Wyoming-to-Canada Wildlife Corridor Named Finalist for Prince William's Earthshot Prize
Thirty-three years after its inception, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has been recognized as a finalist for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, having protected 59 million acres and supported 204 wildlife crossings.
A major cross-border conservation effort connecting wild habitats from Wyoming to Canada’s Yukon has earned global recognition after being named a finalist for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize. The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which spans 33 years of environmental protection work across North America, is among 15 global finalists competing for the prestigious 2026 environmental award.
The initiative brings together a diverse coalition of scientists, private landowners, local governments, and Indigenous communities spread across the rugged Rocky Mountains. By constructing wildlife overpasses, underpasses, and protective safety fences alongside major regional highways, the organization helps large animals navigate their natural migratory routes without falling victim to vehicular collisions.
The foundational concept for the cross-border wildlife corridor emerged in the early 1990s following a tracking study of a radio-collared wolf known as Pluie. Satellite data demonstrated that the individual wolf traveled across three US states and two Canadian provinces. These movements revealed to scientists that isolated nature reserves and individual parks were insufficient to sustain long-term populations of large mammals such as wolves, grizzly bears, and caribou. These insights prompted the formal establishment of the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative in 1993, with the primary goal of linking fragmented habitats across a sprawling 2,100-mile mountain corridor.
Busy regional highways pose severe threats to wildlife moving through the Rocky Mountains. To mitigate animal mortality rates, the organization collaborates closely with transportation authorities to engineer specialized wildlife crossings. In areas such as Alberta's Banff National Park, overpasses and underpasses layered with native vegetation have successfully reduced collisions between motor vehicles and hoofed animals by 96 percent. Furthermore, the organization's efforts have helped reconnect isolated grizzly bear populations, decreasing the distance between separated bear groups in the United States from 240 kilometers down to 75 kilometers.
Indigenous leadership has played a vital role in strengthening the region's conservation successes. Indigenous communities manage or co-manage roughly one-quarter of the protected land within the corridor. These collaborative partnerships have facilitated the recovery of several threatened species from critically low numbers. For example, an Indigenous-led project in northern British Columbia focused on protecting the Klinse-Za caribou herd helped drive population numbers up from 38 animals in 2013 to 187.
Dr. Jodi Hilty, President and Chief Scientist of the initiative, emphasized that effective conservation depends on enduring cooperation among local communities. In an official press release, Hilty noted that selection as an Earthshot finalist grants the extraordinary region global visibility, highlighting that the Yellowstone to Yukon project is as much about the people making conscious choices to protect a shared home as it is about wilderness.
Established by Prince William in 2020, the Earthshot Prize awards five annual grants of £1 million each to pioneering projects dedicated to repairing environmental damage. The Yellowstone to Yukon initiative is competing as a finalist within the Protect and Restore Nature category. Prince William lauded the 2026 finalists ahead of the official awards ceremony scheduled to take place in November in Mumbai, expressing renewed optimism regarding global environmental progress driven by extraordinary individuals.
Looking ahead, the initiative maintains ambitious future targets, aiming to safeguard an additional 50 million acres of land and facilitate the creation of at least 50 more wildlife crossings by the year 2030.