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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) commissioned the California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project because a functional network of connected wildlands is essential to the continued support of Californias diverse natural communities in the face of human development and climate change. The Essential Connectivity Map depicts large, relatively natural habitat blocks that support native biodiversity (Natural Landscape Blocks) and areas essential for ecological connectivity between them (Essential Connectivity Areas). This coarse-scale map was based primarily on the concept of ecological integrity, rather than the needs of particular species. Essential Connectivity Areas are placeholder polygons that can inform land-planning efforts, but that should eventually be replaced by more detailed Linkage Designs, developed at finer resolution based on the needs of particular species and ecological processes. It is important to recognize that even areas outside of Natural Landscape Blocks and Essential Connectivity Areas support important ecological values that should not be "written off" as lacking conservation value. Furthermore, because the Essential Habitat Connectivity Map was created at the statewide scale, based on available statewide data layers, and ignored Natural Landscape Blocks smaller than 2,000 acres squared, it has errors of omission that should be addressed at regional and local scales.

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This dataset represents CDFWs ongoing effort to identify priority wildlife movement barriers across the state. Currently, increasing attention is being directed toward wildlife habitat connectivity as a mechanism of maintaining biodiversity in the face of population growth and climate change. Listing priority wildlife barrier locations will help focus limited financial resources where the highest need has been identified to improve wildlife movement. This is complementary to CDFW''s fish passage barrier priorities that have been identified for anadromous fish. Like the fish passage priorities, the wildlife barrier priorities list will be periodically updated to reflect new information and barrier removal successes.CDFW divides the state into six administrative Regions. CDFW staff in each Region identified linear segments of infrastructure that currently present barriers to wildlife populations in their jurisdiction. In doing so, the Regions used all available empirical information in their possession, including existing connectivity and road crossing studies, collared-animal movement data, roadkill observations, and professional expertise. This dataset represents all barriers identified statewide as of May 2022 and former barriers that have been remediated since 2020. Most of the barriers identified are highway segments, but other infrastructure types such as fencing, canals, local roads, and high speed rail alignments are also represented.Additional information can be found in this report: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=204648.