Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana.

The River of No Return and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness areas of Idaho.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming.

The Cabinet-Yaak-Selkirk Ecosystem of northwest Montana and the Idaho Panhandle.

These are some of America’s most iconic, and most revered, public lands. They represent some of the best of our nation’s commitment to protecting and conserving our natural heritage – our land, water and wildlife.

Click to enlarge map of American Wildlands' focus area

Yet, as grand as these individual places are, the science of conservation biology tells us that, by themselves, they are not big enough. In order to maintain all of their wildlife and natural functions, they must be connected to other wild country. As the well-known naturalist and conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.” For American Wildlands, the “thing” that will keep these grand places “right” is keeping them ecologically connected to each other, as part of a greater whole and intact U. S. Northern Rockies region.

American Wildlands is the regional organization working to restore and maintain the connections between key habitats for healthy populations of native fish and wildlife – whether it is a large landscape habitat like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, or a smaller scale watershed like the Ruby River in southwest Montana. For 30 years, American Wildlands has used science, respectful advocacy and community engagement to pursue our vision of a region with interconnected habitats that support healthy populations of bears, wolves, elk, trout and the other magnificent Rocky Mountain wildlife.

Working from our offices in the heart of the region (Bozeman and Missoula, Montana), American Wildlands has a staff of eleven with a combined 56 years of conservation experience, and a Board of Directors that live throughout the region. Through our four programs, Corridors of Life, Safe Passages, Living Waters and Community GIS Services, we partner with a diversity of conservation interests, including non-government organizations, federal and state agencies, county planners, citizens groups and private landowners.

Using the latest scientific data and analyses, American Wildlands locates, prioritizes, and promotes conservation of the landscapes essential to sustaining connectivity and biodiversity in the U.S. Northern Rockies. In contrast to the region’s well known and already protected National Parks and Wilderness areas, American Wildlands works to conserve and protect the important areas that lie within and between these large protected areas - focusing on many of the little-known, but vital, links in the chain of life that not only keep the Northern Rockies region thriving with its native fish and wildlife, but do so much to sustain the economic, cultural, aesthetic, and recreational benefits these wildlands and wildlife provide people who live, work and recreate in the area.