Animal movements have been fine-tuned by evolution to function within the natural range of variation existing in the landscape. However, human alterations have changed the landscape too rapidly and too extensively for most animals to adapt. As one consequence, most animals and plants must now try to move across landscapes that are often much more hostile than anything they are prepared to encounter. We are trying to conserve as much of the natural connectivity of the land as possible in the face of human population growth and human developments. Connectivity can be defined as the relative degree to which individual animals, plants, and genes, can move across a landscape.
Wild landscapes have an inherent degree of connectivity to which species have adapted over time.
Habitat alteration practices of humans greatly reduce that connectivity for the majority of wildlife species. In many cases, a narrow corridor is all that remains to allow for the movement of wildlife. CERI's various projects are part of a multidisciplinary and cooperative approach to measure, describe, and maintain the connectivity that remains in the Northern Rockies and in other wild landscapes. We're developing methods to delineate and assess the effectiveness of wildlife movement corridors on several scales throughout the Northern Rockies. The ultimate goal is to design a reserve network.