The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) is a joint Canada-US not-for-profit organization that seeks to preserve and maintain the wildlife, native plants, wilderness and natural processes of the mountainous region from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon Territory.

Y2Y takes a scientific approach to conservation and is recognized as one of the planet''s leading mountain conservation initiatives. Y2Y was officially established in 1997 and has two offices located in Canmore, Alberta and Bozeman, Montana.

Our Vision
Combining science and stewardship, we seek to ensure that the world-renowned wilderness, wildlife, native plants, and natural processes of the Yellowstone to Yukon region continue to function as an interconnected web of life, capable of supporting all of its natural and human communities, for now and for future generations.

Mission Statement
People working together to maintain and restore the unique natural heritage of the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

Primary Role
Y2Y connects and supports a network of organizations, agencies, and individuals doing on-the-ground conservation work in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. These groups are known as our partners.

Without a unified vision for this deeply interconnected landscape, local conservation efforts may be isolated and less effective. Y2Y seeks to ensure conservation efforts throughout the region are aligned in support of large scale objectives, and therefore become continentally significant.

Y2Y''s History

In 1993, lawyer and environmentalist Harvey Locke wrote the words "Yellowstone to Yukon" on a map while sitting around a campfire in what is now the Greater Muskwa-Kechika Ecosystem in British Columbia. Building on a myriad of longstanding efforts to protect the Northern Rocky Mountains, the idea of establishing new protected areas and wildlife corridors throughout the mountain ranges from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon became more formalized in December 1993 when a group of scientists and conservationists convened in Kananaskis, Alberta to pour over maps and examine critical landscapes in the region. The group came to the conclusion that a positive vision tying together conservation goals from Yellowstone to the Yukon was appropriate and necessary.

Out of the many influences leading to the Y2Y vision, one of the most inspiring was the story of a gray wolf named Pluie. In 1991, Pluie was collared with a satellite transmitter in Kananaskis, Alberta. Over the course of two years she traveled through two Canadian provinces and three American states - covering an area 15 times larger than Banff National Park. Pluie''s movements showed scientists just how far and wide carnivores roam, and that small ''islands'' of protected parks are simply not large enough to provide animals with the freedom to roam that they require. These islands need to be connected by safe migration pathways so animals can safely travel between them.