16th Biennial Scientific Conference

on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

 

Advancing Conservation in the GYE 

Sept. 3-5, 2024, Big Sky, MT

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ABSTRACTS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED THROUGH 5/1/2024. 

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REGISTRATION AND ROOM BLOCKS WILL BE RELEASED ON 5/15/2024. 

 

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is a unique and special place—one of the Earth's largest remaining nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems. Its 22 million acres include federal, state, other public, Wind River Indian Reservation, nongovernmental organization, and private lands. The 15 million acres of GYE federal lands are managed by four agencies, each with differing missions and organizational structures. In 1964, the managers of the GYE national parks and national forests reportedly first signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC). The GYCC now includes managers from two national parks, five national forests, two national wildlife refuges, and three Bureau of Land Management districts (ID, MT, & WY), as well as three state wildlife departments (ID, MT, & WY). For six decades, the GYCC has provided a forum for managers to exchange information and pursue voluntary opportunities to cooperate at the landscape scale.  

 

Since 1991, the GYE Biennial Scientific Conference has been a critical forum for sharing science between researchers, land and resource managers, conservation groups, tribal communities, the public, and other stakeholders with a common interest in understanding the region’s natural and cultural resources. The fall 2024 conference coincides with the GYCC’s 60th Anniversary. This milestone is an occasion to reflect on the research and conservation accomplishments that have brought us to the present day. It also presents an opportunity to enhance partnerships to seek solutions together to the pressing challenges facing the GYE now and into the future. Conference participants will convey scientific findings, discuss management needs, share perspectives, and propose solutions to improve future landscape-scale coordination and ensure the GYE continues to thrive over the next 60 years.