Training

See also: Landscape-level conservation planning, Habitat Restoration

The workshop was cosponsored by the Elkhorn Slough Coastal Training Program and the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy and focused on biological connectivity issues in the Santa Cruz Mountains - Sierra Azul region. The Sierra Azul consists of the southern portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains (Hwy 17 south) and is a region thought to be important to east-west and north-south wildlife movement, connecting the Santa Cruz Mountains with two other eco-regions: the Diablo Range to the east and the Gabilan Range to the south. Urbanization and road building activities surrounding this area have increasingly threatened the viability of habitat corridors in the Sierra Azul area, and so many think it prudent for a more focused scientific analysis of the area's opportunities and constraints for wildlife connectivity. The goals of this workshop were to bring together the latest scientific information that can inform the design and management of biotic corridors in the Sierra Azul region and to make that information available in a way that positively affects regional decision making and planning. By networking scientific experts in this subject area, we believe we have created begun to formalize a group that can help address future issues of habitat connectivity in this region. We are currently writing up a more formal description of the outcomes of the workshop, which we hope to have available in early 2007. Please contact us should you have further questions or a more immediate need for information.