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  Creating Wildlife Corridors: Conservationists Blaze Trails For Wildcats

Creating Wildlife Corridors Conservationists Blaze Trails For Wildcats

By Rafaela von Bredow

Part 2: Corridors Are Vital for the Wildcat's Survival

Scientists hope that it is precisely the diversity of the wildcat's territory that will prompt many other species to use the green wildlife corridors.

Biologist Mölich discovered the wildcat's paths and favorite spots when he followed nine test animals fitted with transmitters with his antenna and receiver in the Hainich reserve. He discovered that the corridors are more than just a pleasant place for the predators to take a stroll. In fact, they are critical to its survival. Even the most itinerant cat, which Mölich named "Beckman," while easily covering 25 kilometers (16 miles) through the Hainich reserve, refused to set as much as a paw onto the surrounding farmland. "There have to be trees," says Mölich, "probably as a place to escape."

Thus, the planned cat corridors will have to offer three features: trees, light and many places to hide. These elements are characteristic of the typical habitat along the forest edge: a center consisting of trees of varying heights, piles of brush and dead wood underneath, a ring of bushes and thick brambles, and an outer perimeter consisting of a strip of wild herbs.

The networking concept is nothing new. In fact, it was even written into Germany's 2002 Federal Nature Conservation Act as a requirement. The BfN has already defined habitat corridors for all of Germany. But the problem is that nature conservation in Germany is left up to the individual states. Anything that smells of the federal government trying to impose its will on the states quickly provokes distrust and resistance. To overcome the states' misgivings, the BfN cautiously describes its concept as a "guideline for initiatives." BUND, on the other hand, can be far more aggressive than federal agencies in formulating national plans.

On Tuesday the organization presented its idea of a network to save wild animals to Eckhard Uhlenberg, the environment minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who is currently chair of the conference of state environment ministers. On Nov. 1, teams will already begin planting thousands of saplings south of the Hainich reserve, the first phase in an effort to enable wildcats and other wildlife to make the journey to the Thuringian Forest. Red posts have already been installed to mark the path.

Only about 20 kilometers (12 miles) separate Hainich, a wildcat paradise, from the Thuringian Forest, a place frequented by only the occasional cat, presumably coming from the state of Hesse to the west. In the rolling countryside between the two reserves lie the Hörsel Mountains, a stepping-stone for cats bound for Thuringian Forest. Through careful selection of the corridor route and the incorporation of small groves of trees and bushes, as well as the use of the natural vegetation lining the banks of the Nesse River as a guideline, only about 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) of farmland remain between the edge of the Hainich reserve and the forests of the Hörsel Mountains.

Offsetting Construction with Environmental Protection

Road construction, of all things (the rerouting of the A4 Autobahn to the area north of the Hörsel Mountains), is helping pave the way for wildcats in Thuringia -- while at the same time providing a model for implementation of the remaining network of paths throughout Germany. Under German law, anyone who disturbs the natural environment, through road construction, for instance, must make up for it by creating a new natural environment elsewhere. Officials at BUND reason that it makes more sense to do so by contributing to the wildcat path instead of planting a few trees or hedges along rural paths that lead into villages -- dead ends for the wildcats and other local wildlife.

The only hitch is that the farmers who own the land must agree to these offsetting measures on their fields. "But they're no fools," says Vogel. "They much prefer to be part of something that promises to be a success." And what about zoning authorities? "They too," says Vogel, "want to know in advance which environmental protection measures to incorporate into their plans." The path network concept also makes it possible to connect wild animal tunnels under major highways and Autobahns to the corridors -- yet another advantage. The concept has been so successful at the Hainich reserve that the scientists involved are literally brimming with optimism.

But when BUND's conservationists are asked how precisely the map of the path network reflects the actual course of the planned corridors, they nervously add that there could certainly be "a few kilometers of deviation." They are acutely aware that their concept will not settle the age-old conflict between conservation and land use. Not all farmers will be willing to sacrifice a 50-meter corridor through their land for the wildcat.

Part of the reason is that no one can prove that the Hainich wildcats will in fact travel along the carefully planted forest corridors. But a lot depends on these wildcats' behavior, because the Thuringian tree corridor will have to serve as a model for the rest of Germany.

Corridor visionary Mölich, lost in thought, listens to the deep rattling noise of a raven, and looks up at the Hörsel Mountains and along the strip of no-man's land demarcated by red posts -- his strip of land.

The fallow land is filled with purple creeping thistle, yellow dandelions and sprouting mayweed, and it seems hard to imagine that trees will soon grow here. "I wish it were like the Asterix comic books, where the Gauls simply dip acorns into a magic potion, throw them on the ground and, before you know it, oak trees are suddenly shooting out of the ground."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan