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The Rocky Mountains of the northern US and Canada offer some of the most spectacular wilderness in the world, and some of the best remaining habitat for wildlife species eliminated or drastically reduced in numbers elsewhere. This is particularly true for the large carnivores that help regulate mountain ecosystems. Unfortunately, these animals face a tenuous future. As various types of development have increasingly fragmented and eliminated critical habitat, it has become clear that the reserves created in the past--national, state and provincial parks and wilderness areas--are too small to protect large carnivores. Success in restoring and maintaining biological diversity in the Rocky Mountains requires thought and action on a larger scale than ever before. In late 1997, 350 Canadian and US scientists, conservationists and other individuals met and collaborated on a strategy to conserve the ecological integrity and native diversity of the Rocky Mountains. Drawing on the lessons and recommendations of that conference, the 200-plus organizations and individuals comprising the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) network are now embarking on a three year project to produce regionally-based conservation plans and implementation programs. Integrated in the year 2000, the regional plans will delineate a transboundary system of linked wildlife reserves and movement corridors, and provide diverse strategies and a broad base of support for making such a system a reality.
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.cpaws.org, http://www.rockies.ca/cpaws/education
For more information about this grant, please contact the CEC Secretariat.
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Canada 
United States 
