• VTrans will modify an existing bridge on VT Route 15 to add a shelf for wildlife passage, remove a derelict bridge nearby, and restore the site. 
• TNC provided the science that identified the site, raised $225,000 from a private foundation, and is managing the project.   
• VTFW is overseeing wetland and floodplain forest restoration to increase resilience and habitat connectivity alongside the roadway.
• VTFW and Vermont Land Trust have conserved lands adjacent to the road. 
• LCPC is playing a liaison role between the SCI partners, the Town, and adjacent landowners.

Dalhousie University graduate student Amelia Barnes has been studying how roads affect wildlife, focusing her work in the Chignecto Isthmus, the SCI linkage area between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Last summer, Amelia conducted roadkill surveys on a weekly or biweekly basis along 12 roads that intersect the isthmus. This pilot study, the first to systematically collect roadkill data in the region, was made possible by funding from the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund and the Nova Scotia Habitat Conservation Fund.  In partnership with Nature Conservancy of Canada, data from the study were added to the Wildpaths Maritimes iNaturalist page to promote citizen participation in monitoring roadkill. Currently, preliminary spatial analysis is being performed on the data to determine base rates of mortality and identify clusters of incidents to help direct future surveys. Partners are hopeful that transportation planners in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will use the results  to inform collision mitigation decisions (such as wildlife fencing coupled with a crossing structure) at problem spots for both human and wildlife safety, as well as for wildlife habitat connectivity.  For more information, contact Amelia Barnes.

The Green Mountains to Hudson Highlands (Berkshire Wildlife) linkage is soliciting applications for land protection projects for its Catalyst Fund. Projects in New York state are now eligible for funding, making this a four-state program (MA, VT, CT, and NY) covering the entirety of the linkage. The g rant program, which is offered through the Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts, started in May 2017 thanks to a generous donation from the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust. So far, awards have gone to projects to protect over 1,000 acres in three states, including the parcel pictured here.  The program covers up to $15,000 in due diligence funding for priority connectivity projects that have a bargain sale or donation component. The application form can be found here.  For more information, contact Laura Marx. 

In October, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) and the Yukon Conservation Society hosted a team of outside experts to help advise Ministry staff and First Nations in the Yukon on connectivity. The Territory is preparing for major expansions to its road network - it recently received $400 million for road development from the federal government - for resource extraction. SCI partner  Jens Hilke from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department was an invited advisor, along with Jodi Hilty, Y2Y President and Chief Scientist, and Rob Ament, Road Ecology Program Manager for the Western Transportation Institute. Jens shared his expertise on inter-agency coordination between transportation and natural resource staff, ways to mitigate the impacts of roads on wildlife, SCI's landscape scale approach to conservation, and land-use planning tactics for local communities. The exchange builds on the increased collaboration and information sharing between SCI and Y2Y over the last year.

Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has launched a new interactive story map to highlight its project Ecological Corridors: A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. The story map highlights various connectivity strategies and successes in southern Quebec that involve nearly 100 experts and stakeholders. Implementation is led by NCC, Nature Action-Québec, Appalachian Corridor, Éco-corridors Laurentiens, Horizon nature Bas-Saint-Laurent, le Conseil régional de l'environnement du Centre-du-Québec, and Staying Connected. 

The story map also provides information about SCI's linkage areas and additional connectivity projects in Quebec. For more information, or to add your project,  contact Kateri Monticone.   

Sustainable Infrastructure Day took place at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (COP-14) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November. The event, sponsored by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the United Nations Environment Program, and others, helped launch two weeks of discussions on the need to mainstream biodiversity into development processes, including infrastructure development. Panelists highlighted the coming wave of infrastructure projects, the importance of including biodiversity considerations at the outset of infrastructure planning processes, the value of natural capital to maintain connectivity, and the roles of finance and industry engagement in developing sustainable projects.  WWF and TNC produced this short film about the event.