - https://wildlandsnetwork.org/wildways/western/
Oceana
Australia
Cassowary Conservation is investing in land buy backs to help create a corridor for the endangered cassowary birds
Maps
Maps are critical for this type of project. Migration maps can help conservationists work out which places need to be protected and which can be made safer during seasonal journeys. Maps that track where injuries and fatalities are most common are also of great value. Each species movements are unique, but this section is intended aid in the planning process.
International
Protected Areas (WDPA) (Interactive) "The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas."
Aquatic Ecosystems
Living Oceans Collection of maps
Marine Traffic (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.
Marine Vessel Traffic Tracker (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.
River Status "Map of the world’s free-flowing rivers. The intensity of blue indicates the length of free-flowing rivers, red the length of impacted rivers." Impact in this case refers to dams weirs, and other physical barriers to aquatic species or even the entire flow of water bodies.
Seminal Study Maps Impacts of Wastewater on Coastal Ecosystems Most of the maps in this link focus only on ocean impacts. One map shows humanity's impacts on both ocean and on-land water bodies.
Oceans
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) "This map is based on electronic tagging of Atlantic bluefin tuna from 1996 to 2007"
Living Oceans Collection of maps
Mapping Global Inputs and Impacts from of Human Sewage in Coastal Ecosystems
Marine Traffic (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.
Marine Vessel Traffic Tracker (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.
Ocean Sewage Alliance: Overview global map shows locations of coral as well as sewage impact locations.
Pacific Bluefin "Young Pacific Bluefin Tuna migrate from the spawning grounds off the coast of Japan to the shores of California. The fish make the 5,000 miles (8,000 km) journey at around the age of one and after a few years of feeding and growing they make the exact same trek but in reverse." Map shows spawning area, juvenile routes, maturing fish routes, and post spawner routes.
Protected Areas (WDPA) (Interactive) "The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas."
Asia
Mapping Seasonal European Bison Habitat in the Caucasus Mountains to Identify Potential Reintroduction Sites "...identified 69 potential reintroduction sites (10 230 km2, 1.8% of the ecoregion) that have suitable summer and winter habitat with relatively low risk of human–wildlife conflict."
Europe
Dam Removal Map Europe (interactive)
Mapping Seasonal European Bison Habitat in the Caucasus Mountains to Identify Potential Reintroduction Sites "...identified 69 potential reintroduction sites (10 230 km2, 1.8% of the ecoregion) that have suitable summer and winter habitat with relatively low risk of human–wildlife conflict."
Denmark
Analysis of marine protected areas – in the Danish part of the North Sea and the Central Baltic around Bornholm (PDF) contains many maps
UK
Existing Marine Conservation Zones (interactive map) "There have been 31 Marine Conservation Zones designated in the Eastern Channel so far, from the chalk reefs of Dover to Deal, to the seagrass beds of Torbay, Devon."
Go north, and swim fast - New evidence of migration of young salmon leaving Ireland "Until now, it was unknown if juvenile salmon leaving Ireland’s east coast rivers headed around the North or South coasts to get to their oceanic feeding grounds. These first three tracked fish took a northward route from rivers on the east coast to exit the Irish Sea. These salmon also moved offshore quickly, behaving very differently from sea trout, which remained closer to their spawning rivers and swam closer to the coast and river mouths."
Spring Migration Routes of Long-tailed Skuas Stercorarius longicaudus Across and Around the UK "Solid red line shows potential track of an adult male Long-tailed Skua between a point west of Ireland on 27th May 2011 and a location in the North Sea on 28th May 2011"
North America
National Marine Sanctuary System "The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington state to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. The network includes a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments."
United States
Critical Habitat for Threatened & Endangered Species [USFWS] - Interactive map. Click on the marked areas to learn which species needs each location for survival.
Eastern North America Migration Highways and Natural Metropolis Map "Here, plant and animal species thrive due to their ability to move and adapt. As the planet warms, these places will be even more important."
