Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Cores and Corridors in New Jersey, Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ)

Animals need to be able to move through the landscape to find food, mates, and other resources. Without that ability to move, long-term viability of populations is in jeopardy. New Jersey is facing increasing habitat loss and fragmentation from steady urbanization, a dense network of roads, and a changing climate that are compromising the connectivity of habitat and resiliency of wildlife populations. Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ) represents a statewide habitat connectivity plan, developed in collaboration with a multi-partner, multi-disciplinary working group representing over 40 different agencies across the state, convened by the ENSP to address the importance of landscape permeability for the persistence of native terrestrial wildlife species. CHANJ mapping identifies core terrestrial wildlife habitat and corridors connecting them across the state, as well as intersecting road segments that serve as road barrier mitigation opportunities. The mapping is based on a naturalness index approach, and utilized core and corridor delineation GIS toolsets, Core Mapper and Linkage Mapper (www.circuitscape.org). Terrestrial species location data were used to inform model parameters and for validation. The mapping was developed using raster data (10m and 20m grid cell sizes for the cores and corridors respectively), and then converted to polygons for the final product. The core, corridor, and road segment elements in the mapping link to a guidance document that provides recommendations and resources for restoring and maintaining those key areas for wildlife connectivity through strategic land preservation, habitat management, and road barrier mitigation.野生动物需具备在景观中移动的能力，以获取食物、配偶及其他生存资源。一旦丧失该移动能力，种群的长期存续将面临风险。新泽西州正面临因持续城市化、密集道路网络以及气候变化引发的栖息地丧失与破碎化问题，上述因素正削弱栖息地连通性与野生动物种群的恢复力。跨新泽西州栖息地连通计划（Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey, CHANJ）是一项全州性栖息地连通规划，由ENSP牵头组建多合作伙伴、多学科工作组共同制定，工作组涵盖全州40余家不同机构，旨在探讨景观通透性对于本土陆生野生动物物种存续的重要性。CHANJ制图成果可识别出全州范围内的核心陆生野生动物栖息地与连接各栖息地的连通廊道，同时标注出可开展道路阻隔缓解工作的相交路段。该制图基于自然度指数方法，使用了核心栖息地与廊道划定的地理信息系统（Geographic Information System, GIS）工具集：Core Mapper与Linkage Mapper（访问网址：www.circuitscape.org）。陆生物种点位数据被用于确定模型参数并开展模型验证。制图过程先采用栅格数据开展构建，其中核心栖息地与廊道分别采用10米、20米的网格单元尺寸，随后将栅格数据转换为多边形矢量数据以生成最终成果。制图成果中的核心栖息地、廊道与路段要素均关联至一份指导文档，该文档提供了通过战略性土地保护、栖息地管理及道路阻隔缓解等手段，修复与维护这些野生动物连通关键区域的建议与相关资源。