User:Jmil158/Green Links (project)

The Green Links Project was started in 1996 by the Douglas College Institute of Urban Ecology in British Columbia. The project utilizes strategic planning to improve the connectivity of green spaces and natural areas within the Greater Vancouver region. This is accomplished through various activities such as planting native vegetation in wildlife corridors, parks, playgrounds, and backyards.

Bio-diversity threats
Urbanization results in habitat fragmentation and decreased ecosystem value. Fragmentation caused by urban development is considered one of the biggest threats to biodiversity, as it decreases populations of native species, increases extinction rates, hinders colonization, and increases the risk of habitat loss to invasive species. Green Links aims to increase the value of fragmented habitat by connecting smaller habitats to each other, allowing them to function as one larger habitat, to preserve biodiversity in the area. These "metapopulations" depend on migration between patches.

Research and solutions
Leaving an unlogged corridor of forest between stands is one solution to habitat fragmentation in wilderness areas. For highly disturbed areas, links may need to be created or included in city plans. In order to establish green links in these developed areas, the project focuses on planting native vegetation and involving the community as a whole in the process. Volunteer organizations, youth groups, NGOs, and local governments are the primary sources for labor and community outreach in the Green Links project. Green Links director Valentin Schaefer outlined three approaches that Green Links will use to improve and maintain natural areas in the Greater Vancouver area:

1.    Research into the impact of urban biodiversity on regional ecosystem health.

2.    Education through workshops, conferences, contests and lectures to increase awareness of environmental concerns and community involvement in the project.

3.    Stewardship of public and private lands by the creation of corridors, greenways, backyard habitats, hedgerows, and playgrounds and parks.

Green Links is working on corridors in several sites, including riparian corridors along streams in Coquitlam and Fraser River drainage basins, and hedgerows through agricultural areas in Delta. The project's first site was the Coquitlam corridor along the BC Hydro/BC Gas right-of-way.

Methods
The Green Links project focuses on one zone at a time. A zone is a large tract of land bordered by major physical barriers such as highways, mountains, and rivers. Within each zone are multiple green spaces, called “nodes.” The largest nodes in the zone are called “mother nodes” and the surrounding patches that rely on colonization by individuals from the mother node are known as “satellite nodes.” Immigration rates depend on the amount of connectivity between nodes, which is a function of the size and abundance of nodes, the size and abundance of links among nodes, and the total number of networks in the zone. An ideal corridor contains a diverse range of plant species that form a layered habitat with few or no invasive species.

In order to better understand the importance of green spaces and corridors, Green Links performed a Connectivity Analysis on a zone in southern Coquitlam. The site was chosen for the study because the Institute of Urban Ecology already has a corridor linking the mother node, Mundy Park, to several satellite nodes and provides an opportunity to identify more potential links. The minimum area requirement chosen for the study was 0.5 hectares because it is the minimum habitat size required by most species that live in urban areas. To measure distances between green spaces, Green Links chose to use minimum distances "as the crow flies" rather than centroid distances which would measure the distance from the center of one green space to the center of another. Minimum distances provide a more accurate estimation of the distance that animals must travel to move between green spaces.