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Confederate trenches are preserved along Ewell Drive in Spotsylvania. Homes in the Wilderness subdivision are only 50 yards away through the tree line from the Wilderness Civil War battlefield.

States working to make it easier for wildlife by linking important protected areas

Date published: 9/11/2005

By RUSTY DENNEN

Across much of the Fredericksburg area, land protected from sprawl--parks, military bases, conservation easements--stands out like green oases in a sea of rooftops.

For example, Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline, four Civil War battlefields, Caledon Natural Area in King George and Crow's Nest in Stafford offer food and shelter for wildlife in a landscape where natural areas are fast disappearing.

What if those green areas were connected to other nearby green space, greatly expanding the range of wildlife?

Florida, California and Maryland are among states creating "wildlife corridors" as a key component of their land-protection efforts.

According to a 2002 study at the University of Florida, such links encourage plant and animal migration through a fragmented landscape. The study used plant pollination by insects and seed dispersal by birds as indicators of healthy ecosystems.

Maryland is using "green infrastructure" to identify and preserve its most valuable remaining forests, wetlands and other natural areas.

Using satellite imagery, road and stream locations and biological data, it designated hubs of unfragmented habitat hundreds to thousands of acres in size. Next, the hubs were connected with linear remnants of natural land such as stream valleys and mountain ridges that allow animals, seeds and pollen to move freely.

Some examples include large expanses of forest around Savage River and Green Ridge State Forest in the western part of the state, state and local parks along the Patuxent River, and tidal marshes along the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area on the Eastern Shore.

Four years ago, Maryland set up its GreenPrint program to buy designated land from willing sellers.

Virginia is working on similar efforts. Its Conservation Lands Needs Assessment, completed several years ago, mapped conservation lands with the aim of identifying the most important ones and creating habitat corridors around them. That's still in the planning stage.

"We do a lot of green ways and we're working with multiple jurisdictions on trails. Certainly, wildlife being able to move is a side benefit," said Gary Waugh, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation in Richmond. The agency oversees 44 state parks and natural areas.

Date published: 9/11/2005