connecting farms & gardens to the wild (corridors, etc)

thanks mostly to Fred Kirschenmann, the "wild farming" movement, and also the book Farming with the Wild, I've been intrigued by the notion of connecting farms to the surrounding ecosystem in a more real and practical way.

Organic farms, treated as isolated enclaves, cannot maintain the rich biodiversity necessary for a healthy farm, any more than an isolated wilderness can preserve the biodiversity of a healthy ecosystem. If we hope to create an agriculture that ensures the land’s capacity for self-renewal, or a wilderness that perpetuates the native biodiversity of a region, then humans who possess an ecological consciousness need to be part of the landscape. Fred Kirschenmann

I'm interested in any thoughts surrounding this. how can we not only plant for pollinators and create habitat sites within our respective pieces of turf, but connect to the broader ecosystem? is this possible? is it too late? who is doing it successfully, and how?

I'd say it's in practice in Georgia and the Carolinas. There are plenty of corridors, from land planted to pine trees to creeks to swamps to Federal and State parks, there's a lot of native biodiversity left. Probably more than there was 100 years ago when every piece of land that could be planted to cotton was. After the boll weevil rolled through the area, a lot of that cotton acreage reverted back to pine forest.

You can tell by the amount of native wildlife that is in the area. If there are plenty of deer, turkeys, raccoons, possums, turtles, etc., then the ecological system to support them is still there. I know that I am connected to the wild ecosystem, given all the critters that pop up in my garden.

Even in pretty small gardens it is possible to have a zone 5 - wild area left to nature. In a small area it will probably be something like a log pile or a corner where the nettles grow. I guess on a larger scale choosing the shape and size of the zone 5 to optimise the wildlife potential becomes more significant. By connecting to what is already there, and as suggested, forming wildlife corridors for wildlife to travel and connect food resources and breeding populations, the impact of the wilderness area can be greater than the size of it might suggest.
I'd be interested in how people have chosen their zone 5 areas...mine have been in the inaccessable/uncultivable corners and along the river bank (the other side of the deer fence).

permaculture zone 5; temperate rain forest