Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities to Creating Wildlife Corridors in the Great Plains

Habitat fragmentation occurs when a large area of natural habitat is broken up into smaller patches and isolated from one another, degrading ecosystems and leading to significant biodiversity loss. This issue is projected to worsen as climate change progresses, forcing wildlife to relocate to more suitable habitats. Croplands, especially within the Great Plains region of the U.S., can be a major contributor to fragmentation. Wildlife corridor creation, linkages that reconnect pieces of habitat, is a promising and effective policy tool to mitigate the negative effects of fragmentation. However, for various understudied reasons, formulation and implementation of wildlife corridor policies has been slow or non-existent in most states. The goal of this research is to aid the development of wildlife corridor policy in the U.S. by identifying the primary policy barriers that prevent creation of wildlife corridors in the Great Plains. We surveyed professionals in 12 states with experience working on a wildlife corridor project within this region to identify factors that hinder the various stages of the policy process. Findings revealed that insufficient funding, regulatory obstacles, and coordinating with government agencies are the primary barriers to wildlife corridor implementation. Alignment with the political climate and evidence-based data were identified as important facilitators for the creation of corridors on private agricultural lands. A review of policy diffusion theory in the context of wildlife corridor creation revealed that learning is the most important mechanism that influences the adoption of corridor policies. This research contributes to understanding how policymakers can best initiate, create, and monitor effective wildlife corridors, particularly in fragmented agricultural landscapes.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Wildlife Ecology

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Bork, Shelby

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Serenari, Christopher

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Siciliano-Martina, Leila
• Wagner, Matthew

• wildlife corridors
• habitat fragmentation
• policy processes
• policy diffusions
• agricultural lands
• Great Plains
• wildlife corridor policy

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/19852

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/19852