Conservation corridors in the United States: Benefits and planning guidelines

The landscape of rural America is changing. Wildlife habitats are being con verted to agricultural uses, corridors (linear patches that differ from the ir surroundings) are removed to expand fields, and urban development spread s across farms, forests, and prairies. The result is a fragmented landscape with fewer, smaller, less-connected patches of wildlife habitat and increa singly-degraded water quality that stresses aquatic ecosystems. The landsca pe's capacity to sustain a diversity of plant, animal, and aquatic species is declining at an decelerating rate. The loss of biodiversity has become a national concern. Land use planners are increasingly advocating the use of conservation corridors, including riparian buffers, windbreaks/shelterbelt s, filter strips, field borders, and grassed waterways to improve water qua lity and wildlife habitat Since many of the ecological functions of conserv ation corridors operate more efficiently at scales larger than an individua l corridor, planning at the watershed scale offers the best opportunity to optimize these functions.