The Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC) is a regional conservation nonprofit organization dedicated to working with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the over 20-million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Formation | 1983 |
---|---|
Type | Conservation 501(c)(3) nonprofit |
Headquarters | Bozeman, Montana |
Region served | Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem |
Executive Director | Scott Christensen |
Website | Official website |
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition was founded in 1983. Its core premise is that “an ecosystem will remain healthy and wild only if it is kept whole.”[1] It aimed to protect one of the last largely intact temperate ecosystems in the United States. Its founding president was conservationist Rick Reese.[2]
GYC has advocated for river and waterway protections, defense of grizzly bear populations and the institution of human-bear coexistence policies, and battles against gold mining in the Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone National Park.[3] They have also pushed for improved land use plans and protections for wild trout in the Greater Yellowstone Area.[4]
In addition, the GYC led the fight against the New World gold-silver-copper mine, which was proposed to be sited only about four miles from the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, during the early 1990s.[5]
The organization focuses land around Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, including Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.[2] It covers over 20 million acres[2] (34,000 square miles) with Yellowstone National Park at its center.[6] This area is used recreationally by large numbers of people every year, which “puts strains on its environment, wildlife and infrastructure."[6] The organization seeks to protect the lands, waters and wildlife of the 20-million-acre (81,000 km2) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.[1] It advocates for “conservation, sound science, and protective management.”[7]
The main office of the GYC is based in Bozeman, Montana, and the organization has other offices in Jackson, WY, Cody, WY and Idaho Falls, ID.[1] Its current director is conservationist Scott Christensen.
The Montana State University Library holds the papers of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition from 1984 to 2018.[8]