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Sky Island Alliance (September, 2000, Vermilion Flycatcher Newsletter) by Alan Adler The Sky Islands Wildlands Network (SIWN) is composed of four private non-profit conservation groups: The Wildlands Project and the Sky Island Alliance (both based in Tucson), the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, and Naturalia, A.C. (based in Mexico). Its plan, the Sky Islands Wildlands Network Conservation Plan, aims to protect a huge region (17.3 million acres) extending from the Mogollon Rim in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico south to the northern Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. At its center are the Sky Islands - 40 mountain ranges encompassing 9.9 million acres. A large majority (92%) of the land identified for inclusion in the region is owned by state and federal governments. Only 5.5 % of the total land area included in SIWN Conservation Plan is privately owned and of the privately owned land, more than 95% is already being managed to maintain and restore conservation values. Examples of such private stewardship are preserves managed by The Nature Conservancy and ranching operations such as Ladd Ranch, Gray Ranch and San Rafael Valley. The SIWN Conservation Plan covers portions of the land recently protected by the Ironwood National Monument and the land proposed to be covered by the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. (See article at pages 15-16 about upcoming forum concerning the latter.) The term "sky islands" refers to mountain ranges that are isolated from each other by intervening valleys of grassland or desert. The valleys are barriers to the movement of woodland and forest species, acting like seawater in relation to oceanic islands, the best example of which is the Galapagos Islands. Like the Galapagos, the Sky Islands are known to have an unusually high level of ecological diversity, which is the result of their location and elevation. They are located at the nexus of the Rocky Mountains to the north, the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains to the south, the Chihuahuan Desert to the east and the Sonoran Desert to the west. The Sky Islands is a region where there is the lowest gap in the continental system of parallel mountain ranges that extends from northern Canada to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at the southernmost portion of the Gulf of Mexico. This low gap encouraged the movement of eastern and western species, thus enhancing biological diversity. Three climate zones (tropical, subtropical, and temperate) converge in the Sky Islands, providing habitat for 104 species of mammals, 2500 species of flowering plants, and more than half the bird species of North America. Existing protected areas within the SIWN Conservation Plan are too small and too isolated from each other to allow the natural migrations of animals, plants, and ecological processes. The ecosystems within the SIWN region have suffered from the overgrazing of riparian areas, the unusual plant growth patterns caused by years of fire suppression, the fragmentation of habitat caused by road building, dam construction, urban sprawl, and agriculture, the degradation of forests by logging for mine timbers, railroad ties, firewood, and industrial production, and the disruptive invasions of exotic species. As a result, the watersheds, stream channels, and riparian forests have been damaged almost beyond measure, and the reduction in numbers and the rate of species extinction (especially among carnivores, large ungulates, and particular rodents) has been unprecedented. Since large carnivores such as wolves and cougars have been wiped out, song bird populations have declined; the songbirds and their eggs are eaten disproportionately by raccoons, foxes, skunks, and opossums because the populations of these smaller carnivores are not kept in check by the larger carnivores. The decline of the large carnivores has altered plant species composition, upsetting the balance between large-seeded and small- seeded plants, because superabundant herbivores, which are normally regulated by large carnivores, have increased their predation of seeds and seedlings. To restore ecosystems, larger protected wildlands (natural and semi-natural landscapes) are needed, and large carnivores such as wolves, jaguars, and bears must be reintroduced. A "wildlands network" is a proposed complex of core areas, landscape linkages, and compatible use zones in an ecologically defined area. Core areas are designated or proposed wilderness areas (on public land), national riparian areas and parks, state parks and wildlife areas, county parks, and private land managed for natural values (e.g., Nature Conservancy and Audubon preserves). Landscape linkages include wildlife movement linkages, riparian corridors, and wildlife dispersal areas (found on federal, state, and private land) which provide access for wildlife moving from one core area to another. Compatible use areas include public lands with low or very low road density and limited or moderate use as well as private lands, especially large working ranches that are managed for biodiversity protection. The proactive feature of the Sky Islands Wildlands Network Conservation Plan is a long-term process (about 50 years to achieve oldgrowth pine and fir) called "rewilding." It starts with identifying and mapping the sensitive ecosystems that need protection. Focal species have already been identified (the final report is being published this summer): those which cover large and ecologically diverse areas, those whose effect is disproportionate to their numerical abundance, those