A guide to connecting and conserving wildlife within and beyond America's national forests
Planning for Connectivity is a product of The Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Defenders of Wildlife, Wildlands Network and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
The guide, the second in our series on wildlife conservation under the Forest Service’s 2012 Planning Rule, is designed to help people develop effective connectivity conservation strategies in forest plans. The Planning for Connectivity guide is intended to be used in tandem with the more comprehensive Planning for Diversity guide.
The new Planning Rule includes explicit requirements for managing for ecological connectivity on national forestlands and facilitating connectivity planning across land ownerships—the first such requirements in the history of U.S. public land management. The pending revisions of most forest plans provide a significant opportunity to protect and enhance the diversity of habitat and wildlife on national forests by developing plans that promote the conservation and restoration of ecological connectivity.
Planning for Connectivity presents information on the importance of connectivity in landscape and wildlife planning, summarizes the connectivity requirements of the 2012 Planning Rule, and provides examples of connectivity planning from existing forest plans.
