The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has been named a finalist for the 2026 Earthshot Prize for leading one of the largest conservation collaborations in history – reconnecting a 3,400-kilometer (2,100-mile) mountain landscape stretching up the spine of the Rockies from Yellowstone in the United States to Canada’s Yukon. 

Y2Y, being recognized in the Earthshot Prize’s Protect and Restore Nature category, was founded in 1993, after researchers tracked a wolf named Pluie by satellite from Banff National Park. Over two years she crossed three US states, two Canadian provinces and around 30 jurisdictions. 

Yellowstone to Yukon brings together Indigenous Nations, governments, scientists, communities and industry across the 2,100-mile landscape, pairing land protection with practical fixes: wildlife overpasses and underpasses let animals cross roads safely, while conservation agreements keep migration routes open. In Banff, these measures have cut hooved wildlife-vehicle collisions by 96%.

“That is why, for more than 30 years, Indigenous Nations, communities, governments, scientists and landowners have shown what is possible when people work together at the scale at which wildlife truly lives,” says Y2Y president Dr. Jodi Hilty.

Since 1993, protected areas across the region have grown by more than 80%, twice the rate of the rest of North America. Yellowstone to Yukon and its more than 800 partners have helped protect around 25 million hectares, an area larger than the United Kingdom, and supported more than 200 wildlife crossings.

Roads, development and extraction keep cutting through the habitat wide-ranging animals need. Fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears remain in isolated pockets across the lower 48 US states, wolverines in the Canadian Rockies have declined by 39% since 2011, and some caribou herds have vanished entirely.

But wildlife doesn’t recognize international, or other, borders. Y2Y’s goal is simple but ambitious: give these animals the room they need to roam, feed, find mates and raise their young. By 2030, it aims to support the protection of a further 20 million hectares and deliver at least 50 more wildlife crossings, helping meet a global target of protecting 30% of high-integrity land ecosystems.

Being named an Earthshot finalist puts the Yellowstone to Yukon region on the same global stage as regions such as the Amazon or the Serengeti. 

As a 2026 finalist, Y2Y will now work directly with The Earthshot Prize to raise global recognition for the region, build broader public support for large-landscape conservation, and connect with storytellers, funders and decision-makers who can help accelerate protection across the Rockies — and share the model with conservationists worldwide.

This year’s cohort marks the first time the science of positive tipping points has been applied to Earthshot finalist selection criteria to identify solutions capable of unlocking wider environmental transformation. A positive tipping point is reached when beneficial change becomes self-reinforcing. Costs fall, adoption grows, policies spread or ecosystems recover enough to support further recovery.

For Hilty, the recognition is also a rare chance to pause and celebrate.

“Being selected as an Earthshot Prize Finalist gives this extraordinary region a chance to be recognised around the world,” she says. “Yellowstone to Yukon is not only a story about wilderness; it is a story about the people who live here and the choices they are making to protect a shared home. This region offers real hope that nature loss can be reversed when we act early and at scale.”

Five winners from the 15 finalists will be announced at an awards ceremony in Mumbai, India on Nov. 17, each receiving a £1 million grant (CA$1.8 million/US$1.3 million) to continue their work.

Founded by Prince William in 2020, The Earthshot Prize was created to find and celebrate the world’s most impactful solutions to environmental challenges across different sectors and regions. Now past the halfway point of its first “Earthshot decade,” the 2026 prize is spotlighting environmental leadership from around the globe.

Cover image: Y2Y website, Credit: K. Zenkewich.