In the May/June 2007 issue of Mother Jones, Julia Whitty explores the extinction crisis in her comprehensive article “Gone.” She visits with Wildlands Project Western Director Kim Vacariu, and supports the need for connectivity with a nod to the Spine of the Continent Initiative. In the following excerpt, she succinctly explains the dangers of a caged wilderness:

Segregated wildlands experience the same challenges as the dwindling members of an endangered species. Spread too far apart or too genetically weakened, they’re cut off from the vital contact that renews and refreshes them, and likewise suffer debilitating arrhythmias in their demographics. Initial species losses are followed by overcrowding, then by population crashes, and insularization, with its attendant biodiversity decline.

The picture is complicated by mysterious realities: that many species will not populate a small wilderness even though it’s big enough for their needs. Others will not cross the openings that fragment wilderness, particularly roads, which prove impermeable barriers to many from beetles to bears, either because they refuse to cross or because they die trying. Fragmentation also produces a dreaded edge effect by breaching the protective skin of wilderness, disrupting microclimates, allowing pathogens, alien species, and human development inside, then sealing the edges through the scarifi cation of weed growth.

We encourage you to read this article if you haven’t already!