“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."
— Helen Keller
Our Partners In Action
Local Economies
“Sustaining Paradise”
Wild Livelihoods is a coalition of Montana businesses in the northern Greater Yellowstone Region whose livelihoods are linked to the outdoors and wild places. Their mission is to give a voice to these local businesses by connecting business owners and customers who share common values around open spaces, clean water, clean air, and sustainable, biodiverse wildlife populations.
In 2024, the Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition, with the assistance of PERC, sought to identify the critical concerns affecting our tourism-related economy's, by asking business owners in Park County, what keeps you up at night? To date, 106 businesses in Park County have responded and the survey remains open for businesses to share their voice.
The insights of respondents up until November 2024 were integrated into a film, A Wild Livelihood, by Kyle Dudgeon that tells a powerful story of local business owners whose lives and livelihoods are deeply intertwined with the land we call home.
The results of this survey include an on-going series of film screenings, panel events, and community conversations across Park County. This is your opportunity to connect with others, share your voice, and be part of shaping the path forward. Your perspective matters. Our future depends on it.
Ranching & Wildlife
Paradise Valley Fence Fund
NPCA Pronghorn & Fencing Program
Brucellosis Compensation Fund
Northern Yellowstone Open Lands
Much of the responsibility and financial burden for providing the region’s essential wildlife habitat falls on the valley’s private landowners. Recognizing that elk and other wildlife impose real costs on agricultural operators and other landowners, PERC is working to provide tangible incentives for landowners bearing the cost of providing wildlife habitat.
From research and conversations with landowners in Paradise Valley, the issue of wildlife-related property damage is recognized as a significant concern. And wildlife, especially elk, perennially damaging fences was the #1 concern. As a group, 93% indicated that they suffer regular/perennial damage to fences on their property with the vast majority of damage attributed to elk. In addition, as grizzly bears continue to expand their range, there is increasing a need to fence off attractants (i.e., bone yards, bee hives, apple orchards) to prevent bear-human conflicts.
PERC’s Fence Fund, launched in January 2025, provides assistance to:
REPAIR/MODIFY/CONVERT fences to hold livestock in but prevent, or at least lessen, the need for continued repair and replacement and impacts to wildlife.
PREVENT large carnivore conflicts by installing electric fences around ranch bone piles and other attractants.
PROMOTE wildlife access through ranch gates through volunteer signage program.
CONNECT landowners with other organizations providing technical support, volunteers, and other assistance.
Thousands of elk descend on Montana’s Paradise Valley every year to feed on ranch lands, where they can spend as much as 80 percent of their time each winter. But their presence can bring significant costs and challenges to the landowners who provide wintering grounds, including brucellosis—a reproductive disease transmitted from bison and elk to cattle that can have sudden and devastating financial consequences for ranchers.
As one Paradise Valley rancher declared, “If we improve habitat [for elk] we’re basically shooting ourselves in the foot because of the increased brucellosis risk.”
PERC developed the fund in partnership with conservation partners and the ranching community with an aim to keep it as straightforward as possible:
● Timing: The three-year pilot project beginning in January 2023
● Participants: Available to any cattle rancher in Paradise Valley, Montana.
● Fund size: $150,000 to cover 50 to 75 percent of a rancher’s quarantine-related costs following a positive brucellosis test. The partial funding incentivizes ranchers to remain proactive in precautions against the disease.
● Payouts: 75 percent of estimated hay costs, with a maximum payout of 50 percent of the initial fund size for any single quarantine event.
Northern Yellowstone Open Lands is a regional initiative of Gallatin Valley Land Trust serving landowners in the Park County community who are committed to preserving the region’s unparalleled natural landscapes and working lands.
Park County has long been a focus area for GVLT. Since 1995, we have partnered with willing landowners to complete more than 20 conservation easements in Park County, protecting over 20,000 acres of working farms and ranches, critical wildlife habitat, and scenic open lands.
Since 2023, Northern Yellowstone Open Lands has partnered with landowners in Park County to conserve more than 12,000 acres of agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and scenic open lands. To learn more about these projects and the work in Park County
The National Parks Conservation Association’s (NPCA) Pronghorn Program is a volunteer and cost-share program designed to assist private landowners in constructing and modifying fences that reduce wildlife injuries and decrease damages to fences while still meeting individual landowner’s fencing needs.
NPCA’s 15th field season wrapped up with 19 project days, 13.2 miles and 213 volunteers in 2024 for a total of almost 73 miles and 1,572 volunteers since 2010.
The program offers several options to meet the diverse needs of landowners:
Removing unwanted or derelict fence
Rebuilding, or modifying existing fence
A materials cost-share
Native Fish
Mill Creek Cutthroat Restoration
In Mill Creek, one of the largest tributaries to the Upper Yellowstone River outside the Park, Trout Unlimited is partnering with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Custer Gallatin National Forest, and local landowners to protect the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout from non-native fish—rainbow trout that dilute native cutthroat genetics and competition from non-native brook trout that reduces survival rates.
Efforts include:
Building a new fish barrier in upper Mill Creek, above the current extent of rainbow trout that will secure over 10 interconnected stream miles for core Yellowstone Cutthroat populations.
Working with local landowners, Montana FWP, and Montana Conservation Corps to install woody structures that improve spawning habitat and streamflow.
Utilizing a fish trap in the lower reaches to remove non-native trout from Mill Creek.
Beaver Management
The Montana Beaver Conflict Resolution Program addresses landowner concerns with beaver activity such as flooding or tree felling. The Program assists with site assessments, device design, permitting, installation, and cost-share funding.
Program provides landowners with a range of nonlethal techniques to help landowners, land managers, and communities effectively manage conflicts with beavers. These techniques include exclusion fencing that protects culverts and head gates without changing functionality, pond levelers to lower water depth upstream of freestanding dams, and tree wrapping to protect from cutting. The Program aims to build tolerance for beavers on the landscape by resolving conflicts using nonlethal methods, keeping beavers in place to provide ecological benefits where beaver activity is appropriate.
Biological Monitoring
Counting “Bugs”
Aquatic insects represent the core of freshwater food webs and biodiversity. They are the primary food of trout, along with many birds and other important animals. They also support local economies by creating renowned angling opportunities. Unfortunately, they’re also declining as a result of a combination of habitat loss, dewatering, warming and other factors.
In 2024, UYWG and other partners teamed up with The Salmonfly Project to conduct a research study on the Upper Yellowstone River focusing on documenting long-term insect trends and trend-causes —comparing current insect communities with a set of monitoring data from 1975 — the last time such comprehensive monitoring was conducted!
We wish to acknowledge the Yellow Dog Community & Conservation Foundation and the AFFTA Fisheries Fund for their financial support of this project. Results of this research will be provided here as they become available.
River Clean Ups
Annual Yellowstone River Clean Up
Montana Freshwater Partners, UYWG, and a host of other community organizations join together at the end of the summer season through for the annual Give Back to the Yellowstone Cleanup. Whether you’re a floater or a walker, there’s a place for everyone to pitch in. Join us as we work to remove trash from the Yellowstone River and its fishing access sites throughout Paradise Valley, and celebrate with us afterwards with food, beer, and raffle prizes!
