Connected landscapes are a lifeline for ecosystems, helping animals to find food, water and mates.
They help populations exchange genes between islands of habitat that are carved up by our road network and other human development.
With the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss being felt by communities and wildlife, keeping landscapes connected and ecosystems functioning is more urgent than ever.
Wildlife crossings, voluntary private land conservation, and solid policies and funding help strengthen nature’s connections, enhancing resilience to extreme climate events and allowing species to adapt to shifting conditions.
We’re steadfast in our work to maintain and restore key corridors and improve wildlife movement across some of the busiest roads in the Yellowstone to Yukon region. Thank you for being with us on this journey.
177 wildlife crossings and counting
To cross or not to cross? Countless animals encounter this dilemma when faced with a busy highway — a decision laden with potentially life-threatening consequences for the animal and the driver who collides with them or swerves to avoid.
Wildlife crossings are a solution to this widespread problem. The 177 wildlife crossings situated across the Yellowstone to Yukon region are reducing the risk and number of these collisions one underpass or overpass at a time. And we’re making progress on ensuring four of the biggest road barriers in the region are easier for animals to cross, while resolving key bottlenecks for wildlife movement.
Momentum for wildlife crossings
In 2024, progress accelerated towards establishing crossings on our two priority highways in the United States: Highway 93 and Interstate 90 (I-90). Overall, more than $30 million from the U.S. Federal Government was secured to fund work on Highway 93 — and it’s the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that continue to drive this work forward.
The result will be several new crossings in addition to the 41 existing structures on this highway — emphasizing the importance of reliable federal funding in progressing wildlife crossing projects. The new crossings will line a stretch of Highway 93 where 11 grizzly bears have been killed by fastmoving vehicles as they attempted to cross a valley bottom filled with roads and development, to expand their range southwards.
Y2Y has supported these efforts through coordination with the Tribes. Our support and encouragement have extended to the Montana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highways Administration, whom we hope will continue providing state and federal investments in wildlife crossings here and elsewhere.
During 2024, partners including Y2Y also raised funds to have several miles of new fence installed and increase the height of existing fence along Idaho’s I-90 — which, altogether, will funnel wildlife to two crossings on the highway. And in partnership with the Western Transportation Institute, we’re studying where more crossings are needed along I-90 to guide future decisions.
Wildlife crossings are a win-win for nature and people. And Montanans agree. Our public opinion polls reveal strong support for more crossings on our roads. By working with government and other partners, we aim to make wildlife crossings a standard part of transportation planning and funding — not an afterthought. Together, we’re creating safer pathways for wildlife and people alike, fostering a future where our roads work better for everyone.
Idaho’s first wildlife overpass on US-21 (also known as the Lucky Peak or Cervidae Peak overpass) won a national award for improving safety and safe passage for elk, deer and other animals.
Y2Y proudly supported this project — a result of successful collaboration among Indigenous groups, agencies, and supporters like you. Photo: Idaho Department of Transportation
Safer passage through the Canadian Rockies
Late 2024 marked the completion of the Bow Valley Gap wildlife overpass (Stoney Nakoda
Exshaw wildlife arch) west of Calgary, Alberta. Rising above the Trans-Canada Highway,
the overpass frames the entrance to the Canadian Rockies and creates safe passage in one
of the most vital regional wildlife corridors in Alberta and the Yellowstone to Yukon region.
This crossing is the culmination of almost two decades of research, planning, fundraising
and building — thanks to a collaboration of partners, Ĩyãħé Nakoda (Stoney Nakoda)
Nations, biologists, and transportation experts, and thousands of supporters like you.
In addition to the crossing, 12 km (7 miles) of wildlife fencing guide animals like elk,
cougars, and grizzly bears to the bridge. And trail cameras captured animals using the
crossing even before its official completion — heartening to see at a location where
there were on average 27 wildlife-vehicle collisions a year.
These crashes are costly in dollars as well, with damages, emergency response, and medical
expenses adding up. Wildlife crossings protect animals and drivers — and save money in
the long run.
Thanks to Y2Y’s long-term efforts, the Alberta government also announced three new
crossings over Highway 1A with fencing to guide wildlife across. Several existing Highway 1
and 1A bridges and culverts will also be modified for safe animal use.
Reconnecting the Rockies
Y2Y is a longtime partner on Reconnecting the Rockies, a collaborative wildlife crossing initiative improving connectivity along 80 km (50 miles) of Highway 3 between Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass and British Columbia’s Elk Valley.
Drawing upon decades of wildlife and road ecology research, this transboundary project supports an essential movement corridor between Banff National Park in Alberta and Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park crossing Alberta-Montana.
Y2Y and Reconnecting the Rockies was one of the few pilot projects chosen by Parks Canada for the National Program for Ecological Corridors (NPEC). Their support was instrumental in helping advance fencing, crossings and ungulate guards. We played a key role in securing the NPEC funding for the most recent phase of the project to ultimately embed 10 wildlife crossing points connected by fencing by 2027 on the B.C. side of Highway 3 — six of which are already in place.
Work is also underway on the Alberta side: three overpasses are in design and an underpass and fencing at Rock Creek are being constructed. Y2Y and numerous partners conducted the science starting in 2010 that helped prioritize key crossing points that are now underway.
Protecting nature’s pathways
When Y2Y began in 1993, grizzly bear populations in the Yellowstone region had become separated by over 240 km (150 miles) from bears in the Glacier National Park region of Montana and into Canada.
Human development prevented bears from safely migrating and mating, which kept populations small, isolated and vulnerable to weakening genetically. Conservation activities (like easements and crossings) are improving habitat quality and giving wildlife room to roam.
And today, the gap between grizzly bear populations in the southern Rockies has shrunk to less than 80 km (50 miles)!
In 2024, Y2Y worked with partners to protect key corridors that matter most for wildlife movement through the voluntary purchase of private land and conservation easements. We helped conserve six private land parcels across the U.S. and Canada and secured an agreement to protect a seventh — safeguarding 27 sq. km (6,794 acres) this year for nature, with with another 7 sq. km (1,668 acres) pending for early 2025.
These protections included our funding of an innovative conservation easement that secures thousands of acres of grizzly bear habitat while ensuring perpetual Indigenous access for cultural uses and practices.
In western Montana, we worked with the Vital Ground Foundation to purchase 0.22 sq. km (55 acres) of key grizzly bear habitat in Evaro Canyon where wilderness meets highway. Grizzly bears and numerous other species will benefit from this protected land.
Two expanses of wilderness funnel here, each one extending out into western Montana and north Idaho. This valuable corridor also sits close to the Bitterroot Mountains, just across I-90, making the goal of reconnecting the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem to the Bitterroot Range even closer.
Meanwhile in Canada, with Y2Y’s financial support, the Nature Trust of British Columbia secured protection for three land parcels in the Kootenay region of southeast B.C.: Bummer’s Flats, Wycliffe Prairie, and Lower Wolf Creek are crucial links in the connectivity chain of the Yellowstone to Yukon region, acting as wildlife corridors for animals big and small.
The 5.24 sq. km (1,297 acres) now protected are home to rare and at-risk species across a patchwork of habitat, including wetland, grassland, riversides and Douglas-fir forest.
