Chess Not Checkers
For grizzly bears, some of the most desirable dispersal habitat crosses heavily checkerboarded lands
By Katie Hill
It took all night to drive hundreds of miles from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) in northwestern Montana to the shores of Yellowstone Lake,
From a Simmer to a Boil
Corner-crossing case ignites firestorm with messy history
By Christine Peterson
Long before a group of hunters from Missouri hoisted a ladder over a fence in southwest Wyoming—setting off a series of headline-grabbing court cases and breathless predictions—the US government had a plan.
Unlocking the Corners
Finding future solutions for recreational access to corner-locked land
By Heather Hansman
The hunters, technically, never touched the ground.
Editor’s Note – Issue 15
Issue 15 of Western Confluence will explore the unique history and modern-day implications of the checkerboard pattern of public and private landownership in the West. Stories will be released online throughout 2025 and in print January 2026.
Beyond Yellowstone
Revisiting the original nature conservation model
Perspective from Robert B. Keiter
Yellowstone National Park—established in 1872 and widely regarded as the world’s first national park—represents the initial dominant model for nature conservation both here and abroad.
A Promise at Risk
Climate change threatens the Sámi way of life, and so does the green transition
By Camilla Sandström
Long ago, it is said, the Indigenous Sámi people of the North made a quiet, sacred promise with the reindeer.
In the Shadow of the Lion King
The rise of community-based conservation in Africa’s last absolute monarchy
By Kelly Dunning
One of my first days in Eswatini, a small country bordered by South Africa and Mozambique, my guide told me a story about the Rhino Wars.
The Changing Face of Bogd Khan Mountain
Finding a balance between tradition and modernity in Mongolia
By Maria Vittoria Mazzamuto and Sukhchuluun Gansukh
Crossing Borders
Wolf management in the Alps requires attention to science and people
By Francesco Bisi
The first wolves to enter the Alps in nearly a hundred years found themselves in southeast France’s Mercantour National Park in 1992.
Barriers to Survival
Could a centuries-old pastoralist tool help conserve a rare antelope?
By Annabella Helman
In Kenya’s Rift Valley, a pride of lions begins to stir as the sun descends to the horizon and the air grows still.
From Serengeti to Yellowstone
From Serengeti to Yellowstone
An interview with Dr. Tony Sinclair and Dr. Arthur Middleton on bridging migration ecology across continents
By Temple Stoellinger
Game on the Range
Small tweaks in USDA programs support working lands and migrations in Wyoming
By Shaleas Harrison
It’s 8 am as the sunlight moves across the foothills of Carter Mountain, the longest mountain in the Absaroka range and east from Yellowstone National Park.
Home Grown Hirolas
Local communities lead the protection of an endangered antelope
By Tesia Lin
In the 1990s, Kenya’s hirola antelope population “plummeted from 15,000 to an estimated 300-500 animals,” says retired professor Dr. Richard Kock.
Editor’s Note – Issue 15
Issue 15 of Western Confluence will explore the unique history and modern-day implications of the checkerboard pattern of public and private landownership in the West. Stories will be released online throughout 2025 and in print January 2026. To promote westward expansion in the nineteenth century, the...
Donate to our mission
