Our Values & Mission

Inspiring Wild Livelihoods

We are local businesses and individuals who have come together to pursue opportunities and meet challenges in our entwined economy and environment. We are motivated by our love of the unique, wild quality of life and livelihoods on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park. Via multiple projects, we seek to perpetuate what is good and improve what could be better for our community, our landscapes, our wildlife and our future.

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We are not a legal entity. We are simply a group of local, tax-paying and ethically-minded businesses who share common ground in our belief that keeping the Greater Yellowstone region wild is good for our livelihoods...as well as good for the soul. We represent the largest economic category in our area. By investing in our wild places we seek to increase our revenues, profits, number of jobs, wage growth, tax basis, and the sustainability of our natural resources. Our members include gas stations, restaurants, retail, outfitters and guides of both consumptive and non-consumptive varieties, and all types of lodging operations...just to name of few.

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Our business owners understand first hand the value of public lands. Wild places are the commodity in the supply chain that support our livelihoods, to use economic terms. If we don't "protect the product" our livelihoods will go bankrupt. Because our lives depend upon it, we support sustainability and stewardship for the environment, humbly grappling with the protection of public lands from over-use while at the same time getting people outdoors (and using our products and services).

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While it may sound like we only care about money or economics, we don't. We believe money is simply a proxy for human values. Capitalism can be a cause for good or evil...or, put differently, "one's treasure is where one's heart is". We believe in the inherent value of wild life and wild places. We also believe in putting our money where our mouth is.

 

Our business owners have a profound respect of and support for rural ways of life and private land owners, especially the working lands producers who provide habitat for wildlife in our area. Many of our members supplement their agricultural income with recreational tourism businesses, including hunting businesses. We seek to work with, not against, the agricultural community on wildlife management issues that protect their bottom line while promoting co-existence when possible.

Steering Committee