Wildlife Corridor

We are proposing to establish a 10,000 acre “corridor” of newly planted native trees between the Gishwati Forest and Nyungwe National Park, about 30 miles to the south.

As we know from our homes and offices, a corridor is a space, usually longer than wide, that connects different living or working areas. A wildlife corridor is a habitat, usually longer than wide, that connects different areas where biodiversity is protected. Farmers in North America and the United Kingdom have long provided “hedgerows,” narrow strips or corridors of forest between and around fields. The hedgerows help to prevent soil erosion and wind damage to crops, but they also shelter wildlife and allow animals to move between parks and wildlife reserves.

Like the corridors in overcrowded hospitals which provide space for extra beds, wildlife corridors provide extra living space for animals in addition to providing connections between protected areas.

“Connectivity” is important for wildlife conservation for several reasons. Corridors allow animals to move from the areas where they were born and grew up to other areas where potential unrelated mates live. This prevents inbreeding, which can cause decreased immunity to diseases, fertility problems, and sometimes even abnormalities like webbed fingers in mammals. Connectivity also allows animals to flee natural disasters, like food shortages, a forest fire or a flood. Ideally, a wildlife corridor will connect areas with different elevations and food resources so that animals will ultimately be able to find a comfortable place to survive.

The Gishwati-to-Nyungwe corridor has received government support because the increased forest cover will provide water catchment and purification, prevent soil erosion, replenish soil fertility, and support ecotourism. All of these benefit the Rwandan economy. Like the extra beds in the hallways of crowded hospitals, the corridor will provide more habitat for the Gishwati chimpanzees and other wildlife. More important, the Gishwati chimpanzees and other animals can ultimately travel to Nyungwe, where they will find large numbers of unrelated mates. Maybe it will be the Nyungwe chimpanzees that move north toward Gishwati. Conservation biologists know that wildlife corridors work, but corridors are so new that many of outcomes remain undiscovered.

The Gishwati-to-Nyungwe corridor  (view corridor map) will be a long strip of native trees, between 200 and 3,000 feet wide. The exact route will be determined by the realities of current human land use. We want to find a route that avoids houses, schools, farms, roads and power lines, not an easy challenge in today’s densely populated Rwanda. The government has given us a set of excellent low-altitude, high-resolution aerial photographs to help us plan the route. With the help of GIS experts in the School of Environmental Science and Policy at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, we have developed several route options. We expect that our Rwandan government partners will choose the final route later in the Spring of 2011.

View other sections of the Progress Report

• 2011 Project Overview
• Conservation Value
• People and Wildlife

Gishwati-Nyungwe corridor map