CONTACT:
Sandra Houghton: (603) 271-5679
Jay Martin: (603) 271-3211
October 22, 2018
CONCORD, NH – During the past year, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has partnered with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to research wildlife corridors in New Hampshire and address Senate Bill 376, passed in 2016, which requires the Fish and Game Department to identify existing and needed wildlife corridors. The research included identifying wildlife corridors, voluntary mechanisms that affect wildlife corridors, and any existing statutes, rules and regulations that affect wildlife corridors. To see the report in its entirety and to learn more about wildlife corridors visit www.wildnh.com/nongame/corridors.html.
Wildlife corridors connect habitats so that wildlife can move between areas and are critical to the conservation of species in New Hampshire. The loss of wildlife corridors may result in direct mortality, habitat fragmentation, and barriers to dispersal, which may result in the local extinction of some wildlife populations over time. At greatest risk are slow-moving species such as reptiles and amphibians, species that depend on high adult survivorship (e.g., turtle species), species that are long range dispersers (e.g., Canada lynx), and species with scarce populations (e.g., marbled salamanders).
“The tremendous information generated by the NH Wildlife Action Plan and this recent NH Wildlife Corridors report will better equip state agencies, non-profit partners, and private landowners to identify critical wildlife corridors and proactively address the needs of wildlife before further declines occur,” stated Michael Marchand, New Hampshire Fish and Department’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program Supervisor.
In New Hampshire, there are limited regulations pertaining directly to wildlife corridors. To identify existing and needed wildlife corridors in the Granite State, the Wildlife Corridor report planning team summarized on-going and completed efforts. Many of the actions related to wildlife corridors were based on information generated by, and actions identified in, the NH Wildlife Action Plan. Some efforts have modeled wildlife corridors based on land use to create maps that show habitats linked by wildlife corridors. The NH Wildlife Connectivity Model predicts wildlife connectivity zones and identifies both key areas for land protection efforts and strategic locations for restoring connectivity.
Other efforts to identify existing and needed wildlife corridors have included field research, track identification, camera-trapping, reports of sightings by the public, and checking the connectivity at culverts and bridges. Many regional conservation plans use these mapped corridors to highlight connectivity as a land-conservation priority.
To learn more about wildlife corridors, visit the Fish and Game website at
www.wildlife.state.nh.us/nongame/corridors.html.
Senate Bill 376 was sponsored by Senator David Watters (District 04), Senator Jeff Woodburn (District 01), and Representative Robert Backus (Hillsborough- District 19). The full record of SB376 can be found at www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_Status/billText.aspx?sy=2016&id=1001&txtFormat=pdf&v=current.
