An Oasis for Wildlife

Less than 30 miles from the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, ancient dunes of flowing white quartz sand undulate across the landscape. The dunes lie at the heart of the expansive and diverse Sand Creek Desert.

The Sand Creek Desert serves as an important winter refuge for migratory deer, elk, and moose that travel from their high-elevation summer ranges in and around Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. It is also a stronghold for sage-grouse.

This desert oasis of diverse ecosystems is bounded by 11,000 acres of ancient sand dunes; lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, and aspen forests in the north; wetlands along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in the east; and semi-arid sagebrush steppe in the south.

Together, these ecosystems provide food and cover for the many migratory deer, elk, and moose that rely on this area to survive the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s harsh winter months.

The Sand Creek Desert was originally part of the territories inhabited by the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Today, the Sand Creek Desert area is owned and managed by a familiar patchwork of public and private entities: Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho Fish and Game, and an assortment of private landowners.

A Fragmented Landscape

The Sand Creek Desert is a landscape fragmented by often competing land use priorities and differing management approaches. Luckily, nearly 30 years ago, conservationists and agricultural interests recognized the value of this landscape and worked together to protect this area for wintering wildlife. Today, portions of the Sand Creek Desert are closed to human entry during the winter months for the protection of wintering elk, deer, and moose.

But challenges to cohesive, conservation-forward management of this remarkable landscape persist.

Securing Sand Creek’s Future

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition continues to be an important member of the collaborative working group that convened to address major threats to the Sand Creek Desert area, including but not limited to wildfire and habitat fragmentation. With our partners, we are working to develop and implement durable solutions to conservation challenges on this landscape and keeping our eyes on upcoming federal land management plan updates that will have implications for how the area is managed. When these planning processes do begin, we will ensure that the conservation values of this vital habitat are prioritized in decision making.

Our team is committed to seeing the Sand Creek Desert protected as secure winter range for iconic Yellowstone wildlife for generations to come.