Connecting Habitats

NJDEP Fish & Wildlife staff inspect a newly completed road-crossing project
for turtles and other small animals in central NJ. Photo by MacKenzie Hall, NJFW

It is challenging for wildlife to traverse roadways and other development in our densely populated and developed state. Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ) is a project of New Jersey Fish & Wildlife that aims to make our landscape and roadways friendlier for terrestrial wildlife by guiding land protection, habitat restoration, and roadway projects that reduce animal-vehicle collisions. 

Whether they’re small like a salamander or big and wide-roaming like a bear, animals need to be able to move through the landscape to find food, shelter, mates, and other resources. Without that ability to move, healthy populations simply will not persist over the long term. 

More information about the CHANJ project at CHANJ.nj.gov 

Bobcat using an underpass below a highway. Photo by Melissa McCutcheon