Wild Things Unlimited and the
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

The term Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) refers to both a biogeographic area and a concept or rallying point for wildlife and wildland enthusiasts. Geographically, we’re talking about the Rocky Mountains, stretching from Yellowstone National Park (YNP) to the Yukon Territories. More specifically, the southern end of the Y2Y region is anchored by the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), ranging south of YNP to include the Wind River Mountains, the Wyoming Range, and some of the critical winter range between those two mountain systems. The northern boundary of this ecological region is described by the Peel River south of the Arctic Circle in the Yukon Territory. Y2Y stretches almost 2,000 linear miles, encompasses nearly half of a million square miles of area, and includes 11 national parks in two countries, a multitude of reserves, preserves, forest units, wilderness areas, state parks, and private lands. Approximately 60% of the region is forested, 20% is composed of tundra and exposed rock, less than 3% is agricultural lands, and the rest is a mix of other habitat types including homes and parking lots.

The Y2Y area includes a very nearly intact (compared to pre-European settlement) community of wildlife, and is home for charismatic species such as grizzly bear, wolf, lynx, cougar, wolverine, fisher, elk, bald eagle, trumpeter swan, and mountain goat. Most of these far-ranging wildlife species are being forced to live in increasingly isolated pockets of wild habitat: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), the Salmon-Selway Ecosystem (SSE), and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE). These core areas are being isolated from each other by encroaching development associated with roads, resource extraction projects, and recreational and residential areas. We are essentially creating islands of wildlife habitat separated by oceans of development.

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is based on goal of making sure that animals in the ecosystems of the Y2Y region are able to move between these islands, and thereby have a reasonable chance of long-term survival. Groups involved in the Initiative are not trying to designate a single, huge mega-park, but are looking at ways to protect enough habitat and links/bridges/corridors between the islands of habitat to allow for natural movement and mixing of animals. If wildlife populations are isolated in small tracts, they face genetic bottlenecks and threats of extirpation by local natural disasters. Connecting populations reduces this risk by expanding the gene pool, putting the eggs in several, connected baskets, and allowing for refilling a basket from adjoining baskets, if it gets emptied. The initiative recognizes that humans are part of the ecology of the Y2Y, and seeks to make meeting the needs of our species more compatible with the needs of wildlife.

Organizations within the Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative are working to identify the best, most viable corridors and then find ways to conserve and restore them, so that we might continue to enjoy bountiful wildlife and wildland resources. American Wildlands has identified key potential corridors based on “least cost” modeling (“Wildlife Corridors in the Northern Rockies - The Corridors of Life Program”), using grizzly bears, mountain lions, and elk as umbrella species. These species are of particular significance because their members have large home ranges and travel significant distances; if we are able to provide conditions that favor their survival, we will also likely provide benefits to a host of other species.

Wild Things Unlimited is contributing to the Y2Y Conservation Initiative by providing information related to wildlife distributions and habitat use patterns to regional conservation organizations and resource management agencies. For this purpose, in 2001 we launched our second major wildlife survey project, entitled Wildlife Surveys in the Southern Portion of the Yellowstone to Yukon Lands Network. After consulting with American Wildlands on the scope and design of the project, we began fieldwork during May, with the goal of providing data that will assist conservationists in their efforts to more precisely define and describe wildlife corridors and to protect lands that are critical to the Y2Y conservation Initiative. Our fieldwork involves getting out on the ground in core habitat and potential corridor areas, and documenting levels and specific locations of wildlife activity, particularly for the umbrella species grizzly bear, cougar, and elk, but also for other important carnivores such as wolf, lynx, bobcat, black bear, marten, and fisher, and for prey species such as snowshoe hare, moose, and mountain goat. We also evaluate habitat conditions and human uses and activity levels in order to assess the potential for future wildlife use of these areas. We began this project by focusing our efforts along the Gallatin-Bridger-Big Belt Corridor that provides potential connectivity between the GYE and the NCDE to the north, and plan to spend one or two more summer field seasons working in that area. In time, we hope to contribute further by expanding our efforts into other major corridors of the Y2Y lands network.

We work closely with the following organizations

The Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative. Y2Y is a joint Canadian-US network of over 80 organizations, institutions, and foundations, plus individual scientists, conservationists, economists, and environmental advocates who have recognized both the necessity and the advantages of coordinating their efforts transnationally, on a scale that mirrors the area they seek to conserve. Their area of focus includes the Rocky Mountains from the Grand Tetons (Wyoming) north to the Yukon border, adjacent ranges in Idaho and British Columbia (the Cabinet Yaak, the Selkirks, Purcells, Monashees) and the Mackenzie Mountains in Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

American Wildlands is a science-based non-profit conservation organization with a 24-year history of wilderness legislation and natural resource advocacy in the American West. American Wildland's mission is to promote, protect and restore biodiversity and advocate for sustainable management of the West's wildlands, watersheds, and wildlife, with special attention to the Northern Rocky Mountain region.

Predator Conservation Alliance (PCA), founded in 1991, is dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring native predators and their habitats in the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains.