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26 <br /> WHY WE NEED LANDSCAPE CORRIDORS <br /> Movement of wildlife within and between habitats is essential for the short-term and long-term survival <br /> of individuals, species, and populations. Animals need to move across the landscape to find food, shelter, <br /> water, and mates, as well as to maintain genetic diversity and adapt to climate change (Cosgrove et al. <br /> 2018). However, as human population density increases,the natural contiguous landscape is fragmented <br /> by development into smaller, isolated patches or"islands"of natural habitat(Hilty et al. 2006) (Figure 3). <br /> Roads and development can make wildlife travel difficult or impossible(National Research Council <br /> 2005),while semi-natural landscapes such as working farms and forests are more conducive to movement <br /> by some species (NCWRC 2013). In North Carolina, as elsewhere,habitat loss and fragmentation are <br /> caused by changing human land uses from natural and semi-natural to developed land uses. <br /> Undeveloped Urban <br /> { ' fix• I 4-1 11 <br /> Figure 3.Reproduced from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife(2009): `An aerial depiction of the <br /> undeveloped to urban gradient...The bottom panel highlights how forest habitat(shown here in green)decreases, <br /> and how forest patches become smaller and more dispersed as development intensity increases." <br /> In addition to direct loss of wildlife populations from conversion of habitat to human land uses, <br /> development actions such as land clearing, development, and road-building(along with resulting <br /> increases in traffic volume)can be understood as stressors that negatively affect development-sensitive <br /> wildlife populations, overall biodiversity, and ecosystems (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife <br /> 2009) (Figure 4).For example, along New Hope Creek in Durham County,habitat fragmentation caused <br /> by US Highway 15-501 creates an artificial edge to the forest that may alter or halt the movement <br /> behavior of wildlife species that are wary of open or developed areas. This habitat edge also contributes <br /> to habitat degradation and increased threats to wildlife (such as predation by other species)through <br /> changes in natural community composition and structure, as the road carries edge-dependent(often non- <br /> native and/or invasive)plant and animal species into the bottomland hardwood forests in the floodplain. <br /> In addition to these and other edge effects of habitat fragmentation(Hilty et al. 2006,2019),US Highway <br /> 15-501 is a direct cause of mortality for wildlife that try to cross, and the road creates a behavioral or <br /> A Landscape Plan for Wildlife Habitat Connectivity 13 <br />