There are big challenges when working on conservation efforts for large scale areas of land, like the Yellowstone to Yukon region that spans the spine of our continent reaching into the arctic and down into the United States.
But there are also big rewards.
For the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative, those rewards in 2015 include the announcement of a new provincial park for the Castle wilderness region on Alberta’s eastern slopes.
Jody Hilty, chief scientist for Y2Y, said over the last 20 years of working to preserve and improve connectivity for key species of wildlife across the continent they have seen the needle move from 11 per cent of the landscape being in protected areas to 20 per cent.
“We are an optimistic organization,” Hilty said. “Showing incremental progress is something that is really good to see.”
Y2Y released its 2015 annual report earlier this month and it detailed the numerous efforts the non-profit has undertaken, including collaborating on 67 conservation projects. That includes protecting more than 100,000 hectares of land in the Castle watershed.
“What we try to do (in the report) is capture highlights of some of the really cool pieces we are pushing forward with our partners across the region to give people a sense of the depth and progress we are making,” Hilty said.
One of the key conservation messages Y2Y has worked on for the Castle region has focused on how critical the area is as a headwaters – meaning it is the source of drinking water downstream for rivers that begin in the mountains and traverse the eastern slopes before carving their way through the prairies.
Last September, after decades of lobbying from Albertans and groups like Y2Y, the provincial government announced the protection of the Castle watershed. The area is north of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and is critical habitat for grizzly bears, wolverines and trout species. It is considered a key piece in the puzzle for keeping wide-ranging species on the landscape.
“These new protected areas are not isolated,” said Stephen Legault, Y2Y program director for the Crown, Alberta and NWT. “The Castle is part of a much larger interconnected landscape within the Crown of the Continent ecosystem.”
The vision of the organization is to see an interconnected system of wilderness lands – including watersheds – stretching from the Yukon to the north and Yellowstone National Park to the south.
The scale of the work is challenging, Hilty said, but it is also rewarding to see work happen on the ground in local places that are within the region. That includes Banff, Canmore and the Bow Valley – with Y2Y headquarters being located in Canmore.
“One of the things I really love about working at Yellowstone to Yukon is the vision is enormous, but the work gets done at really local places,” she said. “It is important to get what may seem like only a local issue right because it matters in the larger context of this big enormous landscape.”
While none of the bigger projects in 2015 were focused on the Bow Valley specifically, the larger landscape focus of the organization’s work connects this valley and wildlife species like grizzly bears to wilderness areas.
“The reality is … there are some places where we are focused more heavily because it is needed,” she said. “One of the things that makes progress towards the Y2Y vision possible is the engagement of individuals. I think some of the work we are doing right now in the Bow Valley is exciting because citizens really care about coexistence and connectivity.”
In 2015, according to the report, success was seen for conservation efforts in relation to grizzly bear numbers in the Cabinet-Purcell region. The area straddles the Canada-U.S. border and features mountainous terrain, river valleys, farms, ranches and small communities.
Hilty said of two wildlife corridors in that area, one has 95 per cent of it secured for animal movement and the other is at 50 per cent completion. She said after a decade of conservation work on the multi-jurisdictional landscape, bears are coming back.
The organization also focused efforts in 2015 in the Peace region with the restoration of the Peace River Break and a bioblitz. Those are just a few examples of the 32 initiatives Y2Y supported with local groups throughout the year.
Go to y2y.net for more information about the organization and to download its 2015 annual report.
