Landscape-scale Connectivity

John J. Donahue, Superintendent

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Delaware River Watershed Conference

October 21, 2014

NPS Director’s Call to Action

1916-2016 A Second-Century National

Park Service:

Connecting People to the Parks

Advancing the NPS Education Mission

Preserving America’s Special Places

Enhancing Professional and Organizational Excellence

Preserving America’s Special Places Goals

Manage the natural and cultural resources of the National Park System to increase resilience in the face of climate change and other stressors.

Cultivate excellence in science and scholarship as a foundation for park planning, policy, decision making, and education

Achieve a standard of excellence in cultural and natural resource stewardship that serves as a model throughout the world.

Collaborate with other land managers and partners to create, restore, and maintain landscape-scale connectivity

Preserving America’s Special Places

Addressing conservation on the large-landscape scale is

necessary and timely. It’s no longer enough to preserve

isolated forests, valleys, and wilderness areas. Connection of

habitats is key to the long-term health of ecosystems and the

biological diversity that supports both wildlife and human

communities

•Baja 2 Bering

•2C1 Forest

(northern Appalachia

to Canada)

•Yellowstone to Yukon

•Spine of the Rockies

•Gulf of Main to Gulf

of Mexico

Delaware River Watershed

Large Scale Connectivity Initiatives

Think beyond the boundaries of existing Public Lands Climate Change Will not respect boundaries

Decadal population dynamics between 1900 and 2000

-

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

To

tal

po

pu

lati

on

Census Year

Sussex County

W arren County

Broome County

D elaware County

Greene County

Orange County

Sullivan County

Ulster County

Lackawanna County

Monroe County

Northampton County

Pike County

W ayne County

Changes in population density

Location of Remote Roadless Areas

(Core Habitat)

Connectivity of Core Habitat

Areas around UPDE/DEWA

Connectivity and Patch habitat importance change as residential development expands..

Patch Connectivity

0.02 - 0.10

0.11 - 0.20

0.21 - 0.30

0.31 - 0.40

0.41 - 0.50

0.51 - 0.60

0.61 - 0.70

0.71 - 0.80

0.81 - 0.90

0.91 - 1.00

Delaware River parks

Patterns of Natural Landscapes

Landscape dynamics: Pattern of natural landscapes What: Measures the natural landscape context

Why: Movement of plants & animals and ecological processes connect to

adjacent landscapes beyond the park boundary

Stressors:Land use change, climate change

DEWA scores higher than its ecoregion, but is declining from 0.6811 in 1992 to

0.6631 in 2001 to 0.6123 in 2030.

14

Proposed Connectivity Corridors between NPS and Pennsylvania State Lands in Pike County