Wildlands Network

Western Wildway: This year, we launched a four-year study, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to understand the impact of large solar panel fields on pronghorn and other wildlife. Within days of outgoing Arizona Governor Ducey beginning construction of an illegal border wall through black bear, ocelot and jaguar habitat in the San Rafael Valley, we systematically documented the progress of his makeshift, shipping container wall. We are surveying over 150 miles of barbed wire fences within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which serves as an important pathway and winter range for the Paunsaugunt mule deer herd. We are leading a camera monitoring project to collect critical baseline data regarding the status of martens in the Southern San Juan Mountain of northern New Mexico. We are partnering with Texas A&M AgriLife Research to study how human disturbances influence predator populations and their impact on Gunnison sage-grouse conservation. We have developed deep-learning models to identify and easily map prairie dog colonies in New Mexico and Utah.

Pacific Wildway: In August, we completed the first-ever comprehensive database and interactive map of wildlife crossings in California. We are collaborating with Caltrans, Nevada Department of Transportation and Pathways for Wildlife to gather camera images, wildlife-vehicle collision and GPS telemetry data on Highway 395 in Northern California and Nevada. We are partnering with the California Tahoe Conservancy and Pathways for Wildlife to study solutions that will balance wildfire prevention with habitat conservation to best serve local communities and wildlife.

Eastern Wildway: In Gorges State Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, we have completed two field seasons of monitoring four small culverts that were installed to facilitate road crossings for timber rattlesnakes and eastern box turtles. Since 2015, our motion-sensitive cameras have been used to study local concerns about wolves' impact on game species. Because red wolves continue to suffer from a lack of national awareness, we coordinated with the Associated Press on a major update about the wolf program, a story that was picked up by over 900 news outlets across the country. Future Forests Reimagined, our transboundary initiative to reconnect Old Forests in the Northern Appalachian-Acadian-Wabanaki bioregion brings our indigenous-guided forest planning process to the UNESCO Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere and eight UNESCO Biosphere Regions in eastern Canada. Through workshops and international collaborations, we support collaborators in development of their plans to identify and protect old forests and expand the use of ecological forestry aligning with traditional conservation knowledge systems.

Other Programs: In Mexico, we focus on the sustainability and adequate management of Natural Protected Areas, which face funding challenges due to federal environmental budget cuts. We lead the NOSSA coalition, and together, we identified obstacles to generating revenue from fees for using natural resources within these protected areas. We are promoting healthy habitat management in Northern Mexico's Cocspera watershed to enhance wildlife connectivity along the Sierra Azul El Pinito ecological corridor. In partnership with Pronatura Noreste, we are creating a habitat management plan to reduce the risk to parrot nests from increasing wildfires and encourage community stewardship. On the policy side, Wildlands Network co-hosted the George Washington University Law School's Environmental and Energy Law Program annual Shapiro Symposium. In March, President Biden announced the first-ever administration-wide guidance for all federal agencies to incorporate ecological connectivity and wildlife corridor considerations into their policies and planning. These embraced the recommendations of the federal Connectivity Policy Coalition, which we host, which has been working to provide the Biden administration with expert advice since 2020. In Mexico in 2023, we saw years of focused advocacy pay off as the Mexican Congress passed critical legislation to protect the lands, water and wildlife of Mexico, based on expert recommendations and public support provided by us and our coalition partners.