Montana
American Prairie: Map & Guide PDF shows existing park sections, the local national park, and reservation
Wyoming
Red Desert To Hoback Migration Assessment: Project Overview "Western Wyoming supports some of the largest and most diverse ungulate populations in North America. The performance of these herds is largely dependent on their ability to seasonally migrate from low-elevation winter ranges to high-elevation summer ranges, where they gain fat needed to survive the long Wyoming winters. Recently, the longest mule deer migration ever recorded (and 2nd longest land migration in North America) was discovered where deer travel a one-way distance of 150 miles from the low-elevation winter ranges in the Red Desert to the high mountain slopes surrounding the Hoback Basin. The deer that complete this journey spend 4 months of each year migrating and encounter a variety of natural and anthropogenic obstacles, including sand dunes, lake and river crossings, multiple highways, and more than 100 fences."
Tools
Seabird Tracking Database "is the largest collection of seabird tracking data in existence. It serves as a central store for seabird tracking data from around the world and aims to help further seabird conservation work and support the tracking community. The data are used for seabird research and conservation, by BirdLife scientists and our collaborators around the world."
Free Software for Stream Simulation
FishXing allows users to evaluate multiple culvert designs and effects on fish passage. fs.fed.us/biology/nsaec/fishxing
HY-8, V-7.0, produced by the Federal Highway Administration, is intended for hydraulic capacity design. fhwa.dot.gov/ engineering/hydraulics/software/hy8
HEC-RAS is a river modeling program produced by the Army Corps of Engineers. It facilitates hydraulic calculations across a network of natural and constructed channels. These simulations may be conducted in either a 1-dimensional or 2-dimensional model setup. The use of a 2D model in HEC-RAS allows for increased visualization of stream velocities and flows based on various design scenarios. These models will require data gathered during the site assessment stage and the analysis of baseflow and stormflow discharges. hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras
River2D is a two-dimensional river modeling program created by Dr. Peter Steffler at the University of Alberta. The program lets users evaluate natural channel flow. Though the program does not directly allow for placing culverts within the model, the bed may be manipulated at the intended culvert location to allow for modeling of anticipated velocities. Most importantly, River2D uses Physical Habitat Simulation (PHABSIM) to determine usable habitat areas for specified fish species. The program contains many species habitat files; however, most are endemic to northern areas. The user may create their own species habitat files using the templates provided within the program.
Organizations
International
The Long Run "is a membership community of nature-based tourism businesses committed to driving holistic sustainability. Our community is global and growing. Each member aspires to maintain a healthy and productive planet for posterity. Collectively, we conserve over 23 million acres of biodiversity and improve the lives of 750,000 people. We support, connect, and inspire nature-based businesses to excel in the highest sustainable standards via the tried and tested 4C framework: Conservation, Community, Culture, and Commerce (4Cs). The Long Run is a programme of Preferred by Nature."
Africa
African Community & Conservation Foundation works to empower communities while protecting wildlife and educating the public about the value of wildlife. Projects include conservation areas, studying wildlife and migration data, reducing wildlife conflicts, etc.
African Wildlife Foundation: Wildlife Corridors "AWF identifies key wildlife corridors and works with communities, governments, and individual landowners to keep them pristine by creating protected areas, which are also called conservancies or wildlife management areas (WMAs).
In Tanzania, wildlife was traveling 40 km between Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park; however, migration routes began to disappear as agriculture and settlements cropped up. AWF helped establish Manyara Ranch Conservancy, a government-owned ranch that is now a mixed-use conservation area where wildlife can roam between the two parks.
In other cases, AWF pays landowners to set aside their land for wildlife. This type of arrangement allows people to benefit from leaving their land open while also conserving key wildlife spaces. "
Botswana
Ecoexist Project "In partnership with the community and Government we have piloted an effort to secure space for elephants by keeping essential time worn movement corridors free from future development and identify good safe farm land for people. Informed land use planning like this is essential to address a root cause of human-elephant conflict – competition for land, water and resources, and find long term solutions for coexistence. The next steps involve facilitating implementation of these plans and ensuring space is secure for both people and elephants."
