August 2006
Chuckanut Ridge: Keystone Habitat Area for Conservation
by John McLaughlin, Ph.D.
John McLaughlin, Ph.D., is a conservation and population biologist. He resides in Bellingham.
Chuckanut Ridge is critical to maintaining the ecological integrity of Bellingham’s natural areas. The forest and wetlands on the site are high in quality, but their greatest ecological and conservation value may be their strategic landscape position. The site functions as a link between extensive public lands to the south (Arroyo Park, Larrabee State Park, State Forest Trust lands) and undeveloped greenways to the north and east (Fairhaven Park, Lower Padden Marsh, Connelly Creek Natural Area, Sehome Hill Arboretum). Developing this site would break that link, fragmenting natural areas in south Bellingham.
Habitat loss and fragmentation are known to threaten most species at risk of extinction. Impacting or removing forest and wetland habitats causes fragmentation that can reduce a landscape below a threshold in habitat connectivity, resulting in regional extinctions of sensitive species. In particular, the proposed destruction of forest and wetland habitat could lead to extinctions of sensitive wildlife in Connelly Creek Natural Area, Sehome Arboretum and other public lands north and east of the site.
These concerns are acute for wetlands, whose biota are particularly vulnerable to fragmentation. The strategic location of the site in the network of natural areas in south Bellingham increases its value markedly beyond that determined by any site-specific assessment. For organisms with limited dispersal ability, the site may function as a “keystone habitat” whose loss would cause regional connectivity to collapse. §
