Mission, Vision, and Values
Our Mission
People and Carnivores protects, connects, and restores large carnivores and their populations in the Northern Rockies by working with the region’s people to prevent human-carnivore conflicts.
The Future We Work For
We envision an evolving American West that recognizes the importance of thriving wildlife populations and prosperous communities, where diverse stakeholders work together for human-carnivore coexistence in a proactive, preventative system. Wolves, grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, and other carnivores are present in and around core habitat areas and disperse and connect with others, expanding further into historic range—a reconnected landscape.
Our Approach
We recognize that large carnivores require a special landscape if they are to persist in healthy, connected populations—not just in island populations, and not just in a portion of the Northern Rockies. To meet the challenges of growing human impacts, large carnivores will need to roam through both public and private lands, including developed areas. Where wild and open lands are limited, we need people to participate by enhancing developed habitat with tools and coexistence practices, so that large carnivores can move through safely.
Genuine conservation is a shared endeavor, and lasting outcomes must involve those who live or work on the affected landscapes. On these landscapes—rural and working lands as well as the more developed areas – there is a unique diversity of people, including indigenous people and First Nations, low-resource communities, and people valuing different cultures, livelihoods, traditions, identities, and more. We respect the work, experiences, and voices of all, and continue to develop our collaborations with underrepresented and disadvantaged people and communities to invite new perspectives. Diversity in our work maximizes the potential for new, innovative ideas, partnerships, and cooperative problem solving for the benefit of both people and wildlife.
To develop shared goals and solutions to human-carnivore conflict and for genuine coexistence, we prioritize relationship-building with stakeholders and project partners. This does not require full agreement on many things, but rather a focus on empathy, authentic communication, and respect for differing values, and a shared aspiration to create something together. Coexistence of people is a condition of coexistence between wildlife and people.