A Conversation with Tanya Diamond and Ahíga Snyder on Research at Pathways for Wildlife

When we think about on-the-ground research rewilding California, we think of our trusted and talented partner: Pathways for Wildlife. Co-founders Tanya Diamond, a wildlife ecologist, and Ahíga Snyder, a wildlife researcher, have a knack for capturing wildlife movement on camera, including (some viral) footage of coyotes, badgers, mountain lions, bears, and much more. They use their expertise to conduct wildlife connectivity surveys and identify important habitat linkages, informing road development and conservation efforts.   

Hear more about their perspective on wildlife research and their vision for the future of conservation below.   

Tanya Diamond

Ahíga Snyder

Pathways for Wildlife video footage of a coyote and badger meeting outside a culvert, likely to hunt together

Why are you passionate about restoring, reconnecting, and rewilding California?  

We have been studying mountain lion and American badger populations in the Bay Area that are becoming genetically isolated from other local populations. To prevent and revert such isolation, it is critical that wildlife can access necessary resources such as food and water, have the ability to find mates, and, for juveniles, disperse out of their parental home range to find their own. This is difficult for animals to do in landscapes that are highly fragmented by roads and human land use.

What types of viewpoints and perspectives do you bring to your work?  

We have been specializing in conducting wildlife connectivity studies for the last 13 years and have worked in a variety of different landscapes throughout California. We have experience in camera research, roadkill data collection, habitat connectivity modeling, animal print tracking, and camera trapping. As a result, we’re able to use camera capabilities to their fullest to document not only wildlife presence but their actual behavior.

For example, there have been previous observations of coyotes hunting with badgers. However, there was a debate over whether the relationship was mutualistic or if coyotes were taking advantage of badgers while hunting, catching the badger's ground squirrels. We then captured the video of a coyote and badger meeting (above), which indicated that badgers and coyotes can have a mutually beneficial relationship – they can be “friends.”

How do these perspectives inform your approach to conservation? 

We ultimately use our expertise to determine how animals travel through a fragmented landscape and how animals navigate crossing infrastructure such as roads. Analyzing animal presence and behavior allows us to identify bottleneck areas, habitats constrained by fragmentation, which are critical in connecting large landscapes. For example, constrained habitat across valley floors that connect various mountain ranges. If these bottlenecks are severed, that can result in losing regional connectivity for wildlife. We have found that for maintaining regional habitat connectivity, it is often important to be able to identify these critical bottlenecks within the linkages and protect those relatively small but disproportionately important habitats.

Can you give a short overview of Pathways for Wildlife?  

Pathways for Wildlife is a research organization that we started in 2013. We work with land trusts, conservation organizations, and transportation agencies, to help identify important wildlife and habitat linkages for land conservation efforts. Using data from field cameras, roadkill surveys, tracking data, GIS habitat suitability modeling, and linkage analyses, we create wider wildlife connectivity plans. 

Several projects have resulted in significant funding for land conservation to protect wildlife linkages that animals have been documented using to travel through various landscapes. Pathways for Wildlife also works with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and local transportation authorities to implement connectivity designs along highways, such as installing culverts and bridges as wildlife crossing structures, and directional fencing designs to guide wildlife to these bridges and culverts. We are currently working with the California Wildlife Conservation Board, conservation organizations, and Caltrans on several wildlife overpass (land bridge) planning projects.

Of the wildlife videos you’ve captured, which is your favorite?

Along with the badger and coyote we recorded traveling through a culvert together, our favorites include the mountain lion with kittens and a bear with a cub traveling through various culverts on our US-395 wildlife connectivity project we are conducting with Wildlands Network. 

Pathways for Wildlife video footage of a mountain lion and kittens traveling under U.S. 395

What have you learned from your work in conservation?   

You can never assume what wildlife is doing or how they are navigating crossing roads and traveling through various habitat types. Many highways often include a complex system of animals interacting with the roads, which makes uncovering those stories fascinating.

How do you use animal print tracking to inform your research? 

We are certified wildlife trackers, which greatly helps us to determine the best locations in which to set up wildlife cameras and where to monitor wildlife movement. For example, we find animal tracks that lead up to a road or identify areas in which multiple species are traveling through the landscape.

How does your camera research inform your recommendations on road development and conservation efforts?

We use our camera research and roadkill data collection to identify the most effective locations for installing wildlife crossings and develop connectivity enhancement recommendations. For example, our data helped us identify the best location for the Highway 17 Laurel Curve wildlife crossing structure and design to accommodate multiple species such as mountain lion, deer, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, and others. We are now monitoring the wildlife crossing to measure its effectiveness in facilitating these species’ movement under Highway 17. Additionally, the data is being used to inform a future U.S.-101 Southern Santa Cruz Mountains wildlife crossing that we are working on with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz, Caltrans, and the WCB. 

Ahíga setting up cameras at the Highway 17 Laurel Curve wildlife crossing

How is your work with Wildland Network shaping the future of conservation?   

We very much appreciate and greatly value our partnership with Wildlands Network. With our aligned visions, I think we will achieve great accomplishments in reconnecting critical wildlife habitats all throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California. We are jointly addressing areas where there are gaps in the mitigation work already done in the state, such as Highway 395, and we’ll be initiating research aimed at informing forest management around the Lake Tahoe Area, with an emphasis on medium carnivores and the “multi-layered" forest habitats they need. Such approaches strengthen existing initiatives, often focused on large and charismatic species, while also recognizing the value of biodiversity as a whole.

What is your vision for the conservation world in the next 10 years? 

To continue the momentum for reconnecting fragmented habitats and improving the ability for wildlife to safely cross roads with great groups of stakeholders. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share?  

It is an amazing time for wildlife connectivity and corridors. It is so exciting to see how much support this work is getting via wildlife-corridor working groups composed of conservation organizations, transportation agencies, and wildlife agencies, the support that the corridor legislation is receiving that was written by Wildlands Network, along with funding being provided by the California Wildlife Conservation Board to plan and build wildlife crossings all across the State. 

Pathways for Wildlife video footage of a female bear with her cub under U.S.-395