These are guiding principles that we use to plan and prioritize our work and to guide the evolution of the organization:

• Y2Y uses best available appropriate science as a tool to identify conservation needs and support conservation outcomes.
  
  
• Before undertaking scientific research, Y2Y first assesses the conservation issues, analyzes existing science, determines objectives, decides Y2Y's appropriate role, and determines the most efficient and strategic plan to address the issue.
  
  
• Y2Y works at the local scale only where the ecological significance is highest, where the threat and urgency are greatest, and where conservation capacity is limited.
  
  
• Y2Y always strives to work cooperatively, flexibly, and in partnership with a diversity of stakeholders.
  
  
• Y2Y works to reduce competition for attention and resources between Y2Y and our conservation implementation partners.
  
  
• Y2Y always attempts to leverage our limited resources to achieve the maximum benefit for the least cost.
  
  
• Y2Y tries to avoid redundancy, providing only programs that no one else is providing.
  
  
• Y2Y strives to balance the top-down vs. bottom-up approach to conservation, providing support for grassroots efforts wherever possible to build local ownership and support for the Y2Y vision.
  
  
• Y2Y continues to advance leadership and remembers that our leadership is in service of the Mission and Vision.
  
  
• Y2Y strives to keep the long-term in mind as we plan and develop, recognizing that the protection, stewardship and restoration of the Yellowstone to Yukon landscape is a never-ending need.
  
  
• Y2Y respects the inherent Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of Native Americans and First Nations.
  
  
• Y2Y strives to understand and appreciate the conservation goals and objectives of First Nations and Native Americans.
  
  
• Y2Y lives up to its commitments made to Native Americans and First Nations.
  
  
• Y2Y engages in conservation initiatives that advance both the vision for Y2Y and the vision of First Nations and Native Americans for their traditional territories.
  
  
• Y2Y knows that conservation is our bottom line, yet we recognize that social and economic considerations will both influence and benefit from the achievement of the Y2Y vision.