SC Wildlands is working to maintain and restore connections between wildlands in the South Coast Ecoregion through an effort called the South Coast Missing Linkages Project. 

South Coast Missing Linkages aims to conserve existing connections that are essential travel routes for wildlife, and key to protecting fundamental biological and ecological processes in the South Coast Ecoregion. This region is considered to be one of the 25 most important “hotspots” of biological diversity on earth, and the threat to connectivity is especially severe in this home to 400 threatened and endangered plant and animal species - from bighorn sheep to foxes and butterflies. The South Coast Wildland Network is designed to keep plant and animal populations viable by preserving existing connections among vast wildlands where they can thrive in their natural habitat, with enough room to roam to seek food, find mates and escape natural and unnatural disasters such as flood, fire and global climate change. 

The South Coast Missing Linkages project addresses fragmentation at a landscape scale. The approach is to identify and prioritize linkages that conserve essential biological and ecological processes by gathering current biological data for each linkage design to ensure the viability of the full complement of species native to the region.  Our methods involve partnering, gathering existing data, identifying impediments to and opportunities for connectivity, and stimulating a collaborative effort for each important linkage.  It is our hope that the South Coast Missing Linkages effort will serve as a catalyst for directing funds and attention toward the protection of ecological connectivity for the South Coast Ecoregion and beyond.