Y2Y and our partners have achieved many conservation successes over the years. Below are a few examples of the progress that has been made across the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

• In 1998, wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer set out to hike, ski, and paddle across the 3,200 kilometer Yellowstone to Yukon region. His book, Walking the Big Wild, has enamored, inspired, and educated countless readers.
  
  
• From 1997 to 2007, Y2Y has helped channel $45 million into the region, in large part by securing committed supporters like the Kendall Foundation, Woodcock Foundation, and Wilburforce Foundation.
  
  
• Researchers based in Banff have spent over a decade studying wildlife movement on the 24 wildlife crossing structures along the TransCanada Highway. Their work, which Y2Y supports, has resulted in an 80 percent reduction of road-killed animals along the highway.
  
  
• In 2002, Y2Y coordinated the first trans-boundary gathering of Native American tribes and Canadian First Nations. The Exploring Common Ground conference led to aboriginal representation on the Y2Y board.
  
  
• Two Y2Y board members helped develop the progressive Muskwa-Kechika management plan, which enables sustainable economic development while also protecting a predominantly roadless wilderness in northern British Columbia.
  
  
• Florian Schulz's stunning coffee table book Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, published in 2005, beautifully illustrates the precious and sometimes indescribable nature of the region. Y2Y helped fund this worthwhile project, which has been featured at both the Burke and Field Museums.
  
  
• In 2007, Y2Y worked with others to raise money for an underpass on Highway 206 east of Kalispell, Montana. The location of the underpass is part of an important corridor along which deer, elk and the occasional grizzly bear can move from Glacier National Park and the Swan Range down to the Flathead River.
  
  
• In 2007, Vital Ground, the Nature Conservancy of British Columbia and Y2Y contributed matching funds to secure a purchase option agreement on the Kid Creek Land - a key linkage zone for grizzly bears. These 87 acres of critical connection habitat near Creston, British Columbia, are used by wildlife to travel from one core habitat to another within the Cabinet-Purcell Priority Area.
  
  
• In 2009, efforts paid off as the Nahanni National Park Reserve was expanded to six times its previous size, making it the largest core protected wildlife habitat in the entire Yellowstone to Yukon system. This extraordinary accomplishment was enabled by the vision and determination of the Deh Cho First Nations and a seven year public campaign led by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and support from funders such as the Wilburforce and Kendall Foundations, and the Canadian Boreal Initiative and Mountain Equipment Co-op.

With so many diverse successes by so many champions of the region, it's appropriate to be optimistic - even in the face of mounting challenges like increasing development pressures and climate change. We know good things take time, which is why Y2Y holds a 100-year vision for the region. That said, there's no time like the present to celebrate what we have here and now, in this incredible landscape.