Evidence that such extinctions were often exacerbated by a lack of habitat connectivity between existing protected areas[1][non-primary source needed] resulted in the organization’s adoption of a primary mission focused on scientific and strategic support for creation of “networks of people protecting networks of connected wildlands.” Dr. Michael E. Soulé, a conservation biologist who wanted to merge science with action.

[2] In 1991, Soulé co-founded the North American Wilderness Recovery Strategy with radical environmentalist David Foreman, and wildlands philanthropist Douglas Tompkins.

As a demonstration of where large landscape-scale habitat connectivity in North America was most needed, Wildlands Network identified four “Continental Wildways” traversing the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, the Canadian Boreal Forest region, and the “Spine of the Continent” between Alaska and Mexico.

[8][non-primary source needed] In order to have the greatest impact on migrating wildlife and threatened ecosystems, key areas of importance have been identified in the proposed corridor, known as the “Essential 16”.

[10][non-primary source needed] Western Wildway, also known as the Spine of the Continent Initiative, this is a proposed 6,000 mile swath that will stretch from the Brooks Range in Alaska, down the Rockies through Canada and the United States, to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.