header our vision

 

map of Greater Yellowstone

Our Vision

Sustain/maintain the health of the 28 million-acre Greater Yellowstone by:

1. Protecting one million private acres in collaboration with the Heart of the Rockies;

2. Accelerating our public policy efforts to identify funding that will sustain our efforts for future generations;

3. Fully conserving six priority landscapes within Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.  They are:

Idaho
South Fork Snake River 
Henry’s Fork

Montana
Centennial Valley 
Upper Madison

Wyoming
Greybull River Basin 
     Pitchfork Ranch
Upper Green River Basin

The Nature Conservancy's Greater Yellowstone work in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Bison with calf

According to scientific and demographic trends, the landscape is changing dramatically. Since the fires two decades ago, the Greater Yellowstone has experienced twice the nation’s population growth rate and six times the rate of land conversion and habitat loss.

While plants and animals inside the park are moving in rhythm with natural cycles, the Greater Yellowstone region—28 million acres—is not. These areas are the crucial winter feed grounds that are necessary for the survival of species such as elk, pronghorn and bison—the populations of most of which are already remnants of their earlier abundance.

Winter range is found primarily in the lower elevation river valleys, a place also popular with second-home owners and the increasing number of residents who move to the region for its natural beauty. As such, it is a place where conflicts over land use are greatest. In the early days, large-scale ranches occupied most of these valleys, providing some valuable, unbroken winter habitat for wildlife.

Today, as ranchers retire and land becomes subdivided, this value diminishes dramatically. In addition, the impacts of invasive species place stress on a shrinking landscape. Without a substantial conservation effort in the next couple of decades, the Yellowstone of the future will be void of the iconic wildlife that today attracts visitors from all over the world for pleasure and inspiration.

The Nature Conservancy and its partners have identified the 2.8 million acres that are the most important to the survival of the Greater Yellowstone’s wildlife. Working collaboratively with others, we want to protect one million acres, the most important 4% of the Greater Yellowstone wildlife habitat, by 2015.  This is an ambitious goal, but the Conservancy has protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers around the world. In virtually every case, this was done with cooperation and support of a variety of partners. Learn more about how we work.

Nature picture credits (top, left to right): American bison with calf © Janet Haas; Map of Greater Yellowstone © Holly Copland/TNC.