Forest Ecologist and Author Rick Dawson once compared a disturbed ecosystem that
loses a species to extinction to a power line snapped during a storm. Both are examples of systems where an important connection has been severed.
In the past, forest managers viewed the components that make up the landscape as
separate, unrelated entities. Today's emerging scientific discipline sees this same landscape as an interrelated, interconnected whole. Ecologists place a significant emphasis on the connections between forest elements and their functional roles.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and its partners are using GIS
(Geographical Information Systems) to determine landscape connections between
important forest and watershed conservation targets outlined in WPC’s recent Conservation Blueprint. The process combines satellite images, aerial photography, and known locations of target species, with specific information about species’ habitat preferences and tolerances to human activity.
One of the target areas is in the Laurel Highlands where the WPC Conservation
Science staff is looking for ecologically meaningful links between large
unfragmented patches of forest on Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Ridge (see map).
“The Laurel Highlands, in general, are forested, and there are a number of very
large forest patches that provide critical interior habitat for important wildlife and plant species. However, the landscape is fragmented by roads, power lines, agriculture and urban areas,” noted WPC Ecologist Ephraim Zimmerman. “The large contiguous forest patches on Chestnut Ridge are isolated from the rest of the Laurel Highlands ecosystem by the ‘fragmenting features,’ which are significant barriers for some wildlife species.”
The Conservancy is studying how these larger forested blocks are positioned in
the landscape and evaluating the features that break up landscapes (i.e. roads, urban areas, utility rights of way) based on specific wide-ranging wildlife species like bears and bobcats that thrive in forested landscapes.
Work has begun to strategically determine the areas that would best contribute to the overall continuity of the landscape and help conserve wildlife habitat and movement corridors.
While much of the land along both ridges is publicly owned, a sizeable portion
is in private hands. It is hoped that once the connectivity pathways are determined, WPC can work with willing landowners, through conservation easements and other strategies, to fill the holes in the network of conservation lands.
