Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
Issue link: http://conservationnw.uberflip.com/i/122765
2011 A Wild Year Jen Watkins Conservation associate, jen@conservationnw.org Lynx crossing a road. © Florian Schulz Cross-border and cascades Building connectivity The last 12 months found us connecting much more than habitat for wildlife. We also connected science to policy and policy to real projects, and we helped bring together the people working on these issues. In 2010, as part of the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group, we published a historic report, the Washington Statewide Habitat Connectivity Analysis, outlining the key intact habitats for wildlife in our state and neighboring landscapes. The connectivity analysis lays out the possibilities for maintaining habitat connections and the barriers that currently inhibit those connections. It affirms Conservation Northwest's past work for wildlife habitat: • • • • The high value of the Loomis State Forest (25,000 acres of which we protected a decade ago) as vital habitat for endangered lynx The significance of the I-90 corridor in Washington's Cascades where we earlier protected 45,000 acres as part of The Cascades Conservation Partnership and now works to reduce the barrier effect of the interstate A need to maintain east–west connectivity between the Cascades and northeast Washington The reliance of Washington's wildlife on healthy links to wildlife habitat in British Columbia The connectivity analysis affirms the need to build upon these investments, and it identifies new possibilities for protecting and connecting wild areas from the Washington Coast to the BC Rockies. With it we can foster scientific products to inform connectivity conservation, integrate the science into policies that could make a difference on the ground, build a network of people across disciplines and borders who are working on these issues, and initiate tangible connectivity conservation to benefit the region's wildlife. Highlights of 2011 include: • • • 6 Release of the Climate Gradient Corridors Report, assessing landscape links crucial for Northwest wildlife survival today and their adaptation in the future. See the report at waconnected.org/climate-change-analysis. Hosting the 2011 Wild Links conference: "Coordinating across Political Borders to Help Species and Habitats Adapt to a Changing Climate." More than 100 people from BC, Alberta, and the US attended this 5th annual event to ease adaptation and work together for wildlife. Hosting a reception to welcome the Western Governors Association's Wildlife Council, which implements the Winter 2012 "It's inspiring to see us coming together as one community, Canadians and Americans, worried about the natural landscape and the species that inhabit those landscapes." –British Columbia Minister of Environment Terry Lake, Wild Links, 2011, Vancouver • • WGA's Wildlife Corridors Initiative, during their semiannual meeting. At the reception, we included photos showing the many ways that we are fulfilling the Initiative. Working closely with the WA Department of Transportation (and partners from Kittitas County to AAA) to make our state's roadways safer for people and wildlife. This year construction of the first wildlife underpass on I-90 started at Gold Creek. We also achieved legislative support allowing the I-90 Project to retain and use savings from past cycles in 2012. On Hwy 97 in Okanogan County, we collaborated with community partners on how wildlife might safely cross the highway. Thanks to Lighthawk, our staff toured the potential project with Okanogan County Commissioner Andy Lampe and the Mule Deer Foundation's Ron Knapp. Getting reports and tools created by the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group into the hands of agencies, like the Bureau of Land Management and Okanogan-Wenatchee and Colville National Forests, so they can integrate connectivity science into management plans for nearly six million acres of public land. We also learned a few things as we head into a New Year. Wolverines may have an easier time crossing international borders than do government agency employees. Interpretation and communication of scientific products is equally essential as the development of those products. And—importantly— opportunities remain to conserve and restore connections between our region's special places and wildlife. www.conservationnw.org