Application of Ecosystem Partnerships and Landscape Conservation Science to Link Large Protected Areas and Local Communities Across the High Divide, Idaho and Montana

The High Divide provides crucial and threatened wildlife lifelines along the spine of the continent in Idaho and Montana that link the World’s first National Park, Yellowstone, to vast central Idaho Wilderness. High Divide Collaborative partners deliver landscape conservation science in connectivity and climate change adaptation to local communities and conservation practitioners at scales and in forms needed to protect and restore priority High Divide lands. Collaborative boundaries are defined by cultural and historical resources, ranching communities, and the movements of the region’s signature fish and wildlife that criss-cross jurisdictional boundaries. Ecologically, the High Divide is continentally-scaled linkage between big blocks of protected core habitats for large, free roaming animals. Culturally, the High Divide recognizes ancient trails and current native American treaty rights. Socially and economically, the High Divide is a ranching way of life and vital outdoor recreation for millions of visitors where youth connect to nature. A broad array of stakeholders across the landscape (local leaders, landowners, state and federal agencies and non-governmental organizations) collaborate to identify target species, resource values, and conservation threats. Spatial ecologists integrate trans-boundary data layers into formats that are useful for practical conservation and restoration applications at local and landscape scales. Thus the latest science is coupled with local ecological knowledge to inform and engage stakeholders and to help them prioritize goals and shape conservation strategies. The resulting conservation actions are more cost efficient and provide durable and more meaningful ecological outcomes to local communities across the landscape.