2024 SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT
NOTES FROM THE FIELD
Greater Yellowstone is an extraordinary cultural and natural landscape. At the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, it’s our job to keep it that way.
Our staff is passionate, collaborative, and innovative — and that’s why we succeed. Hear from our team and learn more about how they’re keeping this ecosystem remarkable.
“I’ve been focused on increasing community involvement on issues related to the health of the Big Wind River watershed. The Big Wind River is threatened by Diversion Dam, which diverts crucial water away from the Tribes and destroys habitat downstream. By engaging the community, we’re working toward protecting this sacred water. ”
SIGNA MCADAMS (Fort Washakie, Wyoming) Wind River Conservation Organizer
“My efforts include protecting wildlife migrations and securing habitat, clean water, and sustainable recreation access on the 3.4 million-acre BridgerTeton National Forest. We are preparing for a once-in-a-generation forest plan revision process to ensure protections for some of the wildest places in Wyoming and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem."
TEDDY COLLINS (Jackson, Wyoming) Western Wyoming Conservation Assocate
“I am working with partners to restore bison movement and migration pathways to and from winter habitat and spring calving grounds north and west of Yellowstone National Park. This includes supporting wildlife crossing infrastructure and animal detection systems to promote safe passage for bison and exploring options for bison habitat improvement projects on public lands.
SHANA DRIMAL (Bozeman, Montana) Wildlife Program Manager
“Our climate program had a busy summer! I have been working with partners to protect cold, clean water and riparian habitats on two stream restoration projects on the Wind River Indian Reservation and advocating for a fish barrier to protect native Yellowstone cutthroat trout on a Clarks Fork tributary, Crandall Creek.”
SIERRA HARRIS (Bozeman, Montana) Climate Resiliency Manager
As the year comes to a close, I can’t help but look back on the incredible progress the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has made thanks to your support. So often our work to protect this special corner of the globe is slow, steady, and strategic. It has to be, because progress comes at the speed of trust. That’s why it is particularly inspiring to share milestones that have been years in the making.
One of the biggest milestones of 2024 was celebrating a new bison management plan for Yellowstone National Park. For nearly a quarter century the state of Montana has been forcing the National Park Service to manage our national mammal a lot more like cattle than wildlife. This new plan takes a big step in the right direction by focusing on the tools that allow the park to move away from the ship-to-slaughter model of population control. More healthy bison will be able to live in Yellowstone, and the new plan prioritizes using the Bison Conservation Transfer Program to rehome animals to Tribal lands across the United States. Bison continue to be one of America’s most profound conservation success stories thanks in part to your advocacy and ongoing support.
From less than two dozen animals over a hundred years ago, the Yellowstone bison herd now thrives and has helped 26 Tribes in 12 states grow culturally and ecologically important herds. Still, our work to conserve and restore bison isn’t done. Looking ahead, we’ll be rolling up our sleeves alongside partners to strengthen efforts to rehome even more healthy bison to Tribal lands.
We’ve also made big strides toward protecting wildlife and people on our region’s roads. Greater Yellowstone is home to some of the most magnificent wildlife migrations left in North America. To protect this remarkable wildlife spectacle, we help lead the charge to build wildlife highway crossing structures. These are years long efforts that require millions of dollars in private matching funds to compete for federal infrastructure money recently made available to states. Each year, hundreds of elk, mule deer, moose, and other wildlife are hit by cars as they try to cross from summer to winter ranges. Building highway overpasses and underpasses specifically designed for wildlife movement is a proven method to keep more animals alive and people safe. I am thrilled to share that in 2024 we raised nearly $3 million to support wildlife highway projects in Wyoming and Montana. Stay tuned for more details on these projects as they get underway.
There’s no doubt 2025 will be a big year for grizzly bears as we expect to learn whether they’ll remain federally protected under the Endangered Species Act. Our work on behalf of grizzlies has a 40-year history and whatever the future holds for the bruin, GYC will continue to advocate for this iconic species, while building durable, science-based solutions that support a successful future for living alongside bears. With an estimated 1,000 grizzly bears in Greater Yellowstone, this critically important work comes with the success of bringing them back from the brink of extinction just 40 years ago.
Thank you for your generous support of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. We owe so much of our conservation success to you.
Keeping More Bears Alive with Bear-Resistant Bins
Grizzly bears are one of the most iconic species of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Sharing the landscape with such wild creatures is indeed part of the draw to the Western way of life. As an umbrella species, a thriving grizzly population indicates and supports a healthy ecosystem.
By nature, these wide-ranging omnivores feed themselves by hunting for prey, consuming berries and seeds, and foraging for a variety of plants and even insects. However, bears are also drawn to trash, livestock feed, and other attractants brought into their habitat by humans. In fact, 85 percent of bear mortality is associated with a human-caused conflict.
