In protecting wild spaces, choose the right 30 percent

Over the past four centuries, America has seen so much farming, logging, grazing and paving that we’ve reduced our wild spaces to a tiny fraction of their former glory. While some lands and open space have been conserved, even those special places often form a patchwork of fragmented, toosmall habitats.

While we owe a debt of gratitude to all those who worked to protect existing conservation areas, the task before us now is to connect them.

To that end, New Mexico passed the 2019 Wildlife Corridors Act, making the Land of Enchantment a national leader on the concept of reconnecting splintered natural habitats. Thankfully, New Mexico is well-positioned to create wildlife corridors beyond our borders as well.

A set of federal bills introduced in the U.S. House and Senate recently could reconnect wildlife habitats on our nation’s tribal lands. The Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act — introduced by New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján in the U.S. Senate — would create a grant program for wildlife crossings, animal migration research and conservation projects in areas important for wildlife movement.

If the Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act passes into law, it will be a key step forward for an ambitious conservation agenda to safeguard 30 percent of America’s land and water by 2030. This initiative, known as 30x30, has a key champion in its corner, former New Mexico member of Congress and now Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who has spoken and written about this initiative.

Overall, 30x30 aims to counteract shrinking habitat in the United States by more than doubling the 12 percent of U.S. land that is currently protected. It’s an ambitious target, but one that is fitting for our time. After all, one-third of our wildlife species are at risk of extinction and there are 3 billion fewer birds in North America than in 1970 — and those are just two of the many disturbing statistics that show the depth of the biodiversity crisis.

But as we give some space back to nature, we must be deliberate about how we shape it because the contours of our wild spaces matter.

When we carve the land up indiscriminately, wildlife become trapped in increasingly smaller parcels of habitat, penned in by roads, fences and other human obstacles. This is incredibly disruptive to New Mexico’s migratory game animals such as pronghorn and bighorn sheep, as well as any animals that need to hunt, mate or seek out new territory.

Man-made obstacles also cut animals off from others in their species. This reduces genetic diversity — a loss that makes wildlife less likely to adjust to such problems as disease and climate change. Further, animals that try to relocate to safer habitats in response to climate change may find their paths blocked by human-made infrastructure.

Simply put, nature works better when it is interconnected, and that should be top of mind as we work toward safeguarding 30 percent of our land and water. We should emphasize conservation projects that link up separated habitats and allow for the free-flowing movement of animals.

In our recently released “Reconnecting Nature” report, we highlighted seven projects from across the country that strategically bring together habitats. These examples can serve as models for other corridors. The case studies include a natural bridge designed for use by wildlife, particularly cougars, that will span over the 10-lane 101 freeway near Los Angeles and a project to protect the Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor, a 125-mile forested ridge in Kentucky that links up wilderness all the way from Tennessee to Virginia.

Congress can help create projects like these. They can pass Sen. Luján’s Tribal Wildlife Corridors Act. Additionally, our U.S. senators recently demonstrated bipartisan support for wildlife corridors by including $350 million for wildlife crossings in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021, also known simply as the infrastructure bill. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Luján both voted for it. Congress needs to get this package across the finish line.

New Mexico is a leader when it comes to preserving our precious lands. We must continue to do so in smart ways to continue to protect the wildlife we hold so dear.

Alex Petersen is a conservation advocate for Environment America and Environment New Mexico. He works to save America’s wildlife by reversing rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act, funding wildlife conservation plans and strategically connecting habitats via wildlife corridors.