Ecological Corridors Project
What are Ecological Corridors?
Ecological corridors are managed or natural areas that connect fragmented habitats. They allow for safe migration and movement of species between different habitats, supporting both individuals within populations as well as the migration of genes between populations of species – ensuring long-term population health. Ecological corridors can take various forms, including vegetated areas along rivers and streams, treelines between agricultural lands and greenbridges and overpasses.
Ecological corridors are important for species survival, as they reduce the negative effects of habitat fragmentation caused by human development, roads, and urbanization. They can also help species adapt to climate change, connect various habitats needed for species migration, support other ecosystem services – such as water filtration and provision of clean air, support human-wildlife coexistence and support ecological connectivity between protected and conserved areas.
Ecological corridors are not necessarily protected or conserved areas, such as national or provincial parks. Instead they are often locally-driven and managed, based on support and voluntary participation from landowners and land managers and are compatible with other land uses such as agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing, etc.
About the Algonquin to Adirondack Corridor
The Algonquin to Adirondacks (A2A) Corridor is a critical ecological corridor that connects Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, to the Adirondack Park in New York, USA. It serves as a vital link for wildlife movement between the Boreal forests of Canada and the Appalachian Mountains in the United States.
Fostering ecological connectivity within the FAB Region
With funding from Parks Canada, in partnership with the Algonquin to Adirondacks Collaborative (A2A) and Plenty Canada, the Ecological Corridors project aims to pursue the Criteria for Ecological Corridors in Canada in strategic locations across the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Region. This project builds on previous modeling and mapping work done by A2A – including ongoing corridor mapping between the Algonquin highlands and the Adirondack mountains. Using an Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing approach, this project seeks to further refine A2A’s wildlife models with local and Indigenous Knowledge to identify and select priority linkages within the FAB Region, and set management and stewardship goals for the selected corridor.
Focusing in: Ecological Corridors Participatory Mapping Workshop
This spring, we gathered in Maitland, Ontario for a participatory mapping workshop as part of our ongoing efforts to restore and protect ecological connectivity in the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Region. Participants shared their knowledge of the land by adding stickers to printed maps, confirming the presence of wildlife within the modelled pathways, identifying barriers to wildlife movement, sharing information and knowledge on the cultural significance and history of the landscapes and offering lots of other important information. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us – your knowledge, stories, and perspectives are shaping the future of ecological connectivity in the region.
The feedback gathered at this workshop helped us to refine and ground A2A’s computer-modelled wildlife corridors in local and Indigenous knowledge. Following the workshop, we compiled all the feedback – annotated maps, comment cards, and discussion notes – and shared them with the Algonquin to Adirondacks (A2A) Collaborative. This input directly informed updates to A2A’s wildlife corridor models, now live on their Data Viewer.
This knowledge and feedback also guided us in our selection of where to focus the next phase of our work: the Charleston Lake to the Thousand Islands area (Figure 4). Workshop participants reported many on-the-land sightings of threatened and culturally significant species there, highlighting the significance of this area and its importance for ecological connectivity. There will be multiple opportunities to maintain and restore connectivity in this area, one of which will be to incorporate wildlife design elements into upcoming development projects, especially in the proposed expansion of Highway 401 between Gananoque and Mallorytown.
We will continue to work collaboratively with project partners, local communities and First Nations as we groundtruth the refined wildlife corridors, identify stewardship opportunities and priorities and develop corridor-scale maps to document these priorities. We also plan to reach out to local residents and decision makers in the area to find ways that we can all support wildlife moving through and around our communities, along the edges of our properties, across our roads, and over and under our bridges.
We’d love to hear from you!
Do you have knowledge or stories to share about the Charleston Lake to Thousand Island region? Fill out our quick survey or reach out to savanah@fabn.ca.
Thank you for being a part of this important work!
How are we using Two-Eyed Seeing and Ethical Space frameworks in this project?
Building on new and existing relationships with local First Nations and Indigenous organizations, this project utilizes an Ethical Space framework to work within Indigenous and western knowledge systems. Using knowledge from conservation experts, local stakeholders and Indigenous knowledge holders, we will identify and map key priority linkages to set management and stewardship objectives for these areas. Using an Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing approach and by working closely with our partners and collaborators, we will ensure that outcomes of this project reflect diverse worldviews, knowledge systems and conservation values – including Indigenous language(s), values and conservation priorities.
To support this framework, all partners – including FABN’s Board of Directors – have been trained in Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing by our partner, Plenty Canada. Project staff are also working on expanding and growing our relationships with First Nation Rightsholders and other Indigenous-led organizations in the FAB Region.
Project Implementation:
Using a series of participatory mapping workshops, the Ecological Corridors project will engage with relevant stakeholders, First Nations and the conservation community within the FAB Region. These workshops will:
- Facilitate the identification of key priority linkages within the FAB Region
- Identify and determine conservation goals and priorities for selected linkages
- Facilitate the mapping of linkages to inform long-term management planning and stewardship of the ecological corridor
Project staff, partners and collaborators will work closely to ground-truth data and create publicly available maps that document and showcase the identified corridor(s) along with determined conservation priorities and values. We hope to share the results of the mapping workshops and fieldwork at upcoming community and partner events this summer and fall!
Want to get involved?
If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact our Project Coordinator savanah@fabn.ca for more information about the project and how you can contribute.
The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network acknowledges that the Ecological Corridors Project is supported and made publicly available through generous funding by the Government of Canada / Parks Canada.
Le Réseau de biosphère de l’Arche de Frontenac reconnaît que le projet de corridors écologiques est soutenu et rendu public grâce au généreux financement du gouvernement du Canada et de Parcs Canada.
