As more lands become developed in the Gallatin Valley, some wildlife habitat is being lost. A local conservation leader says preserving private lands is critical to maintaining wildlife in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
Gallatin Valley Land Trust Executive Director Chet Work said at an Earth Day event last week that development in Gallatin County has been outpacing land conservation.
“One of the messages that we find unbelievable is in the same 30 years it took us to conserve 52,000 acres, more than 100,000 acres have been converted into rural and residential subdivisions in Gallatin County alone,” he said.
Work says animals that travel outside of Yellowstone National Park, such as elk, often rely on private lands for habitat and migration.
“The very wildlife that we deem to be that of the national park actually also belongs to those private lands in the periphery,” Chet said. “If we fail to conserve the peripheral private lands, we will lose the wildlife that we attribute to the park.”
The Gallatin Valley Land Trust focuses on Gallatin, Park and Madison Counties. To keep up with development pressures, the land trust aims to triple the pace that it conserves land over the next five years.
This Thursday’s talk for the Gallatin Valley Earth Day series will focus on wildlife crossings. More information can be found online at gallatinvalleyearthday.org.
