Milford’s climate change action plan is missing one big thing: Wildlife corridors

To the Editor:

It was heartening to read survey results in your recent article indicating that “Pennsylvania supports local governments as they adapt to climate change.” The article (“Milford looks at survey results as it moves toward its own climate change action plan,” March 4-10, 2022) outlined strategies that small towns like ours can adopt, such as recycling and stormwater management.

But one strategy seemed to be missing, to protect those without a voice in the issue: wildlife corridors for the animals that call Pennsylvania home. We have a proud legacy of protecting our natural heritage here in the commonwealth, but our wild spaces are being threatened.

The United States loses two football fields worth of habitat every minute, and we make matters worse as we chop up the nature we do have for roads, suburbs, and oil. We need to protect Pennsylvania’s beloved critters who depend on connected habitats to survive and thrive.

Wildlife corridors help connect fragmented habitats so that animals can mate and migrate safely. They can look like lots of different things: an overpass to help deer get across a road safely, a culvert to help box turtles reach a neighboring pond, fish ladders to help fish migrate across dams, or milkweed planted along a highway to aid the monarchs in their famous migration.

Wildlife corridors are a powerful solution to an ever-expanding problem. I urge state leaders to take steps to study this powerful so that we can help protect, preserve, and restore wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania to keep our wild spaces wild for generations to come.

Cailey Underhill

Cochranville, Pa.