Biennial Scientific Conferences

Initiated in 1991, the Greater Yellowstone biennial scientific conference series encourages awareness and application of wide-ranging, high-caliber scientific work on the region's natural and cultural resources. With the active involvement of professional societies and other institutions, these conferences provide a much-needed forum for knowledge-sharing among hundreds of researchers, park managers, and the general public. They attract world-class speakers and are interdisciplinary by design.

 

Upcoming Conference

16th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Advancing Conservation in the GYE

Big Sky, MT, September 3-5, 2024

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is a unique and special place—one of the Earth's largest remaining nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems. Its 22 million acres include federal, state, other public, Wind River Indian Reservation, nongovernmental organization, and private lands. The 15 million acres of GYE federal lands are managed by four agencies, each with differing missions and organizational structures. In 1964, the managers of the GYE national parks and national forests reportedly first signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC). The GYCC now includes managers from two national parks, five national forests, two national wildlife refuges, and three Bureau of Land Management districts (ID, MT, & WY), as well as three state wildlife departments (ID, MT, & WY). For six decades, the GYCC has provided a forum for managers to exchange information and pursue voluntary opportunities to cooperate at the landscape scale.

Since 1991, the GYE Biennial Scientific Conference has been a critical forum for sharing science between researchers, land and resource managers, conservation groups, tribal communities, the public, and other stakeholders with a common interest in understanding the region’s natural and cultural resources. The fall 2024 conference coincides with the GYCC’s 60th Anniversary. This milestone is an occasion to reflect on the research and conservation accomplishments that have brought us to the present day. It also presents an opportunity to enhance partnerships to seek solutions together to the pressing challenges facing the GYE now and into the future. Conference participants will convey scientific findings, discuss management needs, share perspectives, and propose solutions to improve future landscape-scale coordination and ensure the GYE continues to thrive over the next 60 years. 



For more information visit the conference website.

 

Past Conferences

Copies of the conference proceedings may be available. For more information, please email us.

  • 2022 - Expanding the Scope of Science Together: The Next 150 Years
  • 2020 - Focus on the Geosciences (Cancelled due to Covid-19)
  • 2018 - Tracking the Human Footprint
  • 2016 - Building on the Past, Leading into the Future: Sustaining the GYE in the Coming Century
  • 2014 - Crossing Boundaries: Science, Management & Conservation in the Greater Yellowstone
  • 2012 - Greater Yellowstone in Transition: Linking Science and Decision Making
  • 2010 - Questioning Greater Yellowstone's Future: Climate, Land Use, and Invasive Species
  • 2008 - The '88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond
  • 2005 - Greater Yellowstone Public Lands: A Century of Discovery, Hard Lessons, and Bright Prospects
  • 2003 - Beyond the Arch: Community and Conservation in Greater Yellowstone and East Africa
  • 2001 - Yellowstone Lake: Hotbed of Chaos or Reservoir of Resilience
  • 1999 - Exotic Organisms in Greater Yellowstone: Native Biodiversity Under Siege
  • 1997 - People and Place: The Human Experience in Greater Yellowstone
  • 1995 - Greater Yellowstone Predators: Ecology and Conservation in a Changing Landscape
  • 1993 - The Ecological Implications of Fire in Greater Yellowstone
  • 1991 - Plants and Their Environments
 

More Information

Last updated: March 6, 2024

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Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168

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307-344-7381

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