News Service September 25, 2003

Mexico-to-Yukon Conservation Proposal Unveiled

By MEAD GRUVER

Associated Press Writer

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A conservation group unveiled a strategy Wednesday for protecting a contiguous area from Mexico to the Canadian Yukon with the goal of preserving wildlife migration routes.

Of particular concern to The Wildlands Project are five areas it considers especially threatening to wildlife, like Interstate 70 through central Colorado and I-40 east of Albuquerque, N.M.

''A park here, an open space there, isn't working because we're still losing species at much higher than the natural extinction rate,'' said Jen Clanahan, the group's regional director.

Clanahan explained that while few species migrate all the way from Mexico to northern Canada, contiguous protected areas make replenishment possible when isolated populations are wiped out due to wildfire or disease.

And she said large animals such as wolves and bears require lots of space - as do natural processes like wildfires and floods.

''It's a big plan and it's going to take a while to implement. We call it a 100-year vision,'' she said. ''The first step is you need to get out there and talk to everyone. And that's what we're doing now is talking to agencies, the landowners, other conservation groups, local community leaders.''

She said she hopes the blueprint can influence long-range planning by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Five ''endangered linkages'' are considered in need of immediate protection: Crowsnest Pass on the Alberta-British Columbia border north of Waterton Lakes National Park, southern Wyoming's Powder Rim, Vail Pass in central Colorado, the area between Sandia Mountain Wilderness and Cibola National Forest east of Albuquerque, and the Arizona-Mexico border.