The Source - July 2024

THE SOURCE A S E M I - A N N U A L D O N O R U P D A T E S H O W C A S I N G H O W Y O U R G I F T S M A K E A D I F F E R E N C E | J U LY 2 0 2 4

Photo NPS/Neal Herbert

NEW YELLOWSTONE BISON MANAGEMENT PLAN FINALIZED Yellowstone National Park’s bison are among the country’s most profound conservation success stories.

After being pushed to the brink of extinction in the 19th Century, Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

Now, these genetically valuable bison are being used to repopulate Tribal lands and appropriate public lands across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and beyond.

Yellowstone National Park finalized a new bison management plan in June 2024, marking a positive step forward in conserving and restoring our national mammal.

GYC has long advocated for managing bison as a valued wildlife species and moving away from the ship-toslaughter model of population control.

This plan strides toward that goal by keeping more bison alive and building upon the past 20 years of progress made in Yellowstone bison conservation.

Conservation Transfer Program and Tribal and state hunting to manage the population, instead of shipping large numbers of animals to slaughter.

In 2021, GYC and its supporters raised $250,000 to help expand the Bison Conservation Transfer Program, which has reduced the number of bison sent to slaughter and increased the number of bison rehomed to Tribal lands.

To expand this rehoming process and move away from the ship-to-slaughter model of population control, Yellowstone bison need a modern management plan.

The new bison management plan makes important adjustments, including adopting a higher, sciencebased population range of 3,500 to 6,000 animals, instead of the politically driven cap of 3,000.

Thanks to donors like you, this crucial bison conservation work endures. GYC advocates played a key role during this plan revision process by sending thousands of comments to Yellowstone National Park, encouraging them to give bison the opportunity to play their important cultural and ecological role.

For the first time in nearly 25 years

It also prioritizes using the Bison

You make this work possible!

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This stretch of highway just outside Dubois, Wyoming is the future site of a new wildlife crossing overpass.

Photo GYC/Emmy Reed

NEW WILDLIFE CROSSINGS FOR WYOMING’S ELK, DEER, AND MORE Tucked into a quiet section of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the area near Dubois, Wyoming and onto the Wind River Indian Reservation is the heart of mule deer winter range.

Moose, elk, bighorn sheep, whitetailed deer, and other species also call this vast, sagebrush-filled landscape home.

However, U.S. Highway 26 bisects a crucial migration corridor that exists between summer range in Grand Teton National Park and the winter range between Dubois and the reservation.

The highway between mileposts 48-73 has become a hot spot for wildlifevehicle collisions, accounting for 74 percent of all vehicle crashes in the area.

To make this stretch of road safer for wildlife and people, a new project is underway to improve habitat connectivity and reduce wildlife vehicle collisions.

The project, officially dubbed the U.S. 26 Wildlife Crossings Project: Connecting Wildlife on the Togwotee Trail from Wind River to the Grand Tetons, is a partnership between the

State of Wyoming and Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes.

It includes building a new wildlife overpass and several underpasses along U.S. Highway 26, as well as fencing to guide animals to safe passage over or under the road.

The project will make it easier for all species to cross the road. Some animals, like deer, pronghorn, and grizzly bears, tend to prefer open-air overpasses to make their crossing.

Others like mountain lions and black bears prefer tunnel underpasses.

GYC is supporting this project and is committed to enhancing wildlife migration and connectivity in this critical corner of Greater Yellowstone.

Without safe passage along this highway, both wildlife and drivers are at risk. Wildlife crossings with fencing have been proven to reduce wildlifevehicle collisions by up to 90 percent and have a lifespan of at least 75 years.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation estimates that the initial cost of the project will be offset

within 27 to 29 years due to the reduction in wildlife-vehicle collision costs. Fortunately, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law set aside $350 million in federal aid to support wildlife crossings, creating a significant new opportunity for state transportation departments, Tribes, and conservation groups to secure the necessary funding to build wildlife overpasses and underpasses along Greater Yellowstone’s iconic migration corridors.

With our partners at The WYldlife Fund, GYC is raising $2.7 million in private matching funds to support the $28 million project. The balance of funds will come from state and federal sources. Importantly, this exciting project has broad local support and is the state’s top wildlife crossing priority.

If fully funded, construction will begin in 2026 and the new crossing structures will be in place in 2027, marking a major win for wildlife.

If you’d like to learn more about donating to this project, please contact GYC Director of Development Melissa Richey at mrichey@ greateryellowstone.org.

