The Conservation Alliance

The magnificent landscape from south of Yellowstone National Park to the central Yukon Territory is a vast region almost 2,000 miles long, encompassing portions of five states (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington), two provinces (Alberta and British Columbia), and two territories (Yukon and Northwest Territories). It is the one of the most intact large-mountain ecosystem remaining in the world, where healthy populations of the original native species - grizzly bears, wolves, lynx, caribou, elk and others - still flourish.

 

 In 1993, a group of renowned scientists and conservationists began to formulate a vision of conservation for this ecosystem at a continental scale. A powerful idea emerged: a web of life-sustaining protected wildlife habitats linked by movement corridors along the continent's northern spine. After years of scientific research and strategic development, the Y2Y Initiative is fully engaged with a host of partners, turning science into action, and producing tangible conservation results. In addition to supporting the work and projects of partners, the Y2Y organization pursues comprehensive, large-landscape scale conservation strategies for grizzly bears, birds and fish, while promoting the inspiring Y2Y vision to regional, national and international audiences.

Y2Y Mission: People working together to maintain and restore the unique natural heritage of the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

Y2Y Vision: Combining science and stewardship, we seek to ensure that the world-renowned wilderness, wildlife, native plants, and natural processes of the Yellowstone to Yukon region continue to function as an interconnected web of life, capable of supporting all of its natural and human communities, for now and for future generations.  

KEEPING THE PEACE

Nestled in the Northeast corner of British Columbia, the Peace River Valley is home to Treaty 8 First Nations' hunting, fishing, and trapping grounds, fertile agricultural lands and farms, old growth boreal forests, a recreational haven, and is one of the most important wildlife corridors in the Yellowstone to Yukon migration corridor chain.

This landscape serves as a critical corridor for wildlife, linking the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area in northern B.C. and the provincial and national parks of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The Peace River is the lifeblood of a diverse ecosystem, and its valley provides sanctuary to a number of threatened and endangered species such as woodland caribou. The Peace is the only river in the continent that rises in the Rocky Mountain Trench and flows east through the Continental Divide, eventually joining the Mackenzie in its journey to the Arctic Ocean. The broad valley bottom of the river and its warm winters support abundant wildlife species, particularly ungulates like moose, elk, and deer. Bears and wolves also are vital components of this ecosystem. Bull trout, a species of special concern, undertake an important and astonishing migration during their lifecycles, from headwater streams well above the proposed dam to far below the site.

But the beautiful Peace River Valley is under threat. BC Hydro wants to flood this valley and build the Site C Dam right in the heart of this spectacular valley. There are already two huge dams on the Peace and now BC Hydro wants to build a third dam at a location named "Site C".

Anticipated impacts from flooding of the proposed 13,000 acre reservoir include habitat loss, barriers to wildlife and fish movement, mercury contamination, loss of over 7,000 acres of the very best agricultural lands in northern BC, homes and ranches, archeological sites and traditional activities of local First Nations, as well as significant recreation values.

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is collaborating with environmental non-governmental organizations, First Nations communities, outfitters, farmers, researchers, and other concerned individuals to challenge construction of the Site C dam by addressing related environmental and social concerns.