Have you ever heard of the Y2Y corridor? This is a political/conservation effort to establish a 2000 mile-long mountain corridor from the Yukon to Yellowstone National Park that connects and protects one of the last major largely intact mountain ecosystems on earth. The network of corridors will allow the passage of large mammals and migratory birds and, in the long term, the geographical migration of plant communities as they adapt to climate change.
Other major geographic corridors including the Jaguar Corridor connecting the northern current limit of jaguar habitat in Central American with South America. The historic range of jaguars covered nearly all South America and extended into North America from Louisiana to southern California. A jaguar was photographed in Arizona in 2024! Today the historic range has been fragmented into isolated small populations. The connection of these isolates by corridors is the Jaguar Corridor Initiative. Unfortunately, critical habitat destruction/loss continues throughout Central and South America!
What do these corridors have in common? They are characterized by the high level of connectivity of natural ecosystems that allow species present to move and/or migrate either seasonally or over longer periods of time as climatic conditions change. Contrast this with most of North America where habitat destruction limits natural ecosystems to small islands separated by many miles of farmland, housing developments, and urban areas. The only “natural historic’ corridors remaining are along river systems and north/south mountain ranges, but even here development, deforestation, and highways fragment the corridors. The capacity to exchange genetic information between populations is lost and both plant and animal’s capacity to adapt to climate change through geographic migration expansion is impacted.
We lose connectivity in many ways. In addition to large-scale habitat destruction involving deforestation and agriculture/urban expansion, major highways prevent safe crossings and border walls, as currently being constructed by the U.S., completely block movement unless a creature can fly! The ecological damage in the short and long term is massive but is not often considered by those in power! When highways block major migration corridors, limited connectivity can be re-established as illustrated.
Connectivity issues can also be more local as we currently face on Whidbey Island. Pacific Rim Institute has the second largest population of Golden Paintbrush plants in the world. There are four other small populations on Whidbey Island including Fort Casey State Park and the Naas Preserve, but they are all farther than the pollinating bumble bees fly. How can gene flow be established between the isolated populations? Plans are also moving ahead to re-introduce Taylors Checkerspot butterfly, an endangered species, at the same locations where the Golden Paintbrush plants are found. Ironically the larval stage of the butterfly feeds on the paintbrush! But what is the flight distance of the butterfly? To address the missing corridors connecting these populations, cooperative neighbors could establish “steppingstones populations” of critical host plants thus facilitating connectivity.
To the south, also on Whidbey Island, Whidbey Camano Land trust has protected the 721 acre Trillium Community Forest and hopes to connect it with the nearby 381 acre old growth forest in South Whidbey State Park. Their goal is to connect other critical habitat islands on Whidbey. It takes a long time to grow a 500-year-old tree! Creation is protected one acre and one backyard at a time!
We live in a complex world. A goal of United Nations is to protect 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030. Connectivity is part of that goal. To date, 13% of the land in the U.S. is protected. We have a long way to go!
Our Prayer: Lord, we pray for wisdom at the local, state, national, and international level. We face continuing and even escalating pressure on your Creation and we admit our guilt as consumers of too much stuff who demand personal comfort levels beyond which Your Creation can supply. Please help us to be your voice.
Thanks for listening.
— Joe Sheldon
Direct comments to Joe Sheldon at jksheldon43@gmail.com
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