Greater Yellowstone Area

With Yellowstone National Park at its core, it also includes Grand Teton National Park, six national forests, three national wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management holdings and state, private and tribal lands. This temperate ecosystem, the most intact in the world, houses one of the largest elk herds in North America, the largest free-roaming wild herd of bison in the United States and one of the few grizzly bear populations in the contiguous United States.

OUR PORTFOLIO

The Conservation Fund has protected tens of thousands of acres within the Greater Yellowstone Area, supporting connectivity between habitats needed by the region’s diverse wildlife and biodiversity to adapt to changing conditions. These efforts conserve significant watersheds, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational access, and climate resilient ecosystems.

We’ve succeeded with the help of federal programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act, private foundations such as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Knobloch Family Foundation, and many private landowners.

Here’s where The Conservation Fund is working:

Upper Green River Valley
Mitigation funding from natural gas development has provided new conservation opportunities in the Upper Green River Valley. We are collaborating with ranchers to protect and enhance more than 171,000 acres, and preserve Wyoming’s traditional ranching economy and unique wildlife habitat for pronghorn antelope and sage grouse.

Upper Snake River
The Upper Snake River in Idaho boasts some of the nation’s best opportunities for fishing, an industry that has generated thousands of jobs and contributed tens of millions of dollars to the local economy. To date, we’ve protected 20,000 acres along the river that ensures anglers will be able to return year after year.

Caribou-Targhee National Forest
Our work at Caribou-Targhee National Forest has helped the U.S. Forest Service protect an important inholding in Idaho that had been approved for residential development. Its protection keeps communities safer from the risk of wildfires, with added benefits for wildlife and recreationists.

Bridger-Teton National Forest
Featuring the highest peak in Wyoming, as well as thousands of miles of trails and waterways, Bridger-Teton National Forest is a recreationist’s haven – and we’ve helped guarantee continued access to hiking, hunting, camping and other popular outdoor activities.

WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS

Although there is much support for conservation of the Greater Yellowstone Area, funding is scarce. As government agencies and conservation groups compete for these resources, climate change, invasive species and development threaten to gravely disrupt this fragile ecosystem. We’re finding creative ways to leverage resources and bring conservation dollars to the table, giving this one-of-a-kind landscape a more hopeful and certain future.

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