MEETEETSE, Wyo. — On a recent visit to a ranch east of Yellowstone, the challenge of conserving wildlife migration corridors came into stark relief. For generations, ranchers here have grazed livestock on the vast, rolling hills outside America’s first national park—but they also do something far less profitable: provide crucial winter habitat for Yellowstone’s […]
[…] this vantage point, is a thoroughfare that 4,000 mule deer use seasonally to migrate from the South Fork of the Shoshone River into the high country of Yellowstone. For thousands of years, migration has been the key to survival for species like elk, mule deer, and pronghorn in this area. And Middleton is the […]
[…] such barriers. For instance, asserting that the standard should be higher “when a species is already listed,” a federal court recently struck down the delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly bear, despite extensive, bipartisan recovery efforts that enabled the species to exceed its recovery goal (and likely its ecosystem’s carrying capacity). But a heavy thumb […]
The surviving wildlife migrations of the Yellowstone region are wonders of nature. The key to saving them is enlisting private landowners as allies.
[…] bidders were allowed, would they prevent agencies from properly managing natural resources? Those questions are at the forefront of several debates playing out in my backyard near Yellowstone National Park, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. In one case earlier this year, a proposed timber sale on state trust lands in the […]
[…] to conservation—called free market environmentalism—that shuns regulation in favor of solutions focused on property rights, markets, and incentives,” he explained. “From our offices at the gateway to Yellowstone, our team has recovered fisheries using property rights, implemented adoption incentives to tackle the wild horse crisis, and partnered with National Parks leaders to address the […]
[…] and changing climates threaten many wildlife migration corridors. Land conversion, poorly planned residential development, and wildlife-to-livestock disease transmission are potential threats to migration corridors in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. If we hope to preserve America’s wildlife heritage, we should be proactive in protecting these migratory paths. Wildlife often migrate and disperse across private lands, […]
[…] as seasonal refuges for wildlife, which produce spillover benefits that flow throughout the state. Recent research has demonstrated just how important private lands are in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Studies of GPS-collared elk in the ecosystem reveal that the region’s herds—which comprise more than 20,000 elk in at least nine major herds—rely on private […]
[…] such barriers. For instance, asserting that the standard should be higher “when a species is already listed,” a federal court recently struck down the delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly bear, despite extensive, bipartisan recovery efforts that enabled the species to exceed its recovery goal (and likely its ecosystem’s carrying capacity). But a heavy thumb […]
[…] data from various landowners to discover what tools will be most effective in promoting wildlife conservation. We are conducting surveys across two populations: ranchers in the Upper Yellowstone Watershed and those across the West. Participation in these surveys is voluntary, and respondents may decline to participate or to answer any question. All information is […]