American Wildlands: Leaving a Legacy Through Connections

By Alison Grey, 11-08-07

	Caption: AWL's most recent work constructing an underpass and fences on Bozeman Pass on I-90 to decrease animal and vehicle collisions.

The Gallatin Valley is home to over 200 non-profits. These organizations do not hinge on metropolitan amenities, and are often created to preserve wild places and stimulate communities of the West. As part of our New West economy, NewWest.Net/Bozeman is highlighting Gallatin Valley organizations in a weekly series.

Founded upon the notion that a healthy and functioning environment requires interconnectivity between its natural landscapes, American Wildlands (AWL) has been advocating and promoting the conservation and protection of vital lands and wildlife throughout the Northern Rockies since 1977.

Placing a priority on areas outside of protected lands like National Parks and designated wilderness areas, the organization is committed to protecting these ‘in-between’ places that are vital components to a healthy ecosystem.

The organization focuses much of its efforts on its Corridors of Life and Safe Passages Programs, with its most recent success being the initiation of a multi-year project on Bozeman Pass to decrease wildlife and vehicle collisions. The project is a response to the extremely high animal mortality rates on this stretch of highway, with nearly 1200 deaths in the past five years.

With 11 members, six board of directors and several volunteers, AWL has focused its efforts in Western Montana, North Western Wyoming and Central and Northern Idaho, operating under their mission to keep the world-renowned U.S. Northern Rockies ecologically intact by restoring and maintaining connections between key habitats for healthy populations of native fish and wildlife. Tom Skeele, executive director, expands on AWL and their efforts.

NewWest.Net: Why and how did your organization come into being?

AWL: Thirty years ago, AWL was founded by three individuals who were committed to having roadless lands and rivers designated as wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers, respectively, throughout the West and Alaska. One of the founders, Clif Merritt, was recently given an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Montana School of Forestry for his lifetime achievement in conservation. Clif often spoke about AWLs’ desire to protect “the lands beyond the roads.”

These days, AWL is focused on protecting “the lands in-between” those wilderness areas and other quality habitats. As a regional organization we are committed to maintaining habitat connections and wildlife movement corridors throughout the Northern Rockies. AWL’s work is the necessary ecological complement to the work of local, state, regional and national NGO’s working to conserve the large core habitats of this region. 

NewWest.Net: Why is this organization in Bozeman? What are the advantages and challenges of operating in this area? Are there other non-profits in this area that you partner with or would like to?

AWL: We are located in Bozeman because of the organization’s geographic focus on the U.S. Northern Rockies, and because the town is a prominent hub for conservation in the region. One of the advantages of being in Bozeman is the easy access to a wide variety of conservation partners and expertise – you name it, it is here in Bozeman.

For AWL, this support is a two-way street: we are well-known for providing the latest science and computer modeling and mapping technology to other conservation interests in Bozeman and beyond. We also look to other organizations for their expertise in helping one or more of the community working groups AWL helps organize and facilitate. 

The list of Bozeman groups we partner with is longer than those with whom we don’t, and encompasses a diverse array of groups including the Craighead Environmental Research Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Headwaters Economics, Keystone Conservation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sonoran Institute, The Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited, Trust for Public Lands, Wildlife Conservation Society and Wild Things Unlimited.

NewWest.Net: Where are you directing your resources?

AWL: Most of our resources are devoted to our Corridors of Life and Safe Passages programs, which collectively address keeping habitat connections and wildlife movement corridors functional on our public lands, private lands and across major highways in the Northern Rockies.

This past year, AWL conducted a comprehensive assessment of the most important habitat connections – also known as “linkages” – across 20 million acres of land in the central part of the Northern Rockies, or 70 percent of the lands critical to maintaining regional and local habitat connectivity. 

Based on the expert opinion of five dozen state and federal biologists interviewed, we identified and prioritized more than 100 critical habitat linkage areas, as well as the threats to, and opportunities for, conserving these wildlife corridors. AWL now looks forward to 2008 and beyond as we begin to work with a wide array of conservation interests to maintain these priority habitats throughout the region.

Meanwhile, on the Bozeman Pass section of Interstate 90, AWL has initiated a multi-year wildlife safe passages effort to work with the state highway department to institute more wildlife and vehicle collision measures – crossing structures for wildlife and innovative animal detection systems for motorists – on this 28 mile stretch of highway. The goal is to make the highway safer for wildlife and people alike in light of the more than 1,200 animals that have been killed on Bozeman Pass in the past five years.

Finally, AWL continues to work with Big Sky residents and businesses to protect the water quality of the Gallatin River. Along with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and local Trout Unlimited chapter, AWL is working with a local Big Sky working group tasked with producing the technical report and funding strategy to place much of that community on a centralized water treatment system, thereby reducing the amount of septic system effluent seeping into the Gallatin River. 

NewWest.Net: What is your annual operating budget, and can you please break that down between administrative and fund-raising versus program expenses?

AWL: Our annual budget for 2008 is $750,000; with a breakdown that is approximately 75 percent program, 8 percent administration and 17 percent development.

NewWest.Net: How are you fulfilling your mission statement?

AWL: For 30 years, AWL has used the best available science, respectful advocacy and community engagement to protect critical habitats for the benefit of healthy populations of the region’s wildlife. AWL is best known for our pioneering work in mapping the core habitat areas and connecting wildlife corridors across the Northern Rockies. Our decade-old promotion of wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity has helped these concepts become part of conservation terminology and goals. Our corridors analysis and mapping have been used by government and non-government organizations of all stripes, including becoming a model for the larger scale Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. 

In almost every project, we help organize and facilitate collaborative working groups that include state and federal wildlife and land agencies, highway departments, railroad companies, local community groups, county planners, land trusts, conservation organizations, ranchers and others. The organization helps inform, guide and strengthen the conservation efforts of these working groups by providing expertise regarding the latest science, GIS modeling, analysis and mapping, along with land and wildlife management laws, policies and management practices. 

NewWest.Net: What is your most recent success story?

AWL: As Bozeman and Livingston locals may have noticed, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) has erected a fence along both sides of I-90 east of the Bear Canyon exit to help guide wildlife through the railroad underpass, rather than across the much busier highway. This is a very practical solution to the problem of wildlife and vehicle collisions on this major highway. We collaborated with MDT, the Western Transportation Institute and the Craighead Environmental Research Institute to make this fencing a reality, and we were pleased to be able to work with these partners to making the highway safer for wildlife and motorists alike.

NewWest.Net: Thank you.

For more information, visit American Wildlands.