Connecting Protected Areas

The Issue

	-Branimir Gjetvaj

Ecologists call it "winking out" -- the loss of a species to extinction. It is a metaphor that suggests a view of the Earth from above that lets us see animals and plants as small pinpoints of light that can suddenly disappear into darkness. But this description may be too gentle to capture the destruction of habitat, food sources, birthing grounds, shelter and territory that most often drives species to extinction today.

Leading conservation scientists such as Reed Noss and E.O. Wilson argue that what we are witnessing in many wild places right now is more along the lines of a cataclysmic power shutdown a crisis of extinction. This is particularly true where ecosystems have become stressed or isolated where they have become islands of natural habitat in a sea of

	-D. Dodge, Pembina Institute

development, cut off from connections to a broader wild landscape. In his book The Diversity of Life, Wilson notes, for example, that "records of stressed ecosystems ... demonstrate that the descent can be unpredictably abrupt. All it takes is the loss of a single keystone species (species such as wolves that have a large impact on species populations and habitat in a given area) to spell disaster for the whole habitat island", he argues that "the loss of keystone species is like a drill hitting a powerline. It causes the lights to go out all over the place".

Small and Fragmented Habitats

The vulnerability of small and fragmented habitat areas has been made clear through both scientific study and simple observation. It is not by chance that 40 percent of Canada's species at risk (vulnerable, threatened and endangered animals and plants) are found in Southern Ontario, the most densely developed area in the country. Remaining forest cover in the region stretching from Windsor to Toronto drops as low as three percent in the area around Windsor, and what natural habitat remains, tends to be found only in small solitary patches.

But what ecologists began to notice as far back as the 1970s was that even in protected areas that are larger than all the parks in Southwestern Ontario combined, species were still disappearing. What these parks and protected areas represented, it seemed, were bigger islands. And bigger islands, it was concluded, could slow the rate of species loss, but not stop it. What was clearly missing were critical connections between one habitat area and another -- connections that could allow for the movement of species and the recharging of depleted gene pools or populations.

Connectivity

"Connectivity is the natural state of the landscape", notes Michael Soule, president of the Wildlands Project. "But unfortunately, we only tend to recognize its importance in its absence, like gravity in space. We only recognize its importance when things start deteriorating, when species start to go extinct". Far from being an abstract ecological idea, "connectivity is visible every day in the functioning of natural systems," adds Juri Peepre, CPAWS-Yukon. "Species move between habitats, between summering and wintering grounds, or to and from birthing sites all year long. But if it's 'business as usual' for development in the well-traveled corridors that link these different areas, then 'species become isolated' and populations can become endangered".

	- John Murray

This is especially true for large, wide-ranging carnivores like wolves, bears and wolverines. The invisible and often politically rather than ecologically determined boundaries of protected areas tend to go unnoticed by species that can range over hundreds of kilometres in search of prey or fresh territory. But it is once they cross these invisible protected area boundaries that these animals often run into trouble. Wolves that are protected inside Ontario's Algonquin Park, for example, were frequently shot or snared when they follow white tailed deer that migrate out of the park in winter. In Banff's Bow Valley, animals moving up and out of the park through montane areas had to navigate around obstacles ranging from busy highways and railways to motels and golf courses.

Protecting Both Habitats and Connections

Assessing this situation, conservationists have come to a simple conclusion: "We must not only protect core habitat areas, we must preserve or restore connections and corridors between such places. It's fundamental. We can not entertain the idea of protected areas as islands any longer". "In building such habitat networks," adds Soule, "we must ensure that we create a system that is more than the sum of its parts. The idea is not to create a spider's web of narrow filaments stretching across the landscape, but a robust, multi-part network linking many different types of protected areas".

	Proposed Protected Areas in Northern Saskatchewan

That is the thinking behind what is currently the flagship project of the movement initiated by CPAWS and the Wildlands Project: to restore landscape connectivity from Yellowstone to the Yukon (Y2Y). "Y2Y is more than a corridor," Soule says, "it implies a pathway of movement that, I think, could be better described as creating living space for species. As a large living space, Y2Y will give species the ability to move and therefore adapt to changing conditions, such as climate change or natural disturbances". Soule points to the large wild areas encompassed and connected by Y2Y to bolster his argument about the area's potential resilience as a home for wild species: Yellowstone Park itself, the mountain parks of the eastern Rockies including Banff and Jasper, the huge, newly established mixture of protected areas and special management zones in the Northern Rockies, and the extensive wild range that remains in the Yukon.