The good news: proper storage of attractants like food and garbage can directly prevent conflict, keeping
humans safe and bears wild. As grizzly populations continue to expand and bears reinhabit parts of their historic range from which they have long been absent, GYC is collaborating with government agencies and local communities to proactively prevent conflicts by providing bear-proof storage solutions.
This work is holistic and often starts with the people who live here. Providing residents with the education and tools to secure food and garbage properly can prevent conflicts before they happen.
In Wyoming, GYC helped to fund four bear-proof dumpsters installed this spring near Lander and contributed funds toward 15 bear bins for nearby Atlantic City residents. This summer in Montana, GYC began the process
of retrofitting dumpsters at transfer stations in Park and Madison counties and installing bear-resistant garbage cans at the Gardiner School outside of Yellowstone National Park’s north entrance.
Securing attractants is equally important on ranch lands as it is in neighborhoods, and GYC has worked to provide large storage containers on livestock allotments and cow camps that producers can share to keep feed and other attractants out of reach from grizzlies. Three such containers were installed in Montana’s Ruby Valley this season.
Part of our grizzly conflict prevention work is grounded in a long-standing partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. Thirty-nine bear bins were delivered to campgrounds across the
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest this summer through this partnership, a step toward a shared goal of bear-proofing campgrounds across the five National Forests surrounding Yellowstone.
As grizzly bears have expanded to new areas of southwest Montana, we are focusing our bear proofing efforts on this critical connectivity zone.
Living successfully with wildlife is an ongoing process in Greater Yellowstone and one to which GYC is forever committed.
For grizzlies, it is part of the challenge that comes with years of successful conservation and recovery efforts that have led to a healthy population of bears in and around the world’s first national park.
Creating New Public Land from Mining Claims
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is special—and it’s no place for destructive mining projects.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is the regional leader ensuring this remarkable landscape stays as it is for generations to come. For decades, we’ve been fighting risky mines to prevent habitat destruction, water pollution, and more.
When the opportunity arose to protect three major ore lodes just north of Yellowstone National Park through the Absaroka-Beartooth Gateway Acquisition Project, GYC jumped into action.
Our team collaborated with the U.S. Forest Service to build a plan that supported landowners who wanted to sell their land and mineral rights to the
Custer Gallatin National Forest.
In June 2024, GYC and the U.S. Forest Service finalized the second phase of the Absaroka-Beartooth Gateway Acquisition project, officially turning several former mining claims in the New World Mining District into public lands.
“We are excited to partner with the Forest Service and willing landowners to secure these lands near Yellowstone’s northeast corner,” said GYC Executive Director Scott Christensen. “Bringing these parcels into public ownership protects critical habitat for grizzly bears, elk and other wildlife, prevents backcountry development, and ensures access for recreationists.”
Using funds from the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, 61 acres of private land were purchased and became the newest public land additions within the Custer Gallatin National Forest. These lands near Cooke City, Montana are located next to the AbsarokaBeartooth Wilderness.
This region is quintessential Greater Yellowstone, full of wide-open spaces and abundant wildlife. The Wilderness and nearby new public lands provide secure habitat for grizzly bears and many other species in this wild corner of the region.
By decreasing the threat of mining in this area, we’re giving wildlife the space they need to thrive.
The Absaroka-Beartooth Gateway Acquisition Project also supports the protection of the headwaters of several
iconic rivers, including the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone and the Stillwater River. Yellowstone National Park’s famed Soda Butte Creek and Slough Creek also originate from this area and provide crucial habitat for native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
By collaborating with partners and finding innovative solutions for wildlife habitat conservation, we’re keeping the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as it is—wild and healthy.
This project reflects GYC’s deep commitment to protecting Yellowstone’s boundary and the rest of the region from damaging mining proposals.
Your continued support makes this type of exciting and impactful work possible.
Photo: Fossil Lake in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Troy Smith/Flickr
Reclaiming Tribal Lands at Muddy Ridge
At 2.2 million acres, today the Wind River Indian Reservation is roughly the same size as Yellowstone National Park.
This expansive landscape contains hundreds of lakes, more than 1,000 miles of rivers and streams, and some of the most remote mountains in the Lower 48. Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves and vast herds of elk, deer, and pronghorn are just some of the species that call Wind River home.
The two Tribes of the Wind River Indian Reservation the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho steward the landscape and its wildlife; they are actively working with GYC to bring back buffalo, improve riparian habitats, and restore the Big Wind River.
Yet the reservation was originally a landscape 20 times its current size. What began as a 44-million-acre reservation in 1863 was soon reduced to less than three million acres in
1868. The 1868 Treaty a nationto-nation peace agreement between the U.S. Federal government and Shoshone Tribe–guaranteed lands “for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Shoshone Indians.” A long history of broken Treaty agreements followed by the federal government taking more Tribal lands within the reservation boundary for private and federal use.
One such area is Muddy Ridge.
Muddy Ridge is an expanse of undeveloped land in the northeast portion of the Wind River Indian Reservation. In 1920, the land was removed from Tribal control to create irrigation infrastructure for non-Tribal residents as part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Riverton Reclamation Project. Land that was not used for the project was categorized as “excess property,” and should have been returned to the Tribes.
