Preserving and Enhancing Wildlife Habitat Connectivity
Protecting ecosystem connectivity is rapidly becoming a preferred strategy for climate adaptation planning for Western land and wildlife managers. Even in the absence of climate change concerns, maintaining habitat connectivity is essential to the health and long-term survival of wildlife populations.
Of the 960 native species in the state, Colorado’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) identifies 210 species of greatest conservation need. These species are dependent upon healthy, naturally functioning ecosystems which are resilient to change and sufficiently permeable to allow migration, reproduction and dispersal. If not managed responsibly, logging, oil and gas development, transportation infrastructure improvement, land use, and energy corridor development, all increase the risk posed by climate change by further fragmenting the landscape.
Colorado Wild’s New Connect Colorado Campaign aims to preserve and enhance habitat connectivity through federal policy development, statewide planning processes, and place-based conservation initiatives. As an important first step, Colorado Wild, Center for Native Ecosystems and the Colorado Division of Wildlife recently established a new partnership to update Colorado’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) to incorporate data on wildlife movement corridors and climate change.
By Jeff Parsons, CW Board President - Colorado Wild has always worked hard to position itself as a nimble and strategic organization. This mentality allows us to effectively adjust to changing circumstances, whether they are economic, political, or scientific. We particularly pride ourselves in the latter – planning our programs and strategies to take advantage of, and incorporate, new ecological information. Thus, as scientific evidence demonstrates the increasingly critical importance of habitat connectivity for Colorado’s mountain wildlife – particularly in light of climate change – Colorado Wild is adapting our programs to ensure we continue to do the most good with your membership support.
Protecting ecosystem connectivity is rapidly becoming a preferred strategy for climate adaptation planning for Western land and wildlife managers. Even in the absence of climate change concerns, maintaining habitat connectivity is essential to the health and long-term survival of wildlife populations. 
