Policy

Protecting wildlife corridors with Y2Y

This year we’re excited that the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is supporting our work to protect habitat connectivity in the Proposed Great Burn Wilderness. Each year Y2Y funds local community work across the Yellowstone to Yukon region that supports their mission to protect and connect habitat so that wildlife and people thrive.

The Great Burn provides an important wildlife corridor connecting the Crown of the Continent and Selkirk-Cabinet-Yaak ecosystems with central Idaho’s wildlands and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This roadless region is a critical landscape for species that need large intact blocks of wildlands to survive. It is also prime grizzly bear recovery habitat.

Our work to keep the Great Burn wild depends on support from you, communities and other partner organizations. In 2021 Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative was one of those organizations. Their grant helped further our work to safeguard the region’s wilderness character and also helped support Y2Y’s mission to protect and connect habitat so that wildlife and people thrive from Yellowstone to Yukon.

Y2Y.png

Throwback Thursday: GBCA’s Earliest Days

In the summer of 1971, our director emeritus Dale Harris bought a school bus with ten friends and embarked on a three-week backpacking trip in the Great Burn. During that summer, Dale fell in love with the region’s open ridgelines, cedar creek bottoms and abundant alpine lakes.

He and the GBCA have been working to protect the Great Burn ever since.

This past weekend, we were honored to celebrate Dale's induction into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame. We are so proud of the work he has done, and continues to do, to keep the Great Burn wild. To celebrate, we're sharing some photos from that fateful summer of '71 and from the GBCA's earliest days.

Voices of the Burn: Liz Bradley

We're starting a new series! Through Voices of the Burn, we hope to show why the Great Burn is worthy and deserving permanent protection, how we are working towards that goal, and some of the wonderful people that make this area so special.

First up is Liz Bradley. Liz works as a wildlife biologist for Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and is responsible for managing the wildlife in the Montana portion of the Great Burn.