Y2Y started in 1993 as a joint effort between a U.S. non‑profit organization and a Canadian charity. The partnership aimed to protect wildlife across the border, long before large‑scale corridors were common.

The project’s spark came from a wolf called Pluie. Fitted with a satellite collar near Banff National Park in 1991, Pluie roamed more than 100,000 square kilometres across three U.S. states, two Canadian provinces and three national parks, showing how far animals could move if the landscape were open.

Conservationists soon realised that isolated protected areas could not keep pace with climate change. As temperatures rise, animals need to move north or to higher elevations, but fragmented habitats block those routes. Jodi Hilty, president and chief scientist for Y2Y, said, “they're not sufficient, and really if we want to sustain animals like Pluie the wolf, we actually have to think at the scale that nature needs.”

Since its launch, Y2Y has doubled the proportion of protected land in the corridor, worked with about 800 partners, and built over 200 wildlife road crossings. These actions help animals migrate, reduce vehicle collisions, and store carbon in the expanded protected areas.