A host of critters will have more roaming room that can’t be found on a GPS, thanks to a recent land acquisition by the Bureau of Land Management this week. Situation about 50 miles northeast of San Diego in northern San Diego county, this 400-acre land parcel was arranged through the Conservation Fund with the goal of providing more wilderness linkage, aka animal highways and byways, in areas that are seeing more development pressures these days.
The new land space will connect habitat and wildlife movement between protected lands in the Cleveland National Forest, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Wilderness, and the Beauty Mountain Wilderness.
In a report on the Linkage Design for the Palomar-San Jacinto/Santa Rosa Connection by the South Coast Wildlands, biologists note this land connect will benefit many animals, especially mountain lions, mule deer and American badgers which were once widespread in the region, and now are very far and few in between.
The report also noted that the increased turf will be a boon to a variety of animals from all five animal groups, including insects, naming the Aguanga kangaroo rat, Western pond turtle, loggerhead shrike, California spotted owl and the Quino checkerspot butterfly.
American Badgers – PHOTO BY NATURE’S PIC ONLINE
