Below is a map of the area that Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) is targeting in the High Divide (HD), using this area for connectivity between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to another area they are targeting, the Crown of the Continent. The goal is the same, placing as much land into protection as possible. The Y2Y partner working group is the High Divide Collaborative. The coordinating committee includes Y2Y Program Director, Kim Trotter, Rob Cavallero, Idaho Fish & Game, and members of the forest service, BLM, GNLCC, along with many other federal and state agencies, and organizations.
Y2Y recently hired an individual as Project Coordinator to specifically work on their objectives in the HD area, Nick Clarke, not even living in Idaho. He was a previous member of Practitioners’ Network for Large Landscape Conservation and is a member of the Sierra Club. His responsibilities are "to help develop and implement conservation projects in Idaho...complete existing conservation projects...identify opportunities for future conservation projects...further connectivity conservation...protect habitat connectivity across private and public lands in the High Divide...increase safe wildlife passage on highways in Montana and Idaho...and...develop and maintain positive relationships with community partners", which doesn't appear to include citizens. In 2008, the Heart of the Rockies Initiative (HOTRI) launched the High Divide Plan (pg 32) for connectivity. HOTRI is a land trust partnership that includes land trusts from Canada, Nature Conservancy, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington. Conservation easements are held in land trusts. Using data they work with "...with agency and independent scientists to identify emerging data and make it available to land trusts and conservancies at scales needed for conservation action." They have a conservation atlas which the general public doesn't have access to. These groups do not recognize jurisdictional boundaries between states or the representation of citizens by elected officials at a local level.
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