Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

10/14/2026

Join our partners at Wildsight Invermere for their film festival!

🎬🌲 SAVE THE DATE, INVERMERE

The Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival is back!
📅 November 14, 2026
📍 CV Centre, Invermere, BC
🎟️ TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!
The first 50 tickets sold will be entered into a draw to win a WILD prize! 🐾🎁 So don’t wait—grab yours early and you could walk away with something extra special.

Get ready for an unforgettable night featuring seven powerful and inspiring films that will take you around the world, spark big ideas, and remind us why protecting the places we love matters. 🌎

Plus, our silent auction is growing, with fantastic prizes up for grabs!

More than a film night, this is Wildsight Invermere’s main fundraiser—a night of community connection, inspiration, and action. Come together with friends and neighbours, to celebrate wild places and the people working to protect them.

🌿 Be inspired. Get connected. Protect what you love.
🎟️ Get your tickets now and be one of the first 50 for your chance to win a WILD prize!

Thank you to our incredible sponsors for bringing this important annual event to life. 🔗 Link in bio

10/14/2026

Meet the next recipient of Y2Y’s 2026 Partner Grants program, The Pandion Institute. The Pandion Institute believes in the power of connecting young people to the land. Through their Native Youth Outdoor Leadership Summit, they will create space for Native youth outdoor leaders to engage with conversations surrounding rivers, hydropower, changing snowpack, land connectivity, and future oriented thinking. The summit will help the leaders to develop confidence, leadership skills, and a deeper understanding of how energy and water decisions shape their communities and futures.

Since 1998, Y2Y has invested in grassroots organizations and other groups through our annual partner grants program. This program is made possible through the generous support of the Woodcock Foundation and individual donors who request their gift be directed to this program. These on-the-ground projects complement the efforts of Y2Y and mobilize work that we wouldn't be able to do on our own. We look forward to reporting back on progress next year. And stay tuned for details on the other recipients.

Learn more about this program at https://buff.ly/mBtajcY

Photo courtesy of the Pandion Institute.

10/14/2026

We’re looking for the right person to fill a major gifts officer role. This person will connect people with our conservation work: cultivating relationships, inspiring bold giving and turning generosity into lasting change for nature.

Learn more and apply at https://y2y.bamboohr.com/careers/41

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

We’re pleased to introduce the Henrys Fork Wildlife Alliance (HFWA), one of recipients of Y2Y’s 2026 Partner Grants program. For two years, HFWA has built awareness of human-bear conflict issues in and around the community of Island Park, Idaho, using a variety of methods including community education, bear safety demonstrations, and expert presentations.

While education remains central to their mission, the HFWA is building on the trust they’ve established through their Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Initiative. As part of this program, the HFWA will advance direct action mitigation by providing practical tools and resources to secure attractants, prevent conflicts, and keep both people and bears safe.

Since 1998, Y2Y has invested in grassroots organizations and other groups through our annual partner grants program. This program is made possible through the generous support of the Woodcock Foundation and individual donors who request their gift be directed to this program. These on-the-ground projects complement the efforts of Y2Y and mobilize work that we wouldn't be able to do on our own. We look forward to reporting back on progress next year. And stay tuned for details on the other recipients.

Learn more about this program at https://buff.ly/mBtajcY

Photo credit: Shutterstock

10/07/2026

We’re pleased to introduce the Lethbridge and Area Métis Community (LAMA), one of the recipients of Y2Y’s 2026 Partner Grants program. LAMA conservation principles are rooted in maintaining sustainable relationships with land, water, air, and all living systems that support life across their homeland.

LAMA is initiating a land-based community engagement project dedicated to the stewardship of grizzly bear and wolverine habitats in southern Alberta. This project will engage Métis community members in field-based learning, habitat awareness, and coexistence discussions. By building community knowledge and stewardship capacity, LAMA will contribute to habitat protection and coexistence strategies that directly support the vision of connected wild lands where people and wildlife can thrive.

