A new, important wildlife corridors bill

Humans are great at building things: skyscrapers, cities, coliseums, roads, freeways, aqueducts, canals, dams and… you name it. We create big things, and we’re proud of it. 

What’s beginning to dawn on us is that the construction of impressive and sometimes magnificent things has fragmented wildlife habitats, harming other living creatures around us. 

Example #1. David Willard devotes time every morning to picking up dead birds that crashed into a Chicago building. He’s been doing this for 40 years. 

Example #2. A semi truck struck and killed 13 bison on a road near Yellowstone. 

Example #3. The life and death of P-22. (If you don’t know this big cat story, you need to check it out.) 

The death of these animals is one thing. It’s quite another when you consider their deaths within the context of a larger biodiversity crisis, one in which the total number of animals is shrinking and far too many species are migrating closer and closer to extinction, at rates far above “normal” levels. 

Enter, stage right, wildlife corridors

The idea behind wildlife corridors is quite simple. Animals migrate, often in semi-predictable ways. If we study their seasonal and daily patterns, and if we map their amblings, then we can begin to understand the ways in which we can help them go about their routines. 

At the 30,000 foot view, salmon swim upstream to spawn. Monarch butterflies fly north in the summer. Ungulates (mule deer, pronghorn, elk, etc.) migrate to avoid harsher winter conditions. Etc. 

If we can understand these seasonal patterns and get more precise with the daily details, we can better design our roads, fences and other infrastructure to save wildlife. 

Fragmented habitat 

What was once wide open, connected habitat is now fragmented, broken into little islands. Connecting these “islands” is the key. 

How do we do this? In part, it depends on the species. Ducks need a series of wetlands along their migration routes. Monarch butterflies need milkweed patches along theirs. Land critters need overpasses (like the photo above) or underpasses where busy roads bisect their habitats.

Here’s a 2021 report that highlights different types of wildlife corridors. 

An important new bill

Representatives Ryan Zinke (Mont.) and Don Beyer (Va.) have teamed up to introduce the Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act.

The bill would do the following: 

• Conserve, restore and/or enhance habitat, migration routes and connectivity. 
• Create a research program to improve our understanding of wildlife movement and migration routes. 
• Allow existing funds at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be used to support connectivity, wildlife movement and migration route conservation, and to provide technical assistance to other federal agencies. 
• Support a corridor mapping team to map priority migration routes, with a 50% set-aside for big game movement areas. 
• Direct federal agencies to coordinate actions and funding, and to improve coordination with states, tribes, and non-governmental partners. 

A bipartisan approach 

As with many conservation issues, the bill is bipartisan, and it takes care to ensure that the creation of corridors is voluntary as it relates to private lands. 

It’s a smart path forward, and we urge Congress to take it up and pass it. Wildlife need the space to roam, and saving America’s wildlife needs precisely this type of bill.