At its heart, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is about people working together. The Y2Y organization serves an important role to catalyze and facilitate local conservation action by a myriad of partners.

As a catalyst, we commission scientific research and synthesize the work of others to better envision the region's overall condition and conservation needs. Using the large-scale needs of grizzly bears, birds and fish, Y2Y establishes conservation priorities for the entire region and identifies critical areas with the greatest conservation need. By facilitating the exchange of ideas and research, as well as attracting international attention and funding to the region, Y2Y has been able to grow the capacity of other groups to achieve more than they could otherwise. We foster collaborations that coordinate the work of partners around agreed-upon conservation strategies that bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to regional efforts.

Y2Y was officially established in 1997 by conservationists and scientists who believed that lasting conservation requires an overall understanding of the landscape, and the setting of regional conservation priorities. Adopting a new paradigm that fits with this thinking, they developed an organization that integrated scientifically sound research, stewardship, and strategic partnerships.

Following this paradigm, our goal is to maintain and sustain this region in a way that allows wilderness, wildlife, native plants, and natural processes to function as an interconnected web of life. This is as much for the benefit of future generations as it is for the land, the wildlife, and the people currently living in the region.  This grand vision and huge undertaking will only be possible through hard work and long-term collaboration of all sorts of groups and individuals.