WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mike Leahy, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior director of wildlife, hunting, and fishing policy, appeared in front of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources to address the importance of investments that help wildlife navigate our increasingly fragmented landscape and support the work of wildlife professionals that maintain wildlife movements and migrations.

“One of the primary reasons more than one-third of wildlife species are at heightened risk of extinction in the U.S. is the loss of habitat, and fragmentation is a leading reason habitat is degraded. Untold wildlife migrations and movement pathways have already been cut off and lost. Unfortunately, wildlife face increasing challenges moving around the American landscape as the U.S. population not only continues to grow but also spreads out around the country, requiring transportation, buildings, other infrastructure, and natural resources, to support it,” Leahy wrote in prepared remarks. 

“Maintaining wildlife’s ability to move – for migration, mating, rearing young, and accessing food, water, and shelter – is a critical conservation priority in the 21st century.”