Episode 136: How To Save Greater Yellowstone From Runaway Sprawl
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Leon Kolankiewicz, vice president of Scientists and Environmentalists for Population Stabilization
Leon Kolankiewicz is Scientific Director of NumbersUSA and Vice-President of Scientists and Environmentalists for Population Stabilization. His career as a wildlife/fisheries biologist and environmental scientist spans more than 30 years, 40 states, and three countries. He has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department Fish and Game, Orange County (California) Environmental Management Agency, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras, and as an environmental consultant preparing environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for more than 10 federal agencies. He is also the author of Where Salmon Come to Die: An Autumn on Alaska’s Raincoast, which New York Times outdoor columnist Nelson Bryant called “a celebration of wilderness.”
Todd Wilkinson, Journalist, Author, and Founder of Yellowstonian
Todd Wilkinson is an American journalist and author proudly trained in the old-school tradition of asking tough questions and pressing for honest answers. He is the founder of Mountain Journal. Since he began as a violent crime reporter with the legendary City News Bureau of Chicago, Wilkinson’s work has appeared in a wide variety of national publications, ranging from National Geographic and Christian Science Monitor to The Washington Post and many others (on topics of environment, art, culture and business) in-between.
He is author of several books, including the critically-acclaimed Science Under Siege: The Politicians’ War on Nature and Truth and more recently, Ripple Effects: How to Save Yellowstone and America’s Most Iconic Wildlife Ecosystem, Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet and Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek: An Intimate Portrait of 399, the Most Famous Bear of Greater Yellowstone that features 150 photographs by Thomas D. Mangelsen. The latter won a High Plains Book Award. Recently, his longstanding syndicated column, “The New West,” was named best column in the country by the National Newspaper Association for small market newspapers.
Wilkinson lives in Bozeman, Montana and has had assignments taking him around the world, but foremost he loves writing about, and exploring, the vast Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem that begins just outside of town.
Show Notes
Safeguarding Greater Yellowstone: Challenges and Solutions
Todd and Leon join the Rewilding Earth podcast to discuss the critical importance of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, an area revered as America’s wildlife conservation cradle. They explore the extensive federal and private lands comprising this 24 million acre habitat, the diverse wildlife and their migration patterns, and the looming threat of urban sprawl. The stark consequences of habitat fragmentation due to population growth and development are highlighted, with in-depth analysis provided through a recent study conducted by NumbersUSA. The conversation underscores the necessity for a cohesive bioregional plan, better land use zoning, and sustainable growth management strategies. They call for unified action among conservationists and local communities to protect this natural treasure.
00:00 Welcome to the Rewilding Earth Podcast
00:20 Introduction to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
03:35 Challenges Facing Greater Yellowstone
04:40 Urban Sprawl and Its Impact
07:57 The Importance of Private Lands
11:45 Strategies for Conservation
17:06 Population Growth and Its Consequences
37:47 Call to Action for Conservationists
41:54 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
Extra Credit
- Todd recently featured on CBS Sunday Morning special about Ted Turner: Ted Turner’s nature preserves: A carefully curated “Heaven on Earth”
- “Yellowstone is Under Threat – From Us” | Leon’s recent article in US News 12/18/2024
- Visit YellowstoneSprawl.com to check out the sprawl study, Fall 2024.
- And check out Yellowstonian, founded by Todd Wilkinson, which has lots of coverage about Greater Yellowstone.
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.
