Climate Conservation DBA Center for Large Landscape Conservation

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“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: NATIONAL WILDLIFE CORRIDORS & CROSSINGSFrom climate adaptation to wildlife migration, connectivity conservation is the most effective strategy to conserve nature at large scale in much of the fragmented temperate and tropical regions of the world. While corridor science is decades old, its implementation has been slow and lacked consistency. Policy efforts to identify, prioritize and protect ecological connectivity and wildlife corridors remain in the early stages. Through the past year, the Center has made great strides in this arena, with draft language and concepts for which we have advocated, being included in both Federal and State bills. Further, we have succeeded in growing traction for implementation of connectivity practices on the ground. See Schedule O for more. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: ADVANCING SCIENCEOur decision-support science is a backbone of our work. It requires synthesizing information across many disciplines of knowledge and translating it so that policy makers and community leaders can understand it the context of their work and environment. We use spatial models and maps to help planners identify where and how animal and plant populations move across the landscape, and how peoples priorities and actions help or hinder that movement. We apply this knowledge to defend vital links and safe passage between landscapes, and to identify places to protect, restore, and build. See Schedule O for more. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: SPECIAL PROJECTS”

“The Center develops strategies that amplify community and governmental conservation efforts though tactical support in science, policy, community networking, and climate change resiliency planning. Our work defines and advances best practices in the area of landscape connectivity in the U. S. and around the world. We engage primarily in four ways. First, we support community-based planning to restore, protect, and mange large landscapes. We work with communities to plan for and restore the integrity and natural connectivity of the landscapes within which they live and work. Second, we develop and apply science to reconnect fragmented landscapes and provide safe passage for wildlife and people. Third, the Center connects professionals and decision makers to share information and resources worldwide. We serve as a hub for information, tools, news, and best practices. The Center is directly networked with over 28,000 conservation professionals and organizations around the globe. And finally, we inform new policy and law to support and accelerate large landscape conservation locally, nationally, and globally. We are developing international standards for corridors and connectivity areas, which is key to support a systems approach to protecting, restoring, and managing large landsapes.”

“Program #1 National Wildlife Corridors & CrossingsTogether with partners, the Center has been able to lay the groundwork for successful state wildlife corridors legislation in 2019. Our focus has been on providing draft policies for adaptation by interested states and legislators across the country. Bills were introduced during the most recent legislative sessions in twelve states: Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington and Virginia. Impressively, in three of these states, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Oregon, bills passed that recognize the importance of corridors and direct action to safeguard them. Now, our task is to leverage this momentum in order to support and expand these efforts while interest is building. As part of this effort, we published, Wildlife Connectivity: Opportunities for State Legislation, a toolbox of potential provisions in the areas of planning, data gathering, conservation practice, planning and funding based on case studies across the country for use state legislators.As a member of the Montanans for Safe Wildlife Passage (MSWP) coalition, the Center co-hosted and planned a state-wide summit, Transportation and Wildlife in Montana, in partnership with Montana Department of Transportation, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and other interested groups in late 2018. Attended by 150 people, the summit increased understanding of the importance of reduction of wildlife-vehicle collisions and opportunities to improve connectivity across Montana's roads. The Center continues to provide leadership to the Implementation Committee now working to prioritize wildlife crossing opportunities in Montana.The Center has also made great progress with local governments concerning wildlife crossings. After 6 years of work by the Center and partners, Teton County unanimously approved a wildlife crossings plan that shows where crossing structures can be placed to improve motorist and wildlife safety. The Teton County plan is the first county-wide plan in the nation to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and protect habitat connectivity. Moreover, the County allocated funds in its new fiscal year to pay for preliminary planning, engineering, cost estimate and design of crossings.”

“Program #2 ADVANCING SCIENCEThe Center for Large Landscape Conservation is currently engaged in a global analysis of conservation corridor efficacy. This project uses empirical evidence from "real" landscapes (as opposed to experimental systems or theoretical models) to identify characteristics of corridors that successfully facilitate animal movement between habitat patches. The results of this research will help land use planners and conservationists recognize and promote more effective corridors using the lessons learned from studying real-world corridors.The Center and partners have been working together to develop an approach for considering ecological connectivity as a key element in Forest Plan Revisions. Using Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF) in Montana as a case study, our spatial ecologists created connectivity models for a set of generic species that collectively represent the large variety of wildlife species found in the forest. We used the outputs of these connectivity models to identify important corridors that link areas of core habitat within and surrounding CGNF. The results of the analysis have been used to inform management standards and guidelines for connectivity in Forest Plan revision documents, such as the designation of Key Linkage Areas for connectivity. We are now under contract with other National Forest Planners to repeat the process throughout the Greater Yellowstone Area. Our scientific research and planning also spans to our Indigenous partners. In preparation for the Blackfeet Integrated Land Use Management Plan, the Center is providing background planning support for the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council by analyzing and synthesizing existing and historical plans to identify common and emerging land use management priorities, and to identify any mapping and visualization requirements. The focus of this work is a comprehensive and systematic review of past planning efforts (over the past 20+ years), to identify common priorities and goals over time and overlapping actions to meet those goals. The analysis will be conducted with a focus on both similarities and differences, as well as gaps in planning or actions, in order to develop a framework for the Blackfeet Integrated Land Use Management Plans.”

“Program #3 Community PlanningThe Center continues to support communities on their path to build resilience to change in the climate and development impacts. Our approach integrates science with the cultural and traditional values of diverse communities, influencing policy where appropriate and engaging youth whenever possible. We are honored to partner with tribal nations whenever invited, and endeavor to support Indigenous communities and tribal natural resource managers in accomplishing their conservation goals and priorities. The majority of this work has been focused with indigenous communities in the Northern Rockies, especially the Blackfeet Nation and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). More recently, we have added work with the Fort Belknap Indian Community to help to develop and implement a Climate Adaptation Plan.After supporting the Blackfeet Environment Office to produce the Blackfeet Climate Change Adaptation Plan, there was great enthusiasm to implement projects in the plan. From this, one of our standout local projects, The Ksik Stakii, or Beaver Project was born. Designed as a climate change adaptation initiative to combat increased drought, it aims to increase natural water storage in the Blackfeet Nation by protecting beaver and restoring wetlands. The Ksik Stakii Project focuses on providing field-based educational experiences for Blackfeet youth and workshops for Blackfeet natural resource managers, producers, and community members. The Center's pilot project has completed two successful field seasons and is now being transitioned to an internal Blackfeet lead program, to be continued for the foreseeable future. Also, in regards to our Community Planning program, the Center is promoting the concept of holistic health by providing faith leaders, health care professionals and other community health advocates with ways to talk to their communities about climate change, and ensure future generations have clean air, water, and wholesome food. At the end of 2018, we produced Healthy Landscapes, Healthy People: A Guidebook for Montana Communities Preparing for a Changing Climate. The guidebook demonstrates the interconnections between healthy ecosystems and human health and has been presented at various conferences and symposiums, including Faith, Science and Climate Action, coordinated by the Montana Faith and Environment Coalition. After sharing the guidebook at a health conference in Wisconsin, proponents are now promoting the production of similar guides for every state.”

“In 2019, CLLCs project, Network for Landscape Conservation, received $1,900,000 for a new regranting program, the Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund. Of this funding, $1,300,000 will be directly distributed over the next 5 years to conservation collaboratives, through capacity-building grants and peer learning, aiming to increase cooperative large landscape conservation efforts throughout the United States. In addition, CLLC will be regranting over $100,000 from an innovative Road Ecology grant to support on-the-ground activities aimed to advance mitigation projects designed to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions across the country.”