Listen to the stories and science of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem at G R E A T E R Y E L L O W S T O N E . O R G / P O D C A S T

Grand Teton National Park and the surrounding landscape is home to some of the most beautiful scenery and important wildlife habitat found in Greater Yellowstone.

for mule deer. The famed Path of the Pronghorn—the longest land migration in the Lower 48—traverses through the Kelly Parcel and the adjacent landscape.

Back in 2023, the State of Wyoming was considering the sale of a stateowned, 640-acre section of land within Grand Teton National Park known as the Kelly Parcel. People across Wyoming were thrilled with the prospect of the National Park Service purchasing the land and expanding the park, permanently protecting the parcel from development.

The land is also known and loved for its recreation opportunities.

Wyomingites have long enjoyed access to the parcel for wildlife watching, hiking, foraging, and more. The parcel also offers access to the Wild & Scenic Gros Ventre River for swimming, fishing, and boating.

However, a Wyoming statute would not allow for a direct sale of the Kelly Parcel to the National Park Service and instead directed that it must go to auction to the highest bidder.

Simply put, the Kelly Parcel is too valuable to risk being put up for auction.

GYC and Wyomingites were concerned the auction would give developers a chance to turn the valuable wildlife habitat found within the Kelly Parcel into a subdivision development.

GYC immediately went to work—along with many partner nonprofits, citizens, and lobbyists—engaging with Wy o m i n g ’ s Senators and Representatives during the 67th Wyoming Legislature to oppose the auction and advocate to keep the Kelly Parcel wild and free. Luckily, the efforts paid off!

In addition to its astounding views of the Tetons, this 640-acre parcel provides year-round habitat for elk, moose, and bison and seasonal habitat

In early 2024, Wyoming legislators approved the direct sale of the Kelly Parcel to the National Park Service and Grand Teton National Park for

$100 million with the passage of Wyoming’s biennium budget bill.

Fortunately, Grand Teton National Park has secured $62 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the purchase and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation is raising the remaining $38 million.

Sign up for our email list to stay up to date on the Kelly Parcel’s journey to national park land!

GREATERYELLOWSTONE.ORG/ SIGNUP

MEET THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SUCCESS STORIES JARED BAECKER Wyoming Conservation Manager

Jared led GYC’s efforts to convince legislators to sell the Kelly Parcel to the National Park Service. Based in Jackson, Wyoming, he manages GYC’s Wyoming conservation programs, including advocating for wildlife crossings to keeping public lands open.

SECURING A CORNER OF GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

The Kelly Parcel, outlined in red, is nestled right next to Grand Teton National Park.

Photo Grand Teton National Park Foundation

A M E R I C A’S VO I C E F O R A G R E AT E R Y E L LOW S TO N E 215 South Wallace Avenue • Bozeman, Montana 59715

GYC AND PARTNERS UNVEIL THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION ACT

JOIN US AT THE WILDLANDS FESTIVAL IN BIG SKY

MAKE A TAX-FREE DISTRIBUTION FROM YOUR IRA TO HELP PROTECT GREATER YELLOWSTONE

Just north of Yellowstone National Park, the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges are some of the wildest places left in the continental United States. These lands are beloved by those who live here and those who visit, and they are under threat.

That’s why GYC and the Gallatin Forest Partnership has developed the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act to permanently protect 250,000 acres of public land in the Madison and Gallatin ranges.

The proposed legislation will permanently protect drinking water, provide balanced access to outdoor recreation, conserve wildlife habitat, and stop further development to forever protect these lands for all of us.

Learn more at

GREATERYELLOWSTONE.ORG/GYCRA

Want to take advantage of an efficient way to support the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s crucial conservation work?

If you are 70.5 or older, you can give up to $100,000 each year from your traditional IRA directly to a qualified charity such as GYC. These gifts can be made without having to pay income taxes, making your donation go even further! Tax law no longer has an expiration date, so you are able to make annual gifts from your IRA to GYC this year and every year.

Contact Individual Giving Manager Veronika Sieben at vsieben@greateryellowstone.org to get started.

The two-day music lineup will feature country music headliners, Maren Morris on August 2 and Dierks Bentley on August 3 with additional artists including Lukas Nelson and Wyatt Flores.

As a beneficiary, GYC will receive funding from the Wildland Festival’s ticket sales and more. By attending this event, you’re supporting our crucial conservation work to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of this remarkable ecosystem.

Score 25% off your ticket using the QR Code above.

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