BLM AZ, Wildlife Connectivity Planning in the Sonoran Desert National Monument (SDNM)

Project Objective: The principle purpose of this project is to facilitate public education on wildlife resources, provide better wildlife habitat data, and improve local and regional land use planning efforts. The objective of this agreement is to validate the use of Geographic Information System derived wildlife movement corridors used in local and regional land use planning by federal, state, and local governments, thus facilitating better-informed land use planning. Habitat fragmentation and the loss of important wildlife corridors are among the greatest threats to wildlife today. Wildlife corridors connecting the Sonoran Desert National Monument (SDNM) with nearby wilderness [all National Lands Conservation Strategy (NLCS) lands] areas are currently being bisected and fragmented. This is largely due to their close proximity to the Phoenix metropolitan area. Models have been developed and adopted by land management agencies to identify these wildlife corridors in order to maintain and protect them from the influences of human development. These models currently lack complete validation which could provide a scientific foundation for decision-making in the future. The requested funding will be used to support the deployment of additional satellite-GPS collars on mountain lions in the SDNM and/or surrounding mountain ranges. Funding will also support the analysis and presentation of study data in the form of reports and presentations to stakeholders involved with regional connectivity planning. Overall, this project will attempt to validate projected wildlife movement corridors, and supports the preservation of the ecological resources that were, in part, responsible for these areas¿ designation as a National Monument in 2001.