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Western Governors Work to Protect Wildlife Print E-mail
Written by Peter Kray / MtnPressWorld.com   
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 09:00

Park City, Utah (Mtn Press)-In a historic agreement, state and federal agencies have agreed to work together to protect wildlife corridors essential to the survival of animals like pronghorn, caribou, mule deer, and elk.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and Department of Interior, promotes the organization, development, and use of science for decision makers in government and the private sector working to secure protections for wildlife corridors and other crucial habitats.

“Since images have been drawn on cave walls, the first form of artistic expression, wildlife migrations have been a source of inspiration. Nothing connects people to nature more than wild animals on the move,” said Gary Tabor, Director of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation. “If we lose these spectacles of migration, we lose a bit of ourselves in the process.”

“Wildlife migration spectacles are among the earth’s most stunning, yet imperiled, phenomenon and it is critical that we protect important wildlife migration corridors to assure the long term sustainability of treasured wildlife populations,” said Keith Aune, Senior Conservation Scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Signing of the agreement advances the WGA Wildlife Corridors Initiative, launched by the adoption of policy 07-01 in 2007 while Governor Freudenthal of Wyoming was chair of the WGA. The agreement also supports implementation of the federal Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan, developed by the Department of Interior Sporting Conservation Council in 2008.

A final report including recommendations on how to protect wildlife corridors in light of climate change, land use, transportation, and energy development was released in 2008 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the WGA annual conference. One of the first tasks of the WGA was to form the Western Governors’ Wildlife Council comprised of professional resource managers from wildlife agencies and Governors’ offices.

The goal of the Wildlife Council is to work with each of the states to develop and implement the tools that can identify and protect important wildlife movement areas across the west in order to maintain the unique natural resources that the region’s $13 billion hunting and wildlife watching economies depend on. As part of their first year workplan, the Council is working on state-based decision support systems that assist decision makers in protecting important wildlife corridors on-the-ground.

“The Western Governors’ Wildlife Council has taken an important step forward today by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with federal agencies to protect wildlife corridors and crucial habitat in the West,” said Monique DiGiorgio, Conservation Strategist for the Western Environmental Law Center. “The stage is now set to develop effective state-based decision support systems. One way to maximize our effectiveness is to test-run this important planning tool on pilot wildlife corridors in order to understand how to protect these treasured landscapes on-the-ground.”

Implemented effectively, the decision-support system will be a valuable tool for helping to manage and conserve big game and other wildlife in the face of climate change. As the document establishing the Wildlife Council notes "[S]hifts in the timing of wildlife mating, migration and other life-history traits will continue to occur as climate conditions change . . ." Providing increased security for the habitat we know wildlife need to adapt to these shifts needs increased attention in the conservation programs of our state, federal, and private agencies.