Contact: Jen Clanahan,
Rocky Mountain Director (303) 775-3539; (720) 565-8630

Wildlands Project blueprint connects Mexico, U.S., Canada
"Three Countries, One Connection"

DENVER, CO -- The Wildlands Project today, with local partners the Denver Zoo and Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, unveiled the first conservation initiative designed to connect and span the three countries along the "Spine of the Continent" - the Rocky Mountains from northern Mexico to the Yukon in Canada.

This new conservation blueprint provides important direction for large landscape planning in North America by identifying a 4000-mile connected network of public and private lands that make up the Spine of the Continent "megalinkage"--a grand-scale wildlife corridor. The Wildlands Project and local partners have mapped the wildlife habitat linkages that scientists say must be protected to preserve the integrity of the Rockies as a natural system and to provide wildlife with the room they need to roam, to find food and mates, and to survive.

"Conservation biologists now agree that protecting isolated pockets of habitat isn't enough to protect our bears, jaguars, birds and other wildlife - the only way to protect them is to practice conservation on a continental scale," explained Wildlands Project Executive Director, Leanne Klyza Linck, who released the maps and announced the Wildlands Project's "Endangered Linkages" campaign.

"Our challenge now is to move from theory to implementation. And that will only happen by working in partnership with groups on the ground - other conservation groups, land trusts, private landowners, and government agencies. To succeed, we must create a network of people willing to protect these networks of land," Jen Clanahan, Rocky Mountain Director stated. The Wildlands Project will begin its conservation campaign by focusing efforts on saving endangered linkages - the most threatened wildlife corridors between protected areas - and by enlisting and involving communities in this practical and solution-oriented approach.

Experts identified the Vail Pass, as an Endangered Linkage in this region because it connects essential habitat for the threatened Canada Lynx and other wildlife. The integrity of this linkage is marginalized by the formidable barrier of I-70 and by uncontrolled recreation that destroys much of the habitat values in the linkage.

Research and planning for the Spine of the Continent project has taken more than 10 years and has involved hundreds of scientists, conservationists, private citizens, and outdoor groups, along with local, state and federal agencies.

To promote the effort, the Wildlands Project has produced new maps that include conservation plans for the following regions: Sky Islands of southern Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico, New Mexico Highlands, the Southern Rockies, the Heart of the West region in Wyoming, and the conservation planning initiative in the Yellowstone to Yukon region.