Since 1943, the Eastern Shoshone
Tribe has been actively pursuing the return of many lands withdrawn by the U.S. government. Some successful restorations have occurred, but the Tribes continue to dispute more than 100,000 acres of excess lands remain in U.S. government control.
Even though 57,000 acres is recognized by the Bureau of Reclamation as “excess” to the property, the federal government has refused to return it to Tribal ownership.
GYC is working in lockstep with Tribal leadership from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes to advocate for the repatriation of Muddy Ridge and other lands. We are actively engaging agencies within the Department of Interior to come to a decision that honors Tribal sovereignty.
Despite the Tribes’ efforts to return Muddy Ridge and other lands, Senator John Barrasso and Representative Harriet Hageman of Wyoming recently introduced a bill that would
take a piece of excess property the Tribes have asked for in their many requests and hand it over to private non-Tribal irrigators.
Titled the Pilot Butte Conveyance Act, this legislation was created and introduced without any conversation with the Tribes. In fact, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe was unaware of the bill until it passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This is yet another example of a broken Treaty and the shocking reality that Tribes must fight to get their own land back.
GYC is fighting alongside the Tribes as they oppose this bill.
Our Tribal program staff are conducting education and outreach within the Wind River Indian Reservation communities to ensure Tribal members are engaged, informed, and empowered to demand the resolution of this decades-old injustice, and see the return of Muddy Ridge and other lands to the Tribes.
We are so grateful to all of you who support us. All gifts, no matter the amount, help advance our work. Due to limited space, we are only able to recognize donors who gave $1,000 or more from September 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
Elaine and Hirschel
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Finding New Tech for Greater Yellowstone Conservation
Technology plays a role in our everyday lives. Many head out to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to escape the inundation of tech, however it looks like an up-and-coming technological tool may play a big role in the wildlife-friendly fencing saga.
Wide-ranging fences fragment the Greater Yellowstone landscape, presenting an often-lethal barrier to wildlife migration and movement. Without the ease of access to seasonal ranges, food sources, and mates, elk, pronghorn, deer, and more are at risk. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is committed to finding opportunities to preserve connectivity and restore the ability of wildlife to move within and across the landscape to meet their needs.
This is where virtual fencing comes in.
Virtual fencing (VF) is designed to reduce labor for livestock producers, enhance rangeland health, and potentially reduce the number of fences crisscrossing the private and public grazing lands around the world. Collars containing a batterypowered transceiver are worn by cows. The collars use GPS, wireless signals, and radio frequency to “talk” to base stations. Cows receive auditory signals that scale up to electric stimuli the closer they get to a virtual boundary established by the livestock manager. The technology allows livestock managers to contain and move their stock without needing physical fences.
Could VF be the future of predator-livestock conflict management? Will it really reduce the number of fences on the landscape, allowing migrating wildlife to move with fewer barriers? The answers – maybe.
Despite all the unknowns, VF should be viewed as another tool in the toolbox, not a one-size-fits-all solution, and it is an arena that multiple groups can work on together to create the best and most valuable technology to benefit all. Here at GYC, we are looking forward to working with existing and new partners to explore and support the role of VF in conservation within Greater Yellowstone.
Meet Sr. Wyoming Conservation Associate Erin Welty
Based in Cody, Wyoming, Erin works on wildlife migration and movement conservation efforts near the Absaroka-Beartooth Front. Along with the Absaroka Fence Initiative, she hosts field days for volunteers to retrofit fences to be more wildlife-friendly. Erin is currently leading our work with virtual fencing.
Fences can make it difficult for ungulates to navigate. © Mark Gocke
Big News for Wildlife Crossings!
Wyoming is home to some of the longest wildlife migration corridors in the country. Each year, thousands of elk, deer, and pronghorn embark on epic journeys across the state in search of food and breeding grounds. However, the many roads crisscrossing the landscape present major barriers to wildlife migration.
Recently, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the WYldlife Fund teamed up to raise $2.7 million for a new wildlife crossing project on U.S. Highway 26 in Wyoming. These private donations will contribute to the non-federal match requirement for the state’s application requesting more than $17 million in federal funding from the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program that was established through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed in 2021.
This substantial fundraising effort will strengthen the state’s application as it competes for highly competitive federal grant funds through the pilot program. If awarded, the project will build one wildlife overpass, three wildlife underpasses, and improve two existing agricultural underpasses to enhance wildlife movement.
We extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this project—your support will make a significant positive impact on wildlife habitat connectivity in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem!
Rendering of the wildlife overpass for U.S. Highway 26
Attaining a 4-star “exceptional” rating verifies the Greater Yellowstone Coalition exceeds nonprofit industry standards. Only 16 percent of charities evaluated have received at least five consecutive four-star ratings, which means the Greater Yellowstone Coalition outperforms most other charities in America.
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