Sierra Club Welcomes BLM Memo on Habitat Connectivity

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an Instruction Memorandum (IM) to all field staff, effective immediately, which will inventory and assess habitat connectivity to identify how to manage public lands and best support priority species. This assessment would then be used to inform land use plans and revisions on public lands that the BLM manages. 

To execute this policy, BLM will work with states, Tribes, and other partners to develop and implement proactive, collaborative ecosystem-based conservation strategies to promote habitat connectivity, such as removing physical barriers to fish and wildlife movements, installing wildlife crossings, promoting native plant communities, and installing signage to mitigate vehicle-wildlife collisions. This policy recognizes the importance of connections between and within priority habitats in planning processes, and with increasing habitat fragmentation and degradation, maintaining habitat integrity and connectivity has become a significant need.  

In response, Bradley Williams, Associate Director of Legislative and Administrative Advocacy released the following statement:

“We welcome BLM’s approach in prioritizing habitat connectivity as a part of the Biden Administration's  strategy to support biodiversity and conserve 30% of our nation’s lands and waters by 2030. With animals, plants, and insects going extinct at unprecedented rates, largely due to human-driven habitat loss, so much of what can and will happen in the future relies on the policies we put in place today – this action marks an urgent and concerted step in ensuring the next generation has a chance to inherit a species-rich, biologically diverse world.”