Washington, D.C. — Legislation unveiled by Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico and Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia lays out an innovative strategy to address the ongoing fragmentation of wildlife habitat from climate change and man-made barriers. The Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act would create a national program for maintaining wildlife migrations, movements, and wildlife corridors to ensure that wildlife will face fewer struggles to reach food, water, shelter and breeding sites.

“America’s wildlife are in crisis. More than one-third of all species at-risk or vulnerable to potential extinction in the decades ahead and fragmented migration corridors are only accelerating this problem,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “It’s essential that as America grows and invests in roads, dams, bridges, housing developments and energy infrastructure that new barriers are minimized and mitigated to ensure that wildlife can still move across essential habitat. We’re thankful for Senator Udall and Representative Beyer’s leadership on this issue to protect and retain wildlife habitat while restoring and re-connecting critical wildlife corridors.”

What the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2018 does for wildlife