GYC downsizes

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the most prominent environmental group in the region for many years, has laid off three staffers and is reassessing how it goes about its business.

The changes are not a sign of trouble, according to Michael Scott, the Bozeman-based group's executive director.

GYC was founded in 1983, is the largest regionally based conservation organization in the Northern Rockies and focuses on issues in and near Yellowstone National Park.

According to its mission statement, it was formed around "a simple premise: a healthy, wild ecosystem can prosper only if it is kept whole. Rivers, migrating wildlife, even boiling waters shifting below ground do not stop for lines drawn on a map."

In practical terms, that means GYC involves itself in disputes ranging from wolf reintroduction to wandering bison, from grizzly bear recovery to snowmobiling in Yellowstone.

Staffers work on land-use planning, zoning, oil and gas development and logging issues. No stranger to the courtroom, GYC has filed lawsuits concerning most of the issues listed above.

Its positions have made the group popular with some people and scorned by others.

Now it is "putting more people out on the ground," where decisions are being made, Scott said, and that means a smaller presence in the Bozeman headquarters.

It also meant three longtime staffers have been laid off, adding to steady turnover in recent years. The group's human resources official, membership coordinator and a specialist in coalbed-methane issues all have lost their jobs.

"We had to make some painful decisions," Scott said Friday. "It's not an easy time."

Other long-term staffers have moved on as well. Tim Stevens moved to the National Parks Conservation Association and Mark Haggerty has taken a job with the Sonoran Institute.

Meanwhile GYC recently opened an office in Cody, Wyo., and added to its Idaho Falls, Idaho, staff. It also has an office in Jackson, Wyo.

As an example of the benefits of putting more people in the field, Scott cited growth issues in the North Fork of the Shoshone River in Wyoming, where a GYC staffer has been working.

"You can't do that from Bozeman," Scott said.

Others in the Bozeman green community -- which employs scores of professional environmentalists -- have been quietly wondering what's going on with GYC.

Scott said his group reexamines its strategic plan every four to five years.

Environmental groups make changes in their operations all the time, said Duncan Patten, a Montana State University ecologist who has followed environmental debates in this area for years.

Although there has been turnover at GYC, some of which surprised people in the conservation community, Patten said that GYC remains an effective voice in regional environmental issues.

"We need people thinking that way, to counter people who think natural resources can just be exploited," Patten said.

Many environmental groups faced budget crunches in recent years, as grants from foundations declined during the stock market slump.

Scott said his group's budget remained steady at about $2.5 million a year.

Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com

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