Connect Habitats

Increase connectivity of coastal habitat to enhance biodiversity and support migratory pathways.

Habitat connectivity is essential for protecting fish, wildlife, and the ecosystems that support them. When natural areas are separated by barriers like dams, culverts, and roads, it becomes harder for animals to move freely to feed, breed, migrate, and find shelter. Protecting existing habitat patches and restoring connections between them improves ecosystem health, supports biodiversity, and increases resilience to changing conditions.

Since the 1994 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) first prioritized 12 key coastal habitats, the Partnership and its collaborators have restored more than 2,100 acres of habitat, protected over 8,000 acres of land, and reconnected 400 miles of rivers flowing into Long Island Sound. These efforts have laid important groundwork, but significant needs remain.

Building on this progress, the Partnership aims to restore or protect 100 habitat patches and reconnect 175 miles of riverine migratory corridors in the Connecticut and New York portions of the Long Island Sound watershed. At least 50 acres will be restored to specifically strengthen connections between isolated habitats.

The Partnership will identify and prioritize sites for restoring habitat connectivity, focusing on areas where interventions like barrier removal (such as taking out dams or replacing culverts) will have the greatest impact. Where removing barriers is not possible, alternative measures like installing fish ladders or improving stream habitat will be used. A key sub-goal is the removal of 100 barriers (a combination of dams and culverts) to restore natural flow and improve access for migratory species across the watershed.

By restoring habitat connections, the Partnership is not only improving conditions for wildlife but also strengthening the environmental, social, and economic benefits that healthy ecosystems provide to surrounding communities.

Actions

• Implement remote sensing, mapping tools, modeling, and field verification to target restoration and protection of habitat patches and river miles to maintain and enhance connectivity.
• Complete stream barrier removal projects (i.e., dams or culverts) that result in full restoration of fish and wildlife migration, sediment transport, and other stream functions.
• Promote regional collaborations to support development of streamlined permitting pathways to build regional capacity for habitat restoration.