Cougar by Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel
In 2000, CalWild (then California Wilderness Coalition) was one of the conveners of the Missing Linkages conference, which issued an influential report on creating and protecting corridors for wildlife migration between protected natural areas in California. Since that time, connectivity has been an important factor in our assessments of which areas are most important to protect.
Now, 25 years later, the Missing Linkages Symposium in Sacramento in January of 2026 brought together scientists, state and federal agency representatives, and nonprofits like CalWild and The Nature Conservancy to assess how we are doing in protecting these areas, and what work needs to be done to preserve California’s internationally remarkable biodiversity. I was on the Steering Committee that produced the conference, and Community Engagement and Conservation Policy Manager André Sanchez also attended and helped lead a discussion.
The good news coming out of the Symposium is that as of 2025, 61% (8,642,776/14,189,970 acres) of the net linkage area across the state is protected in fee or conservation easement. Three shining examples:
Beauty Mountain
An early target for acquisition was the Beauty Mountain area in Riverside and San Diego counties, a landscape identified by the University of California Riverside as a “biological hotspot” where the desert and coastal shrublands come together adjacent to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Several private parcels near Beauty Mountain were purchased and transferred to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) so that they could be protected in perpetuity.
Near Donner Summit
Similarly, a long-term effort was launched to acquire private lands near Interstate 80 in the Tahoe National Forest. In the Nineteenth Century, Congress transferred every other square-mile of land to railroad interests in what later became the Tahoe National Forest. The land was later acquired by timber companies who severely logged the former railroad lands, thus creating a checkerboard pattern of intact public lands and private clearcuts near Donner Summit. Thanks to an initiative called the Checkerboard Project, much of this private land has now been acquired.
Sacramento River
The BLM has made great strides in acquiring ecologically critical lands along the Sacramento River in The Bend area in Shasta and Tehama counties. These lands preserve and restore links between the Sacramento Valley and the foothills of the Cascades to the east. California’s recovering grey wolf populations have shown a particular affinity for The Bend, as have countless hikers, boaters, and equestrians who enjoy access to the former private lands.
However, there are many linkages which were not identified at that time, and major threats remain, particularly to animals which require large habitat areas and native plants which are shifting their locations due to increasing heat from climate change. There are also significant portions of the state which have never really been mapped for habitat connectivity, and this must be addressed.
The conference was a great opportunity for CalWild staff who are ordinarily involved mostly with the advocacy and public policy side of the California conservation movement to engage with scientists and technical planners who are studying and implementing connectivity on the ground. I led a policy breakout session to discuss strategies to help “harden” California’s natural lands against federally-led damage, and André led the session titled “Partnerships and Inclusion: How can partnership frameworks be improved to accelerate and sustain connectivity efforts?”
As someone who has been with CalWild for less than three years, I was reminded again of our organization’s status in the eyes of decision makers, agency leaders and fellow NGOs. In our now-fifty years of effort, CalWild has become an important voice for California’s wild known for our technical accuracy, competence and effective advocacy.
Proceedings from the Missing Linkages Symposium will come out later this year. We’ll let you know where you can download them when they are available.
Congratulations to all who helped to produce this effective and exciting conference!
