GYC 2020 Annual Report

WATERS WILDLIFE

2020 VICTORIES!

Thanks to your support, we continue to meet our mission of protecting the lands, waters, and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, now and for future generations. We do this across more than 20 million acres, three states, and two national parks.

16,600 acres of sheep grazing paused for 10 years in Montana, reducing conflicts in key grizzly bear habitat.

STATE AFFECTED =

1 gold mine

on the southern slope of the Centennial Ranges slowed through our successful lawsuit.

STATE AFFECTED =

1 huge victory

when the Montana Supreme Court revoked a mining permit in Paradise Valley and ruled in our favor, confirming the state legislature violated Montanans’ rights to a “clean and healthful environment.”

337 river miles

poised for protection with the introduction of the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act into the U.S. Senate.

STATE AFFECTED =

400 bison

will be saved from slaughter each year through a new partnership to expand Yellowstone’s program that restores bison to tribal and select public lands.

STATES AFFECTED =

400,000

dollars

privately raised and then matched to secure the final funding needed for the Dry Piney Wildlife Crossing project on Highway 189 in Wyoming. This project will reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by up to 90 percent.

STATE AFFECTED = STATE AFFECTED =

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition has earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator - for the fourth year in a row - for its ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances. This indicates the Greater Yellowstone Coalition executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way and outperforms most other charities in America.

CHARITY NAVIGATOR IS THE NATION’S LARGEST EVALUATOR OF CHARITIES. THEY PROVIDE RATINGS FOR OVER 5,000 AMERICAN CHARITIES BASED ON FINANCIAL HEALTH, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND TRANSPARENCY.

MONTANA IDAHO WYOMING

SCOTT CHRISTENSEN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Greater Yellowstone is bustling with new life this spring as grizzly bear cubs emerge from hillside dens, little red bison calves chase each other through greening meadows, and gangly baby moose follow their mothers through the willows. It’s a busy time for GYC too, with exciting activities and initiatives that will propel us forward for years to come.

In early January we launched a process to update our Strategic Plan. Scheduled for completion and adoption this June, our new plan will provide us with an ambitious set of priorities and goals to protect Greater Yellowstone over the next five years. Thinking in big, new, creative ways has been an exhilarating practice and is a great reminder of what an important role we play in ensuring the wild heart of North America remains remarkable for generations to come.

We are also engaged in one of the most important initiatives of our time: a concerted effort to make GYC and the conservation movement more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. This commitment has led us to partner with Indigenous communities and tribes with ties to Greater Yellowstone on important issues such as restoring bison to ancestral homelands. Our intention is to listen and learn as we deepen our relationships and support the rights and interests of Native people. We are thrilled to have a great Native leader in a new position on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, who you can learn more about in this annual report.

As we look back on 2020, GYC had another amazing year of victories thanks to supporters like you. As the weather warms, we are anxious to get to a new normal after the pandemic and spend time in nature with people we love. I hope to see you out there on the trails. Thank you for supporting our work as we continue to lead the way in protecting Greater Yellowstone, now and for future generations.

LICENSE PLATE SUPPORTS GYC

We are pleased to report our Montana license plate, introduced in 2017 and sold through the Montana Department of Motor Vehicles, has generated $39,040 to help fund our work.

ELEVATING NATIVE VOICES

The Greater Yellowstone region is home to an astounding array of native wildlife. Its wild rivers are the headwaters of the West. It is of deep importance to the First Nations who have made this place home since time immemorial. More than 26 tribes have strong spiritual and cultural connections to Greater Yellowstone’s vast and abundant natural resources. Those who know Greater Yellowstone know there is no other place like it in the world.

At GYC, we are committed to engaging a wide range of people who care about this region, including Indigenous communities whose voices have long been marginalized by a conservation movement built

ALSO ACCOMPLISHED IN 2020:

on a history of forced removal and led largely by white people. We recently created a new conservation program on the Wind River Reservation led by Wes Martel. The reservation is a massive landscape in Greater Yellowstone, spanning more than 2.2 million acres – about equal to the size of Yellowstone National Park. It has a small but growing buffalo herd and is the seventh largest Indian Reservation in the country.

As a veteran and a twentyyear member of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, Wes brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to GYC. During his tenure with the Council, he oversaw programs and legislation dealing with water,

GYC worked with partners and the U.S. Forest Service on a proposal to bring more than 500 acres of private inholdings within the New World mining district near Cooke City, MT into public hands through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

PHOTO: NICHOLAS OLSON

We helped launch the Absaroka Fence Initiative – an agency, NGO, and landowner collaborative that will modify or remove fences to improve wildlife passage in Wyoming.

CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT : WIND RIVER RESERVATION

taxation, energy, and the environment. He was also chairman of the Fish & Game Committee for the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes. His work included helping with drafting, approving, and adopting the Wind River Water Code. Wes has a deep and abiding respect for the values and beliefs of Indigenous people and brings enthusiasm and a positive and engaging spirit to his work.

As part of our new program, Wes will focus on furthering priorities of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho and building support for land, water, and wildlife conservation. Through

COMING UP:

Campaign SPOTLIGHT

FOCUS

Elevating Native Voices

HIGHLIGHTS

GYC has a duty to help elevate the voices of Indigenous people who care deeply about this region and its natural resources. Integrating priorities from the Wind River Reservation is just the first step.

You can help elevate native voices by giving a gift to our work led by Wes Martel.

this work, we are committed to listening, learning, and working alongside various people who share a connection and commitment to this remarkable region.

Helping bison move beyond Yellowstone’s boundaries by reducing conflicts with landowners through partnerships on fencing projects.

Inspiring hundreds of citizens and businesses to say NO to the Kilgore Mine Exploration project in Idaho.

Wyoming.

KEEPING FORESTS HEALTHY, BALANCED

Greater Yellowstone is an extraordinary natural and cultural landscape and its varied public lands are a big part of what make it so special. The Bridger-Teton National Forest, one of five national forests within the region, has some of the wildest lands and rivers, providing critical habitat for wildlife, supporting several long-distance migration routes, and boasting amazing terrain for backcountry recreation.

In 2019, the 3.4-millionacre forest announced it was preparing for a new Forest Management Plan, which will guide everything from recreation access to wildlife habitat to logging for decades to come. To prepare for this effort, the agency has been gathering information

ALSO ACCOMPLISHED IN 2020:

and data in anticipation of upcoming public participation. Likewise, GYC and our partners are preparing for this effort by conducting inventories of lands with wilderness characteristics and rivers and streams with wild and scenic eligibility determinations. Five field inventories told us that 800,415 acres, including areas on the West Slope of the Wind River Range, an extension of the Gros Ventre Wilderness, and areas in the Southern Wyoming Range were candidates for land protection because of their wilderness characteristics. They boast outstanding opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation, are primarily affected by the forces of nature rather than man, contain

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act into the U.S. Senate. This legislation will protect 336 miles of some of the wildest rivers in Montana as Wild and Scenic (the highest form of river protection in the U.S.).

GYC removed dozens of miles of harmful fences around the ecosystem in key wildlife movement routes.

unique features and values that should be protected, and can be adequately managed.

We also reviewed all 783 streams within the forest and chose to conduct a field inventory and analysis of 120 rivers and streams for their wild and scenic character. After the assessment, we identified 57 streams that have outstandingly remarkable values, which makes them candidates for Wild and Scenic River eligibility; the highest administrative form of river protection in the United States.

Working in coalition with 20 conservation, nonmotorized recreation, and sportsman groups, we

COMING UP:

Campaign SPOTLIGHT

HIGHLIGHTS

GYC is working with our partners to inventory lands and waters that need protection in anticipation of the upcoming forest plan revision. This document will guide the forest’s management for decades to come.

You help us build the data necessary to protect Greater Yellowstone well into the future.

hope to come to consensus around recommending protections for this important landscape. We will push for collaborative solutions that protect the many ways this forest is important to humans and wildlife alike.

THANK YOU!

To learn more about this effort, visit greateryellowstone.org/blog.

FOCUS Briger-Teton National Forest’s new Management Plan.

Looking for opportunities to purchase private lands with mining inholdings near Emigrant Peak and Crevice Mountain near the border of Yellowstone National Park.

Ensuring wildlife crossings continue to be a priority in Wyoming by helping raise awareness of the state’s conservation license plate. More than $300,000 can be raised annually by Wyoming residents who purchase a plate.

CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT : CONFLICT REDUCTION EFFORTS

PHOTO: HENRY FINKBEINER

KEEPING BEARS WILD, PEOPLE SAFE

Greater Yellowstone’s grizzly bears symbolize the wild, rugged beauty of this incomparable region. Our work to keep grizzly bears alive over the last four decades has played an important role in grizzly bear recovery but there is still work to do. As Greater Yellowstone grizzly bears continue to expand their range, communities around the ecosystem are encountering new challenges associated with living alongside them. Our goal is to keep bears wild, people safe, and livelihoods in place.

