Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Law to conserve, restore and expand plant and wildlife corridors introduced in both houses of Congress
May 29, 2019
On May 9, the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2019 was introduced in both houses of Congress. The bill would establish a National Wildlife 
Corridor System on federal lands, giving federal agencies the authority to designate and protect corridors. On state, tribal and private lands, the law would provide incentives for landowners to participate in the Corridor System.
Corridor System on federal lands, giving federal agencies the authority to designate and protect corridors. On state, tribal and private lands, the law would provide incentives for landowners to participate in the Corridor System.Corridors are natural areas that provide ecological connectivity allowing native species movement, migration and other processes essential to plants and animals. They help to maintain genetic diversity and species resilience by restoring and maintaining more of the varied habitats with which plants and animals coevolved. They also promote the health of species by permitting interaction, including genetic exchange, among different populations.
Researchers have found that corridors are specifically beneficial to native plants. For example, bluebirds transfer more berry seeds between connected habitats, suggesting that the corridors help plants spread. A related study found that corridors appear to preferentially benefit native plants, while they do not assist nonnatives.
The bill is supported by nationally recognized scientists, including Harvard’s E.O. Wilson, and over 220 prominent Non Governmental Organizations nationwide.
“The Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act would provide the most important step of any single piece of legislation at the present time in enlarging the nations protected areas and thereby saving large swaths of …. fauna and flora, especially in this critical time of climate change and shifting locations of the original environments in which a large part of biodiversity has existed,” E.O. Wilson said of the bill.
Led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), the bill was co-sponsored in the Senate by Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D- NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Don Beyer (D-VA) and Vern Buchanan (R-FL).
Read the text of the "Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2019"
Read the press release from the coalition supporting the Corridors Act It includes links to support letters and additional resources.
Read a Fact Sheet for the bill.
To learn more about corridors, see Conservation Corridors website
Photo (c) Doug Tallamy
