What Is a Wildlife Corridor?

Do you live next to a creek, hill, or open space? You may be living next to a wildlife corridor without realizing it.

In our latest video, get a glimpse of the animals who are stealthily sneaking around just a few hundred feet from a major suburb in the Diablo region.

Why are wildlife corridors important? For many reasons: to get from one park to another, to recolonize areas after fire, to find new territory, etc. A creek is one type of corridor, and different species use different types of corridors.

Corridors can be partly aquatic, or follow ridge lines. Alameda whipsnakes move from one chaparral patch to another. Eagles follow grasslands from above and avoid developed areas.

Corridors exist at different scales: from small scale, like along a small creek, to large scale, like the entire Diablo Range, which is a corridor of statewide importance, especially in the time of climate change: it’s intact habitat stretching 150 miles with significant elevation change.

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Wildlife Corridor Map: East Bay Regional Park District

Coyote Footage: Floyd McCluhan

Bobcat Photo: Scott Hein