Federal land managers within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are inviting the public to join them in a conversation on April 29 in Cody, Wyoming, to help them assess ecosystem issues and to build stronger relationships in the future.
The Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC) is a group of eleven federal land managers who work together to coordinate management on more than 15 million acres of public land in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Rather than hold a discussion about individual agency issues, managers are asking for input on cross-jurisdictional, ecosystem scale issues the GYCC can address. Specifically, the GYCC wishes to explore questions related to:
- Cross-agency land and resource management issues and opportunities;
- The GYCC’s GYE-level priorities;
- Future communication and collaboration with the public and stakeholder groups.
Individuals are encouraged to attend the morning orientation session from 8 a.m. to noon, during which each of the GYCC’s ten subcommittees will provide an overview of its activities. These Greater Yellowstone working groups coordinate on topics such as air quality, whitebark pine, wildlife and sustainable operations.
A conversation between the public and GYCC leadership follows in the afternoon from 1-5 p.m. The emphasis of the afternoon session will be on interaction and communication between all attendees, with participants discussing issues in small groups with agency leaders.
The meeting will be held on April 29 at the Holiday Inn in Cody. An agenda is available at www.fedgycc.org/gycc_meetingsandevents.htm.
Similar sessions were held in 2014 in Jackson, Wyoming and Bozeman, Montana. Information gathered during these three sessions will help the GYCC develop and strengthen its working relationships with the public and stakeholders as they collaborate to address joint challenges managing these shared landscapes.
All are welcome. For more information please contact Virginia Kelly at vkelly@fs.fed.us.