On May 14^th and 15^th 2008 a group of 20 biologists and conservationists from agency and non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Alaska met to discuss future landscape connectivity questions.  Using the Strategic Habitat Conservation principles, the meeting was designed to bring partners together from the inception of the project.  The goal of the project is to do an initial state-wide assessment of connectivity pathways, incorporate anticipated changes due to climate shifts, and identify important pathways that will continue to allow for migration and movement of plants and animals into the future.  The project is supported by the Fish and Wildlife Service divisions of Migratory Birds, Refuges, Ecological Services and Subsistence Management. 

Co-led by John Morton and Karen Murphy of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and Nancy Fresco and Falk Huettmann of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the workshop started off with presentations on the science of landscape connectivity, climate change, and modeling methodology.  The challenging part came next as the group needed to decide how to focus the questions of connectivity (i.e. “Which Alaska landscapes are we connecting?”) and determine how to move forward.  After much discussion, we decided to test some different options, do preliminary modeling, and come back to discuss the results at the second of the three planned workshops.  We agreed to explore options that look at a range from broad communities (biomes and vegetation classes) to single species within different taxa (caribou, Alaska marmot, trumpeter swans, blue berries and the invasive reed canary grass). 

Over the next few months we will gather existing information from literature and experts to provide data to Dr Falk Huettmann for modeling.  Dr Huettmann will use the climate data that has been downscaled for Alaska to create predictions of future biomes and vegetation that will then be used to evaluate potential corridors for these communities and for the single species.  He will use three connectivity modeling approaches (Least Path, MARXAN, and Landscape Metrics) to produce preliminary results for review at our next meeting.