Project Summary
The Oregon Connectivity Assessment and Mapping Project (OCAMP) was a multi-year, collaborative effort to analyze and map statewide wildlife habitat connectivity for Oregon’s wildlife. There has been a critical need to develop connectivity maps for a broad array of Oregon’s wildlife species. Many species rely on the ability to move throughout the landscape to fulfill their daily and seasonal needs for access to food, shelter, and opportunities to reproduce. Human changes to the landscape often restrict the ability of wildlife to move by adding barriers, inducing changes in their behavior, impacting critical migration stopover sites, and increasing habitat fragmentation. Mapping and maintaining habitat important for movement helps protect population connectivity and biodiversity, aiding in the restoration of at-risk species. Providing and conserving habitat connectivity is also a key management strategy to preserve species and ecosystem processes under a changing climate. Historically, efforts to map connected habitat in Oregon were primarily based on expert opinion that insufficiently supported decision-making regarding species’ mobility and habitat connectivity needs.
The OCAMP effort focused on identifying current wildlife habitat connectivity throughout the state for a wide diversity of species. Fifty-four species were selected for the project as surrogates, representing a variety of taxa, movement types, dispersal capabilities, and sensitivity to anthropogenic threats. These species’ connectivity models were compiled to highlight Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas (PWCAs)– an interconnected network representing the parts of the landscape with the highest overall value for facilitating wildlife movement in Oregon. The PWCAs, as well as other maps and models produced during OCAMP, will aid in statewide planning and prioritization efforts to maintain functional habitat connectivity; help direct on-the-ground efforts for acquisition, restoration, and conservation of habitat for fish and wildlife; inform long-term planning documents for managed lands; guide granting efforts; inform land use development, including expansion of urban growth boundaries, permitting for renewable energy development, and development of sensitive habitats; and aid in mitigating transportation issues, such as identifying areas where wildlife passage structures could best reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.
If you’d like to learn more about the methods applied in developing Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas, the recording of the Winter 2023 meeting of the OCAMP Stakeholder Committee, below, provides a comprehensive project review. You can find more information about PWCAs here.
species
OCAMP species were selected using a collaborative process informed by species biologists and conservation practitioners across the state. All modeling occurred across each species’ range. While species were selected to represent specific habitat associations and/or structural habitat characteristics, each species utilizes multiple habitat types, and this is reflected in the habitat and connectivity models.
Species Selected for OCAMP
upcoming events
OCAMP is complete!
You can view the Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas (PWCAs) here.
Access more information about PWCAs, review project methods, and download reports and data here.
