Vermont's Critical Paths project helps creatures cross the road

Collaborative effort seeks to identify, improve and protect wildlife corridors in Vermont

This excerpt is from an article appearing in the Burlington Free Press

By their carcasses and tracks, we know that tens of thousands of creatures sneak across Vermont roads every year. What’s so important about getting to the other side? Food, water, more genetically varied mating opportunities.

Larger concerns loom ahead: Scientists predict that if New England’s climate continues to warm, more and more species will need to mosey north, or into higher elevations.

They will almost certainly continue bumping into human obstacles, and with greater frequency.

What if they do?

Advocates in Vermont’s Critical Paths project are looking for answers and are encouraging communities to identify, improve and protect wildlife corridors. It’s a survival strategy that links to a region-wide effort to restore “permeability” to a landscape that stretches from the western Adirondacks to Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.

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