The process of creating and maintaining effective wildlife corridors , especially rural corridors , obviously varies widely by region . A luxury habitat for the indigenous wildlife of Arizona would be starvation rations and skid row digs for the native wildlife of New Hampshire or Oregon . Wildlife corridors in Florida bear little resemblance to those in California .
“ Corridors vary according to landscape ,” said William Clark , professor emeritus of the Department of Ecology , Evolution and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University in Ames , and an expert in population ecology . “ What amounts to perennial habitat in an annually row-cropped landscape is different from the scale of corridors
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of grizzlies in the West or even bears in the suburban East .”
Regardless of where they are , wildlife corridors planted with a diversity of native flora must be designed to provide food , clean water , cover and a place to raise young . Each is an effort to help maintain or restore wildlife diversity , and in some cases , even pull individual species back from the brink of extinction .
Human endeavors have decimated what was once a richly endowed natural home for wildlife on this continent . For example , the prairie smorgasbord has been industrially plowed and planted with acres of three main crops : corn , soybeans and wheat . This monoculture has endangered pollinator populations , mammals and — thanks to runoff laced with pesticides , herbicides and fertilizers — fresh water fish . To slow this destruction , the U . S . Department of
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COSTS AND BENEFITS NOT JUST MEASURED IN DOLLARS
Wolves and coyotes can prey on livestock . Opossums eat eggs and sometimes chickens , as do foxes , weasels and raptors . “ I ’ ve had lots of negative encounters ,” said Barbara Starkey , Brennan ’ s mother , who has raised cattle and sheep on the family farm . “ And , there are things I don ’ t like about some of our encounters , but I still think having corridors is a good idea .”
In a kind of carrot-and-stick approach , regulations coupled with conservation programs can help mitigate some of the financial costs of relinquishing a portion of farm or grazing land to corridors . Conservation easements provide payment to the landowner . In exchange , they permanently limit the kinds of uses the land may be put to , yet do not inhibit the sale of the property or the ability to pass it on to heirs .
Pam Chrisman , owner of Fish Creek Flying W Ranches in Pinedale , Wyoming , put a portion
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PHOTO COURTESY U . S . FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE |
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