How can new linear infrastructure—including roads, railways, and power lines—meet human needs while protecting snow leopards, their prey, and the fragile ecosystems they depend on to survive?| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
On May 8, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law that will help keep drivers and wildlife safe on the state’s roadways. House Bill 855 creates a dedicated fund and authorizes a new state specialty license plate expected to generate up to $160,000 per year. Revenues from sales of the plate will help contribute to the planning, design, and construction of wildlife crossing structures, which have been proven to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. The Center for Large Landscape ...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
Across deciduous and evergreen forests, lakes, streams and wetlands, working farms and timber lands, Québec, Canada is enormously rich in ecological diversity. However, pressures from people—residential and commercial development, climate change, and pollution—increasingly threaten the biodiversity that depends on intact habitats. Black bears and eastern wolves need wide swaths of land in their home ranges to find food and mates, wood turtles rely on unfragmented corridors to safely reac...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
Oceans cover roughly 71% of Earth’s surface, yet much still remains to be discovered about their vast depths. As scientists learn more about the ocean’s diverse and complex ecosystems, they are shattering preconceived notions and showcasing the interconnectedness of land and sea. Terrestrial wildlife needs habitat connectivity for survival, often relying on ecological corridors between parks and other protected areas. Thanks to research in recent years, it is becoming increasingly clear...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
The Center’s work is part of a larger movement to not only connect landscapes, but also help ensure that waters are connected for fish and other aquatic species. In particular, the Gallatin River is known for healthy populations of rainbow trout, brown trout, and Westslope cutthroat trout, which need to move be able to move freely to remain abundant and healthy.| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
When lynx, elephants, markhors, bears or elk move in search of water or food, they don’t stop to show their passports at the border or pause to consider which areas are protected; wildlife goes where it needs to survive. In this feature article, interviews with Center staff illuminate the challenges and opportunities associated with several of our current efforts to reconnect landscapes that straddle international borders.| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
While the increasing human population and climate change already threaten native wildlife in Kenya and Tanzania, the two countries’ populations are expected to double by 2050. Seeing these threats impacting the transboundary landscape, both governments have begun the process to conserve wildlife corridors. In partnership with WWF, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation recently led a two-day workshop providing an opportunity for representatives of the governments of Kenya and Tanzania,...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
In early September, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) applied to the federal Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program for a discretionary grant to help fund a $26-million project that includes a new wildlife overpass, upgrades to an existing underpass, and a bridge retrofit to allow wildlife to pass safely over and beneath US Highway 191 in Southwest Montana. Through the Montana Wildlife and Transportation Partnership, MDT teamed with the Bozeman-based, nonprofit Center for Large Landsca...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
At the heart of the Greater Kafue Ecosystem in Western Zambia is the 22,000-square-kilometer Kafue National Park. This is Zambia's oldest and largest park, at twice the size of Yellowstone National Park in the USA. Kafue is home to a wide range of iconic wildlife, including elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, and Africa's most diverse antelope community. This protected area faces many significant threats, but most concerning is the M9—a high-speed highway that bisects or border...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
A cloud of slate gray stirring above the riverbed. The synchronous flapping of wings, eager and ready for the journey to the north. During this time of year, an estimated 3.5 billion birds take flight toward the northern U.S. and Canada as the spring migration is underway. During the long journey, they will have to contend with a pernicious source of pollution emanating from towns and cities: artificial light. Birds rely on light as an indicator of daily and seasonal change, and human light ...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
As the world trends towards rapid and unchecked development, protected areas pay the price by becoming more and more isolated. Case in point: the large region of South America that is covered by two ecosystems, the Pantanal (the largest tropical wetland) and the Gran Chaco (South America’s largest seasonally dry tropical forests) is at risk of encroachment and fragmentation. The region—the size of Texas, California, and Montana combined...| Center for Large Landscape Conservation
Roughly 50% of all highway accidents on US 89 north of Yellowstone National Park—between Livingston and Gardiner, Montana—are wildlife related. In response to this growing and dangerous problem, a locally led partnership called Yellowstone Safe Passages (YSP) just took a major step toward finding solutions by completing a comprehensive assessment of wildlife-vehicle collisions on this stretch of highway, conducted by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and YSP partners.| Center for Large Landscape Conservation