Following in the footsteps of the Y2Y project is the Algonquin to Adirondacks initiative, which is underway in Ontario and New York. Both Y2Y and A2A will require cooperation from private landowners, governments, First Nations and others to make the vision of restoring connections a reality. "The presence of large, relatively intact wilderness areas has, however, obviously made it somewhat easier in the case of Y2Y to launch large-scale efforts to restore connectivity," Soule acknowledges. But to Peepre, mountain corridors are just the beginning. "I would like to see [corridor] projects in the prairies and the boreal forest," he says. "You will have to adapt your approach depending on the ecosystem. Obviously, the prairies present a very different ecosystem than the mountains". Soule suggests that connectivity can also be looked at on a much smaller scale. "Connectivity is also important on a local scale. You could put in a culvert, for example, so that amphibians can cross a roadway to reach a wetland without getting killed".

But the impetus for a lot of the connectivity-driven conservation work being done in the United States (from attempts to create habitat suitable for panthers in Florida to bringing wolves back to Yellowstone) is driven by a desire to restore large predator populations. Soule points out, "it is becoming apparent that most ecosystems in the world are regulated from the top down by large carnivores, so the restoration of large carnivores has become a major reason for reconnecting landscapes. It allows us to maintain viable populations of such animals". "What needs to be done in the way of restoring connections may also change from species to species" Soule adds. "Cougars, for example, will cross undesirable or developed areas as long as they can see more suitable habitat on the horizon. Grizzly bears, on the other hand, will not move through areas that lack familiar habitat, including food sources".

The emphasis on the how and where to re-establish natural connections may also change with latitude. "In the Yukon, the need to establish corridors between designated protected areas can seem a little less certain", acknowledges Peepre. "It can seem like a bit of an odd concept to look at a vast area of wilderness and select a few areas to protect, some with connecting corridors. Northerners are generally leery of 'falling into such a minimalist agenda'. Instead, many favour a sort of 'reverse matrix' in which pockets of development are encapsulated by large wild areas." But even in the Yukon, some areas have already been developed to the extent that a more traditional approach of protected areas, buffers and linkages will be the model to follow. Official policy in the Yukon embraces the idea of ensuring that protected areas remain part of a linked wild network, although the policy has not yet been put to the test.

But while the Yukon government has at least recognized the importance of ecological connections, other jurisdictions lag behind. In Ontario, for example, plans drafted by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) as part of the Lands for Life planning process are a throwback to another era. MNR planners have proposed a scattering of tiny protected areas that would likely fail any modern conservation test of sustainability as the answer to the question of how best to complete the province's protected-areas system. Connectivity, responds Peepre, "is not a good argument for weakening core habitats. We have to strengthen them instead. But ensuring that wildlife populations do not become isolated trapped in zoo-like parks is also rapidly becoming a second cornerstone of conservation science". "Some people say animals do not use corridors," Peepre continues, "but if you come to the Yukon you will see that they do. And that," he notes, "is the appeal of the big-vision thinking that goes with projects like Y2Y and A2A. They appeal to people's common sense about the needs of wildlife. People understand species' needs for birthing grounds and routes between summer and winter habitats".

Opportunities

The recognition of the importance of connectivity has brought with it exciting opportunities for trans-border cooperation. Projects that might once have seemed unthinkable such as protecting 43,000 square kilometres of wilderness in the Northern Rockies are already moving from lines on maps to on- the-ground realities. "This is achievable. It is not a dream of something way off in the future," says Peepre. The CPAWS national board agreed that "our conservation work in the new millennium must incorporate connectivity as well as the establishment of more parks and protected wilderness areas". "The idea of connectivity has been a prominent element in inspiring a much larger and longer-term view of what is possible", points out Soule. "It has helped us overcome what had become a defensive posture. Instead of fighting [conservation] brush fires all the time we are now pursuing a new, positive agenda".

FURTHER READING:

• Michael Soule and Reed Noss discuss connectivity further in an article on "Rewilding" the North American landscape in the fall issue of Wild Earth magazine. To order call (802) 434-4077.
• Michael E. Soule and John Terborgh are editors of Continental Conservation, Scientific Foundations of Regional Reserve Networks. 1999. The Wildlands Project.
• E.O. Wilson's The Diversity of Life, looks at the role played by keystone species in ecosystems and at "island biogeography" the study of isolated habitat areas.
• David B. Lindenmayer and Jerry F. Franklin. Conserving Forest Biodiversity. A Comprehensive Multiscaled Approach. 2002. Island Press. The authors discuss the importance of maintaining biodiversity through protected area networks and careful management practices in the matrix.

LEARN MORE:

Species at Risk Learn about Saskatchewan's endangered plants and animals.

Y2Y . . . people working together to maintain and restore the unique natural heritage of the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

Wolves and Ecosystems Read about how the food web in Banff changes when wolves disappear