which require habitat of high ecological integrity, those which are sensitive to human disturbance, and those which are key prey for the aforementioned species. Then the most sensitive areas, called core areas, are connected by linkage zones. With rewilding, linkage zones must be established to allow long-distance migration by some focal species such as large carnivores (e.g., Mountain lion, Jaguar, Black Bear, Jaguarundi, River otter, Black-footed Ferret, and Mexican Wolf), the Golden Eagle, and ungulates (Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn, Bison, Elk, and Coues white-tailed Deer). The linkage zones also include riparian corridors which provide habitat and movement of aquatic species and such riparian dependent focal species such as fish (Gila and Apache Trout) and birds (Willow Flycatcher, Western thick-billed Parrot, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo). The Wilderness Areas of the Mogollon Highlands in central Arizona will be expanded and connectivity between them will be protected or restored for the movement of large carnivores. These Wilderness Areas will be linked to high quality habitat and areas anticipated to be protected by SIWN's sister wildlands project, Sierra Madre Occidental Biological Corridor, in northern Mexico, by protecting Wilderness Areas (including as yet undesignated areas) in the Peloncillo and Chiricahua ranges in southeastern Arizona. The greater Galiuro region in southeastern Arizona will also be linked to the areas anticipated to be protected by the Sierra Madre Occidental Biological Corridor. This will be accomplished by protecting Wilderness Areas (including as yet undesignated areas) and landscape connectivity in the Santa Rita, Pajarito, and Huachuca Sky Island ranges in Arizona and in anticipated protected areas in the Sky Island ranges farther south in Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. SIWN will also be tied to the Southern Rocky Mountains Wildlands Network through the New Mexico Link project and to the Grand Canyon Wildlands Network through the Arizona Link project. The protection of the habitats of large carnivores and other important focal species like Beaver, Spotted Owl, Northern Goshawk, Aplomado Falcon, Loach Minnow, and Gila Topminnow also acts as an umbrella to protect hundreds of other species at the same time. Of course, some species will have to be reintroduced. The protection of the aforementioned focal species, their environments and all of the remaining native forests and woodlands within the SIWN region will be necessary, as will be the restoration of natural forest conditions. This protection and restoration will take place in the Galiuro, Aravaipa, Catalina, and Rincon ranges. The Wilderness Areas of the Mogollon Highlands will have to be expanded. Naturally, rewilding necessitates the restoration of watersheds, streams, and riparian forests as well as a regime of natural fire disturbance. The Gila River and its tributaries will be protected by National Wild and Scenic River designation and by designation of critical habitat for endangered species of fish. Restoration will be done on the Bavispe River and its tributaries. Since 1988, the Sky Island Alliance has teamed up with Mountain Lion biologist Harley Shaw, Sue Morse of the non-profit tracking organization Keeping Track, and the U.S. Army to survey annually for carnivore tracks on eight transects on Ft. Huachuca in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona. This is the longest-running track count in the country. They are in the process of compiling over a decade of data, which will be used to monitor mainly mountain lion movements in the Huachuca Mountains. The Sky Island Alliance has been surveying roads on the Coronado and Apache National Forests since 1997. By June 2000, it had surveyed over 700 miles of Forest Service roads. Of particular interest to TAS members are the bimonthly tracking outings that the Sky Island Alliance runs at the National Audubon Research Ranch, a grassland preserve in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains in Elgin, Arizona, with emphasis on large carnivore movements through the Canelo Hills to the Mustang Mts. While funding for the enactment of the Sky Islands Wildlands Network Conservation Plan will not be necessary with regard to state and federally owned lands, management practices on them will have to be modified. Funding with regard to the management of the rest of the land that is included in the plan will come from federal and state conservation programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, from private organizations such as land trusts and conservancies, from private donations, and from the voluntary donation of conservation easements by private landowners, who wish to protect their lands while reducing their tax burdens. A copy of the Spring 2000 issue WildEARTH, from which most of the information presented above was drawn, can be found in the TAS library. For more information about the SIWN Conservation Plan contact Kim Vacariu, Communications Director of The Wildlands Project, 1955 West Grant Road, suite 145, Tucson, AZ 85745-0875. His phone and fax numbers are: (520) 884-0875 and 0962, respectively, and his e-mail address is kim@twp.org. The articles in the Spring 2000 issue WildEARTH can be found on the web at www.skyislandalliance.org. To volunteer for field programs such as wildlife tracking and road surveys, call Sky Island Alliance at (520) 624-7080 or stop by its office right behind the TAS office in Suite 201 of the historic YWCA. The e-mail address of Sky Island Alliance is info@skyislandalliance.org.
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