This project will inform land management and conservation decisions by identifying
areas where maintaining or restoring ecological connectivity is essential to conserving
the California Desert’s biological diversity. This comprehensive connectivity assessment
will develop 23 Linkage Designs based on several science-based models (e.g., landscape
permeability, habitat suitability, patch size and configuration analyses) and field
work that will evaluate the habitat suitability and movement needs of over 40 selected
focal species.
Vast natural landscapes have been preserved as public and private conservation lands
in order to protect their biological and ecological values and the plant and animal
species that depend on them. Due to the spatial extent and management of natural
habitats in the California Desert they have become important refuges for many native
plant and wildlife species. Long-term conservation of our deserts will rely on maintaining
connectivity across a diversity of desert
ecosystems.