Yellowstone is more than a vacation spot - it's a haven for all kinds of animals
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Since the beginning of The United States, approximately 600 out of 6000 species in North America have gone extinct. Animal populations have declined by almost 70% worldwide. If that kind of decline occurred for the human race, 5,670,000,000 people would be wiped off the face of the earth.
There is still hope.
I am here to talk about how the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative could save the world.
This project aims to connect many of the existing wildlife preserves and national parks into one huge preserve that could save so many animals. The preserve, called Y2Y for short, would spread from the Yukon area in northern Canada to the Yellowstone National Park in the northern United States.
The larger an animal is, the more land it needs to survive, and the animals in North America are some of the largest in the world. Bears, moose, caribou, mountain lions, and bison all reside in the Y2Y area. Animals like the bald eagle also need large areas to roam. Migration patterns are interrupted when conservatories are fractured because animals have to cross highways, farms, and neighborhoods to reach their destination. Y2Y allows animals to migrate freely, which would greatly increase their populations.
In objection to Y2Y, critics would have you look at the many highways that crisscross through the proposed nature preserve and ask you how Y2Y would deal with the people who currently live in the Yellowstone to Yukon area.
I would respond by showing examples of the many wildlife crossings that have been constructed in Montana by the Kootenai tribes. There are underpasses that can pass beneath a highway to allow a seamless transition between parks and preserves. Animal’s bridges like the one shown below also allow animals to cross highways safely, saving animals and people alike. The benefit of saving wildlife is coupled with the benefit of lowering the risk of your car colliding with a large mammal.
In regards to the farmers and civilians in these areas, Y2Y avoids most of the major cities in Canada and the USA and much of the area is already a national park or preserve of some kind. Many of the people in that area are First Nations tribes, and many of them collaborated to create the Y2Y program. Some people would still need to be displaced, but they could be given property of similar acreage or value in a place outside the Yellowstone to Yukon boundaries. They would have to agree of course, but Canada has large amounts of uninhabited land that could be given to people easily.
If there are any suggestions or questions about Y2Y, You can click here to email and ask the officials. This website also allows you to donate.
All things considered, I think that the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative is a small price to pay for ensuring the biodiversity of North America for generations to come.
Image credits:
https://databasin.org/datasets/ccecf40569fe494e9a7d5d71c70cf127/
Great job! Your opening setences are such a well-designed "hook" to get the reader pulled into the topic. The wildlife bridge they are building in LA was a nonstarter for years. Nobody wanted to spend the money. Then a mountain lion moved into Griffith Park, right in the city, and everyone fell in love with him (P-22) and adopted him emotionally. Then, when he died after being repeatedly exposed to rat poison from scavenging for food in the urban park, and ultimately being hit by a car, that was enough of a personal connection for people to support the bridge. I wonder if some personal connections like that might persuade people to support this project as well.
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