Since 1998, Y2Y has invested in grassroots organizations and other groups through our annual partner grants program. This program is made possible through the generous support of the Woodcock Foundation and individual donors who request their gift be directed to this program. These on-the-ground projects complement the efforts of Y2Y and mobilize work that we wouldn't be able to do on our own. We look forward to reporting back on progress next year. And stay tuned for details on the other recipients.

Learn more about this program at https://buff.ly/mBtajcY

Photo courtesy of the Lethbridge and Area Métis Community

10/07/2026

Applications are open for the 2027 Sarah Baker Memorial Fund. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at Canadian post-secondary institutions who work on conservation-related research projects that help advance Y2Y’s mission and vision are eligible.

An award for up to $5,000 is available for the 2027 funding cycle. Applications are welcome until Nov. 26, 2026. Details on applying and past winners:

Learn how Y2Y can support your conservation project a realize the vision of connecting and protecting the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

10/05/2026

Important news from Kainai Nation about a keystone species!

The Kainai Nation in southern Alberta has officially declared the plains bison (Iinnii) as wildlife. 🦬🌾

The Blood Tribe/ Káínawa is the 1st First Nation in Canada to make this declaration official and the second in Turtle Island after the Northern Arapaho Tribe officially classified Buffalo as Wildlife on the Wind River Reservation in 2025. This declaration changes how the Buffalo is recognized on its lands.

For Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) people, Buffalo has never been a commodity. The relationship goes back thousands of years. Buffalo sustained life here, and the land, the songs, ceremonies and the language all carry that relationship. The Kainai Nations declaration puts it plainly: Buffalo is “a part of us and we are part of Buffalo culturally, materially, and spiritually.”

That relationship was nearly severed. By the late 1800’s, the herd that once numbered in the tens of millions had been driven to the edge of extinction. The Buffalo that survived were brought back behind fences, and in the eyes of the law, classified alongside cattle as livestock. The Kainai Nation has now rejected that classification and offers a new way to be in relations with Iinnii.

This is significant well beyond the Nation’s borders. Saskatchewan and British Columbia already recognize the plains bison as wildlife. Alberta, the heart of buffalo country, still does not. The Kainai Nation has made a decision the province has not, and made it through its own authority as a sovereign nation.

The declaration also commits the Kainai Nation to the global goal of Nature Positive, working to restore the health, abundance, and resilience of the land through the knowledge, and eco-engineering skills of the Buffalo. The Buffalo is essential to help us to halt and restore biodiversity.

The Kainai Nation is one of the original signatories to the Buffalo Treaty, which brings Nations together in Cooperation, Renewal, and Restoration. This declaration is Kainai's own, made by the Nation for its people and its relatives. It also shows what is possible when Nations lead as we mark the 12th anniversary of the Buffalo Treaty.

Thanks to Kainai Nation leadership, the plains bison is now recognized as wildlife. It is a major step in the right direction for Buffalo, for Kainai, Niitsitapi, the land and for all of us who carry this relationship forward.

We honour and recognize the Kainai Nation, Chief and Council, and the community for their leadership for further honour the time immemorial relationship with Iinnii. 🦬

10/01/2026

Dr. Graham McDowell, Y2Y's director of science and knowledge, has received the Canadian Association of Geographers' 2026 award for scholarly distinction in geography.

Graham’s work focuses on how climate change is reshaping mountain regions, including supporting responses that are both socially just and ecologically sound so people and nature can thrive in changing mountain landscapes.

Today, Graham brings this experience to his role at Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. He and his team work to advance research and partnerships that support landscape protection and connection, human-wildlife coexistence, and nature‑positive climate action across one of the planet’s largest and wildest connected mountain regions.

In celebration of this achievement, we sat down with Graham to learn about his perspective as a geographer, including how his work intersects conservation and climate change.

Explore Graham's work: https://buff.ly/anNx9Gq

Photo credits: Shutterstock, Graham McDowell

09/30/2026

Out today: new research shows both recreation and roads affect wolverine populations in Canada's Rocky Mountains and Columbia Mountains.

Sharing the snow – outdoor recreation and roads reduce the density of a rare carnivore is out in Biological Conservation > https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.112108

This research was supported by Y2Y and others.

UCalgary scientists work with partners to research density across western Alberta and eastern British Columbia