Wildlife Habitat on Yellowstone’s Doorstep Protected from Mining

Protecting Yellowstone’s Wildlife Corridors from Mining 

In 2023, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition extinguished the threat of a large-scale gold mine on Crevice Mountain by purchasing mineral rights, leases, and claims across nearly 1,600 acres. But scattered private inholdings and mineral rights remained, leaving the door open to future development in this critical wildlife corridor. 

This new project eliminates that risk. The Conservation Fund and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition each acquired private land parcels and conveyed them to the Forest Service, adding 161 acres to the Custer-Gallatin National Forest. The deal also transferred 208 acres of mineral rights to the Forest Service, with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition donating lode claims to permanently prevent future mining on Palmer and Crevice Mountains. 

Together with the mining ban established by the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act passed by Congress in 2019, this project ensures these slopes will never see a gold mine. 

A Landscape Communities and Wildlife Both Depend On 

For the wildlife that depends on this corridor, and the local communities that depend on the land for their way of life, this is a lasting win. Grizzly bears, migrating elk herds, and free-roaming bison now have permanent access to this landscape, and the sweeping views from Crevice Mountain toward the Tetons will remain untarnished for generations to come. 

This project was supported in part by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which reinvests offshore energy revenues, not taxpayer dollars, into conservation and outdoor recreation access nationwide.