Wildlife Corridors in Arizona: How Animals Traverse the Desert and Mountains
Across Arizona’s wide-ranging topography—where sun-scorched desert valleys meet forested peaks—animals face a challenge that humans rarely consider: how to move safely across an increasingly fragmented landscape. The solution lies in wildlife corridors—natural or managed pathways that allow species to travel between habitats, migrate with the seasons, and maintain healthy populations.
As roads, urban development, and fencing continue to alter Arizona’s environment, these corridors are emerging as critical lifelines—not just for individual animals, but for the long-term survival of entire species.
What Are Wildlife Corridors?
Wildlife corridors are stretches of habitat that connect larger ecosystems, enabling animals to travel for food, breeding, migration, or climate adaptation. They may be as vast as mountain ranges or as narrow as culverts under highways. In Arizona, they play an outsized role due to the state’s diverse terrain and expanding urban footprint.
Arizona’s location at the intersection of several major bioregions—the Sonoran Desert, Colorado Plateau, and Sky Islands—creates natural migration routes for many species. But roads, subdivisions, and industrial development increasingly block or isolate these paths, leading to genetic bottlenecks, increased mortality, and reduced biodiversity.
Where Corridors Matter Most
Several wildlife corridors in Arizona have been identified as essential:
The I-17 Black Canyon Corridor between Phoenix and Flagstaff is a vital pathway for mountain lions, elk, and black bears, but poses significant risks due to highway traffic.
The San Pedro River Corridor allows species like javelina, coatimundi, and jaguarundi to move between the U.S. and Mexico, serving as an international biodiversity hotspot.
Sky Island linkages between isolated mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona enable species such as the Mexican spotted owl, ocelot, and Montezuma quail to migrate between cooler, forested elevations.
The Kaibab Plateau–Grand Canyon–Parashant corridor supports movement for mule deer and bighorn sheep, especially during seasonal shifts.
These areas function not just as highways for wildlife, but as dynamic ecosystems where animals rest, hunt, and raise young along the way.
Infrastructure Meets Conservation
Wildlife corridors are gaining traction in state and federal infrastructure planning. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and Arizona Game and Fish Department have partnered on several projects to reduce animal-vehicle collisions and maintain ecological connectivity.
Notable examples include:
Wildlife overpasses and underpasses near Flagstaff and Payson, designed to guide animals safely across highways.
Fencing systems that direct movement toward crossing points without blocking access to essential habitat.
The Arizona Wildlife Linkages Assessment, a multi-agency initiative identifying priority areas for conservation and construction intervention.
These solutions are not just ecological—they’re economic. Wildlife-vehicle collisions cost Arizona millions of dollars annually in damages and injuries. Corridor infrastructure saves lives—both human and animal—and reduces long-term maintenance costs.
Corridors and Climate Adaptation
As climate change shifts vegetation zones and water availability, wildlife must move farther to survive. Corridors help mitigate the impacts of rising temperatures by allowing species to track suitable habitat, breed with distant populations, and find resources when local areas become stressed.
In this sense, corridors are not just about movement—they are a tool for resilience in an era of rapid ecological change.
Connecting the Future
Arizona’s wildlife corridors are a profound reminder that nature does not recognize fences or property lines. Preserving these invisible highways means safeguarding the freedom of movement that animals need to thrive—and protecting the intricate web of life that sustains desert, forest, and canyon alike.
In the years ahead, these corridors may determine whether Arizona remains one of the most biologically diverse states in the country, or becomes a patchwork of ecological dead ends.