Resources

Climate change is increasing precipitation and snowmelt in late winter and early spring, increasing run-off and flood risk. Increased precipitation, heavy rainfall, and flooding are linked to outbreaks of waterborne disease.

The Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (COTC) is one of the only large, relatively intact ecosystems remaining in North America and serves as a stronghold for native wildlife in the Rocky Mountain region. This briefing exposes the Glacier-Great Bear Connectivity Conservation Area (GGBCCA) as a glaring exception to this otherwise well protected and connected region.

This report identifies short sections of highway that present the highest risk of collisions between vehicles and large ungulates during fall. It utilizes data on the frequency of wildlife carcasses recorded along highways by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) as an indicator of the relative risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) across Montana. It aims to increase driver awareness of highway sections with particularly high risk of WVCs during the fall migration season.

To identify which land units are most important for sustaining structural connectivity, authors used the composite map of corridors to evaluate connectivity priorities in two ways: 1) among land units outside of the pool of large core protected areas and;  2) among units administratively protected as Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) or Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs). It provides a ranking of IRAs and WSAs that should be prioritized for additional protection to maintain minimal human modification. Results provide a coarse-scale assessment of connectivity priorities for maintaining a connected network of protected areas.

This article discusses that the imperative to conserve large or complex systems requires the social pre-conditions be established to develop trust and common ground to maintain conservation and science at scales directly relevant to the systems in question. A coupling of locally based approaches, in a networked framework across vast ecosystems, not only influence conservation, but also profoundly influences the relevance of science and monitoring, and improves the ability to sustain projects at the scales needed to successfully sustain species and ecosystems. 

This report is a compilation of federal and state policies that have direct or indirect implications for wildlife corridors and ecological connectivity conservation. It provides a broad set of policy-setting activities, such as legislation, executive orders, secretarial orders, strategies, and memoranda, by the executive or legislative branches of state or federal governments.

The Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent’s application of a social-ecological performance evaluation framework. This allowed authors to provide a means of evaluating the effectiveness of network governance in large landscape conservation.

Briefly introduces adverse effects of roadways on wildlife, proposes researched solutions, and informs the reader of ways to get involved in implementing said solutions.

This publication shares the Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent’s stories and lessons from its work to build a support network to help communities work together to adapt to climate change.

Recognizing the transportation sector as an important end-user of the regional and state-level CHATs, WGA and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) entered into an agreement in 2013 to identify opportunities to increase the use of CHATs, and other state and regional digital wildlife information, in transportation planning and project implementation. This report is the culmination of that collaboration.