Spring is here and the frigid winter we all endured in Montana is fading into the distance. We spent one of those days where the cold just hurt with our friend and colleague Neil Barnosky on his cattle ranch outside of Sheridan, Montana.

Yesterday, a Montana district court ruled in our favor and denied a permit that would have allowed Canadian mining company Lucky Minerals to explore for gold in Emigrant Gulch just north of Yellowstone National Park. Along with the passage of the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act that permanently protects public lands, this stunning victory further drives a stake through the heart of the proposed gold mining threatening the Yellowstone River and Paradise Valley.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is committed to visiting with the ranchers of the Ruby Valley to hear their stories, focusing on their livestock and carnivore encounters. While we know that grizzlies are expanding and ranchers are in their path, we don’t know what’s happening on the ground. Montana Conservation Coordinator Darcie Warden and I are leading the charge to lend an ear and learn about what ranchers and their employees need to live and thrive on the landscape with grizzly bears.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, along with Montanans for Healthy Rivers, is advocating for our Montana delegation to introduce the Montana Headwaters Security Act. This act will create a legacy of Wild & Scenic Rivers in Montana by proposing over 40 new Wild & Scenic rivers and streams with 18 in Greater Yellowstone.

Today, the president signed the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act into the law of the land. Included in this sweeping, ground-breaking legislation was the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act. Now and forever, 30,370 acres of public land on the northern doorstep of Yellowstone National Park will be protected from destructive and toxic gold mining.

Today, we have achieved a remarkable victory. The United States House of Representatives passed the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, which will forever prohibit gold mining on 30,370 acres of public lands at Yellowstone’s northern gateway. It now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law, making it an extraordinary bipartisan win.

In 2015, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC) silently launched an ambitious, yet thoughtful, 5-year, $10 million fundraising campaign in support of our grizzly bear work. Over the past four years, donors from across the nation have helped GYC achieve an enormous number of on-the-ground improvements that are keeping bears alive and people safe.

Today, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), with Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) as co-sponsor, reintroduced the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act into the 116th Congress. When passed, the law will prohibit large-scale mining on 30,370 acres of our public lands at Yellowstone’s northern gateway forever.

We’re five miles into the Bechler area of Yellowstone National Park, crossing a flat meadow of yellow grasses between forested hummocks. It’s late August, and the Teton Range, visible behind us, is white from the first snowstorm of the year. Yellowstone Wolf Project Research Associate Kira Cassidy and I are collecting a trail camera that’s been up for nearly a year. With any luck, it will yield images of the Bechler Wolf Pack, one of the least known packs in the park.

Victory! Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke extended the temporary timeout on mining at Yellowstone’s northern gateway today for another 20 years, giving us a critical safety net to work with Montana’s Congressional delegation to pass a bill that will keep mines away from Yellowstone, forever.

A bill that will keep gold mining away from some 30,000 acres of our public lands at Yellowstone’s northern gateway has cleared two committee hurdles in both the House and the Senate in the past 10 days. This is great news! The Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act is now one step closer to becoming law after these hearings.

Great news! The Forest Service today signed off on extending our timeout on mining at Yellowstone’s gateway, bringing us one step closer to protecting Yellowstone’s northern gateway from mines for another 20 years.