One of the ways we do this is by engaging a wide range of people who care about this region from state and federal agencies to ranchers and other community members. We know that when we work with people to solve

ALSO ACCOMPLISHED IN 2020:

complex challenges related to living with this keystone species, solutions for Greater Yellowstone are long-lasting.

Today, grizzly habitat in some areas within Greater Yellowstone’s national forests is fragmented by roads. Fragmentation is harmful to a variety of species, and road density is the number one predictor of grizzly bear mortality. Following up on GYC’s successful partnership to bear-proof all 164 campgrounds in Greater Yellowstone’s five national forests, we have begun a new partnership with the Forest Service to identify previously closed forest roads that are being illegally or unnecessarily used and restore them to natural conditions. The goal is to improve habitat and discourage

MONTANA GYC has partnered with scientists from Montana State University, the United States Geological Survey, and the University of Wyoming to develop an assessment of future climate within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

GYC completed its first elk occupancy agreement in Teton County, Wyoming. The agreement relocates cows for a period of time to allow wild elk to use private ranch lands.

further use of illegal roads. This multi-year effort will help Greater Yellowstone’s wildlife by rehabilitating habitat across the ecosystem. Meanwhile, we are working to limit conflicts between bears and people. Last summer we installed large, bear-resistant shipping containers at cow camps in the Gravelly Range of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. We also provided similar containers to outfitter camps on the Shoshone, Bridger-Teton, and Caribou-Targhee national forests. These containers provide an opportunity for range riders, working cowboys, and hunting guides to prevent potential conflicts by securing attractants

COMING UP:

Campaign

FOCUS

Keeping bears wild, people safe, and livelihoods in place.

HIGHLIGHTS

We are helping restore closed and illegal roads across all five forests and working with people to reduce conflicts between bears and people.

like grain and food, thus keeping grizzly bears wild and people safe.

Thank you for your support to keep bears wild and thriving in Greater Yellowstone.

We also continued our partnerships with the Tom Miner Basin and Centennial Valley Associations to deploy seasonal range riders who monitor large landscapes to help keep bears and wolves away from livestock. These efforts help keep livelihoods in place and build tolerance for bears on working lands. Thanks to your support, our work ensures bears can thrive alongside

now and in the future.

Greater Yellowstone’s Climate Assessment Report will be published later his year and will help guide GYC’s work well into the future.

We will continue to work with Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) to reintroduce the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act into Congress.

people

FINA N CIALS

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is committed to sound fiscal management, accountability, and transparency—a commitment that consistently wins us top marks from the nation’s chief watchdogs for charitable organizations. If you’d like additional information beyond this report, please see our audited financial statements and 990s available at greateryellowstone.org/financials.

In fiscal year 2020, total revenue was $4,864,370 (including investments, events, and other income). Expenses were $3,972,409. We ended the year with net assets of $12,944,761. Our financial security is due to generous bequests, sustaining donations, and restricted funding for key campaigns and projects within the ecosystem. This generosity allows us to think bigger and make lasting investments in our work now, and in the future.

Supporting GYC is easy with Amazon Smile. All you need to do is use smile.amazon.com next time you shop. (It’s the same shopping experience at Amazon.com.) Then, choose the Greater Yellowstone Coalition as your charity and Amazon will donate a portion of your shopping experience to help protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of Greater Yellowstone!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s Board of Directors is comprised of dedicated volunteers who bring a broad array of leadership, expertise, and enthusiasm to protecting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Janet Offensend, Chair

Taya Cromley, Vice-Chair

Andrew Moore, Treasurer

Pete Coppolillo, Secretary

Abi Devan

Patrick Dominick

Bea Gordon

Kitty Griswold

Thomas Jalkut

Chris Johns

Rick Johnson

Diana Simmons

Jane Spencer

Georgie Stanley

Dan Vermillion

Nancy Watters

Jennifer Wilson

Thomas Winston

Dan Wenk

YELLOWSTONE BISON

PROJECT SAVES

We launched a partnership with Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Forever, and several tribal nations to help grow the Yellowstone Bison Conservation and Transfer Program. This project begins by expanding the bison quarantine facilities located inside Yellowstone, which will divert almost 400 wild Yellowstone bison from slaughter and instead use them to restore herds across North America. GYC has raised $144,000 toward our $250,000 goal. Help us make a lasting difference for bison. Give a gift to this project today.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL MELISSA RICHEY AT 406.556.2834

YELLOWSTONE

AMERICA’S VOICE FOR A GREATER

215 South Wallace Avenue • Bozeman, Montana 59715

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