South Africa
Samara "Samara’s conservation vision is to restore one of South Africa’s most spectacular landscapes, driving ecological corridors to create the country’s third largest protected area."
Europe
Dam Removal Europe "Rivers have always provided fundamental and vital services for mankind and the environment. However, dams disrupt the natural functioning of rivers and can cause a wide-scale decline in fish and other river wildlife. For these reasons, it is necessary to remove these barriers to return rivers to their natural, free-flowing state."
OSPAR "is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.
The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris)."
UK
England
The Big Green Internet "Our aim is to give wildlife a helping hand by creating new habitats and improving the ecological health of those already here. This is known as Nature Recovery.
The Big Green Internet project achieves this by planting wildlife corridors and hedgerows to connect isolated ‘orphan’ woodlands together."
North America
Living Oceans: Ocean Planning "Ocean planning is an opportunity for stakeholders to put aside their conflicts and work together to find solutions to create sustainable economies, vibrant communities and healthy oceans. We need a vision to protect the natural abundance of Canada’s oceans and the coastal communities that rely on them so we can manage our use of the ocean without using it up."
Wildlands Network are working to create Pacific, Western, and Eastern Wildways reaching from Canada to as far south as Mexico.
USA
Wildlife Crossing and Road Mitigation Job Creation Projects that Would Benefit from Federal Infrastructure and Stimulus Funding (PDF) "Collisions between motorists and wildlife cause more than 200 human fatalities and over 26,000 injuries each year, at an annual cost to Americans of more than $8 billion. Research shows that the combination of wildlife crossing structures and fencing to guide animals over or under our nation’s highways are highly effective, reducing wildlifevehicle collisions by up to 97%."
California
CLAW "is a public benefit non-profit 501(c)(3) environmental organization that works to protect and restore the environments of wildlife of Los Angeles and California from dwindling open spaces. Our mission is to promote, educate and protect the fundamental importance of wildlife, wildlife habitats, and wildlife corridors in Los Angeles and beyond."
Montana
American Prairie "American Prairie is conserving the disappearing shortgrass prairie ecosystem by piecing together 3.2 million acres of Montana's Northern Plains. We invite the public to explore our restoration work, plan a visit, and connect with nature on a truly grand scale." "Our main focus is to purchase and permanently hold title to private lands that glue together a vast mosaic of existing public lands so that the region is managed thoughtfully and collaboratively with state and federal agencies for wildlife conservation and public access."
Washington
The Cascades Conservation Partnership are working to buy up land to create connectivity in the Cascade Mountains. They are also running an I-90 Wildlife Corridor Campaign to help make roads safer for wildlife and motorists who use I-90.
Wyoming
Wyoming Migration Initiative "Advancing the understanding, appreciation, and conservation of Wyoming's migratory ungulates by conducting innovative research and sharing scientific information through public outreach."
Funding
Europe
Fund your dam removal "Want to remove a ‘ready to go ‘ dam but need extra funding? Try getting your removal crowdfunded!
We collaborate with WWF on their Crowdfunding Campaigns to remove dams! To see if crowdfunding is the right option for you, read below and also have a look here to see what previous campaigns looked like. Below is a list of information we require to help fundraise for your dam removal separated into three phases."
North America
USA
Wildlife Crossings Funding Opportunities "The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law on November 15, 2021. The law reauthorizes the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, and includes a new pilot program to help states, cities, tribes, and other entities construct wildlife crossing structures that can improve wildlife migration and enhance habitat connectivity, while simultaneously improving driver safety. The new law also amends other federal-aid transportation programs to make them eligible to fund the development of these structures and calls for modernizing the science and research surrounding wildlife corridors and vehicle safety. Interested in learning more about national grants and other Federal, Tribal, and State funding programs that can be used to pay for wildlife mitigation measures, including animal road crossing structures?"
Oceana
Australia
Western Australia
The Landowner Biodiversity Conservation Grants Program "provides financial support to Cockburn residents living in the rural, rural living and resource zones, who wish to conserve and enhance the natural bushland and wetland areas on their property."