We recap our 2024 favorite conservation moments and wins in Greater Yellowstone.

Modern gold mining often involves stripping hillsides, crushing rock into dust, and using cyanide solutions to extract gold from low-grade ore. Although this method of heap-leaching is economically efficient, it poses substantial environmental risks. Numerous catastrophic mining failures in the U.S. in recent decades offer a cautionary tale of what could go wrong if the financially unstable foreign mining company currently exploring for gold in the Centennial Mountains above Kilgore, Idaho are permitted to mine.

On November 7, 2024, the Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners with a 3-2 vote approved the sale of the 640-acre Kelly Parcel to Grand Teton National Park. The $100 million sale will benefit Wyoming public schools and ensure this spectacular piece of land is public for Wyomingites and visitors to enjoy.

A growing number of Idaho hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers, outdoor recreationists, families, and conservationists have joined the Clean Kilgore Coalition to protect the precious water, land, wildlife, and outdoor heritage that Excellon’s toxic gold mine would threaten.  

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Upper Snake Field Office recently released a plan that defines and manages travel and recreation on its lands in southeast Idaho. The plan –the Upper Snake East Travel Management Plan – is the first of its kind in this corner of Idaho. The GYC team is continuing to evaluate what this plan means for BLM lands in southeast Idaho and the wildlife and natural resources they support.

In June 2024, GYC and the U.S. Forest Service finalized the second phase of the Absaroka-Beartooth Gateway acquisition project, turning several former mining claims in the New World Mining District into protected public lands. Now, the risk of mining on these lands is greatly reduced.

Southwest Montana’s Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges are some of the wildest places left in the continental United States. These wild lands are beloved by those who live here and those who visit, and they are under threat. That’s why the Gallatin Forest Partnership has developed a realistic solution to permanently protect 250,000 acres of public land in the Madison and Gallatin ranges – the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act.

Big win for Wyoming wildlife! The Kelly Parcel is approved for direct sale to the Grand Teton National Park for $100 million with the passage of Wyoming’s biennium budget bill.  

Spring has officially sprung! Migratory antelope, deer, elk, and moose are beginning their journeys from winter refuge throughout public lands across southeastern Idaho to summer habitat, primarily in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. And here at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, our Idaho team is eagerly preparing for the Bureau of Land Management to release the final plan for the Upper Snake East Travel Management Planning Area later this season – a landscape that includes winter wildlife refuges and migratory corridors to summer habitat.

The BLM released the most significant change in the management of BLM lands in 50 years with the final Public Lands Rule, which puts conservation on equal ground with other uses like mining and energy development.

Buckle up! It’s going to be a big year for GYC and the lands, waters, and wildlife of Greater Yellowstone.

Join us for a journey down memory lane and let’s celebrate all we did together for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.