PA Looks To Study, Expand Conservation Corridors To Save Wildlife

PENNSYLVANIA — Citing increasing habitat fragmentation due to overdevelopment and the proliferation of congested roads throughout the state, Pennsylvania lawmakers are introducing a new resolution that would study conservation corridors.

Corridors aim to connect extended pieces of protected wilderness, forest, and undeveloped land, whether privately owned or owned by varying government agencies, with the goal of providing continguous habitat for wildlife.

"Whether they run, swim, or fly, wild animals need to move to complete their life cycles," as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service puts it. "The more crowded and developed our world becomes, the more critical these pathways become."

State Rep. Mary Jo Daley cited significant bipartisan support in the last legislative session for the study. Her resolution would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study of conservation corridors in Pennsylvania.

"The goal of the study is to assist these entities in managing wildlife habitat, limiting forest fragmentation, planning connectivity, and planning crossings to limit the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions in Pennsylvania as well as maintaining and enhancing Pennsylvania as one of the nation’s top destinations for outdoor recreation tourism," Daley wrote in a co-sponsorship memorandum.

Corridors can take many forms, but they include building infrastructure over and under highways for safe passage, expanding culverts that are used by fish and aquatic life, and designating piees of public and private land — where partnerships are possible — to create a connected corridor.

Pennsylvania has the fifth largest highway system in the nation. Corridors also help protect drivers, too, advocates noted.

"Corridors not only make the roads people take to get here safer, but they also support the habitat that Pennsylvanians and out-of-state visitors travel to see," Daley added.

The study would then send recommendations to government agencies, non-profits, and relevant private stakeholders.

Pennsylvania has dozens of species that are considered "threatened" by the Game Commission. Most are birds, but all types of species are represented. The following 23 species are on the endangered list, the most critical level.

• American Bittern
• Black-crowned Night-Heron
• Black Tern
• Blackpoll Warbler
• Common Tern
• Dickcissel
• Great Egret
• Indiana Bat
• King Rail
• Least Bittern
• Least Shrew
• Little Brown Bat Bats
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Long-Eared Bat Bats
• Northern Flying Squirrel
• Northern Goshawk
• Piping Plover
• Sedge Wren
• Short-eared Owl
• Tri-Colored Bat Bats
• Upland Sandpiper
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
• Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

For more details on Pennsylvania's endangered species, see the Game Commission's site here.