Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

Description

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, known as Y2Y, works to connect and protect habitat along the Rocky Mountains from Yellowstone to the Yukon so that people and nature can thrive.

It began in 1993 as a loose collection of organizations and has grown into a movement of hundreds of partner groups, including conservation organizations, government agencies, Indigenous governments, landowners, scientists and businesses. It is a collaborative effort between a US non-profit organization and a Canadian public charity, and describes itself as the only organization dedicated to the long-term ecological health of the entire region.

It works by protecting core wildlife habitats, keeping those habitats connected across a vast landscape, and inspiring others to take up similar large-scale conservation work. It advances this through science and Indigenous knowledge, policy engagement, and partnerships with communities and decision-makers from local to national levels. Its stated 2030 goals include protecting 30 percent of the Yellowstone to Yukon region and safeguarding key wildlife corridors.

Y2Y focuses on species such as grizzly bears, caribou, wolverines and wolves, and its methods include funding wildlife crossings, land purchases to preserve migration routes and tracking wildlife movement. It operates across the transboundary region spanning the United States and Canada.