Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative

Summary

The Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative is an endeavor by Vital Ground to protect key wildlife corridors and grizzly habitat on private lands in northwestern Montana near the US/Canada border.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

The Cabinet-Purcell mountain region is under increasing threat of further habitat fragmentation as a result of human population growth and development, potentially exacerbating existing issues facing the threatened grizzly populations on both sides of the international border. If key habitat and linkage lands here are lost to development, grizzly and other wildlife populations could become too isolated and small to be viable in the long term.

How will this project solve this problem?

Maintaining landscape connectivity in the area is crucial to genetic interchange between grizzlies in the US and in Canada, where the populations are more robust. With redoubled efforts, it is possible for the grizzly to thrive again.

Potential Long Term Impact

If the core grizzly populations in the Cabinet-Purcell region can expand in size, it is believed that they will eventually grow in number and disperse and recolonize old territories, including the vast Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem of Central Idaho.

Project Message

We fully support Vital Ground's efforts in the conservation of grizzly bear habitat. We recognize that the functional conservation of these small grizzly populations depends upon efforts like this.
- Dr. Chris Servheen, U.S. Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources