ARTEMIS INSTITUTE

YELLOWSTONIAN FOUNDED BY TODD WILKINSON AND GUS O'KEEFE, AND HOSTED BY ARTEMIS INSTITUTE WAS LAUNCHED IN APRIL OF 2024. IN SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY OUTREACH LONGTIME JOURNALIST TODD WILKINSON IS THE EDITOR AND LEAD JOURNALIST FOR YELLOWSTONIAN, WITH ADDITIONAL COLLABORATIONS FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND SCIENTIST FROM THE REGION AND BEYOND. YELLOWSTONIAN IS DEVOTED TO EXPLORING VITAL ISSUES SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WILDLIFE-RICH WEST. SINCE IT OFFICIALLY WENT LIVE IN MID-APRIL 2025 AS A SPECIAL PROJECT OF ARTEMIS INSTITUTE, YELLOWSTONIAN'S MAIN OBJECTIVE AS A PUBLIC INTEREST, NON-PROFIT, CONSERVATION JOURNALISM SITE WAS TO BUILD ITS REACH AND CREDIBILITY. WITH CRUCIAL SEED MONEY CONTRIBUTED TO ARTEMIS INSTITUTE AS GIFTS BY A HANDFUL OF DONORS, YELLOWSTONIAN, ACCESSIBLE AT YELLOWSTONIAN.ORG, ENLISTED A COMPANY TO HELP DESIGN A FULLY-FUNCTIONAL WEB SITE THAT FEATURED STORIES MADE AVAILABLE FREE TO READERS AND ALSO EASILY PUT INTO CIRCULATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS. IN THE EIGHT MONTHS OF ITS OPERATION IN 2024, YELLOWSTONIAN'S QUEST TO PROVE ITS CONCEPT INCLUDED ITS THREE PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS ELECTING NOT TO TAKE ANY COMPENSATION AND INSTEAD DIVERT AVAILABLE AND LIMITED FINANCIAL RESOURCES INTO LEVERAGING THE IMPACT OF YELLOWSTONIAN CONTENT, TAKING THE FORM OF WRITTEN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM STORIES, CO-HOSTING A RANGE OF WELL-ATTENDED PUBLIC EVENTS THAT WERE ALSO LIVE-STREAMED, APPEARING ON PODCASTS AND GIVING LECTURES AT MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY. THE YEAR, 2025, WAS A MOMENTOUS YEAR FOR YELLOWSTONIAN AND BUILT UPON ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THOSE DURING OUR INAUGURAL YEAR OF 2024. ORGANIZATIONALLY, WE CONTINUED TO LEVERAGE OUR LIMITED HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES BY PARTNERING WITH OTHER ENTITIES TO EXPAND BOTH OUR REACH, READERSHIP, AND IMPACT IN TERMS OF EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT ISSUES OFTEN COMPLICATED AND DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. TODD ATTENDED NO LESS THAN FIVE DOZEN MEETINGS IN PERSON WITH SCIENTISTS, PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS, CONSERVATIONISTS, BUSINESS OWNERS, FARMERS, RANCHERS AND OTHERS ABOUT ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE IN GREATER YELLOWSTONE. IN ADDITION, HE INTERVIEWED MORE THAN 100 DIFFERENT PEOPLE FOR THREE DOZEN STORIES HE WROTE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, SEVERAL OF THEM BEING IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS. YELLOWSTONIAN DOUBLED ITS FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA TO 40,000, MADE MORE THAN 300 CONTENTS POSTS ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM, INCREASED THE FREQUENCY OF ITS NEWSLETTER AND TODD IN TURN, WAS A GUEST ON SIX DIFFERENT PODCASTS, SOME WITH A GLOBAL REACH. IN FEBRUARY, AS PART OF YELLOWSTONIAN'S PARTNERSHIP WITH AN ENTITY CALLED THE YELLOWSTONE SUMMIT, FEATURING VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS GIVEN BY DOZENS OF EXPERTS AND WATCHED BY THOUSANDS OF VIEWERS ACROSS THE US AND WORLD, TODD WILKINSON INTERVIEWED RETIRING YELLOWSTONE WINTERKEEPER STEVE FULLER WHO SPOKE ABOUT HIS 50-YEAR TENURE IN THE CENTER OF AMERICA'S FIRST NATIONAL PARK. IN EARLY APRIL, TODD WILKINSON JOINED FORMER MONTANA GOV. MARC RACICOT AND SEVERAL OTHER MONTANANS AT AN OUTDOOR COMMUNITY ATTENDED BY HUNDREDS OF CITIZENS IN LIVINGSTON, MONTANA. TODD'S REMARKS FOCUSED ON THE IMPACTS OF ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY ON THE FUNCTION AND MORALE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES WORKING FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES THAT PLAY A PROMINENT ROLE IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE REGION AND NORTHERN ROCKIES. LATER IN APRIL, WE CO-HOSTED A LIVE AND LIVE-STREAM EVENT WITH GALLATIN VALLEY EARTH DAY FOCUSED ON THE CHALLENGES OF SPRAWL AND THE IMPACT IT HAVING ON BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LANDS IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM. WE BROUGHT TOGETHER A PANEL OF FIVE DIFFERENT EXPERTS COMPRISING A SCIENTIFIC ENTITY SPECIALIZING IN WILDLIFE MIGRATIONS, A PROFESSIONAL LAND USE PLANNER DEALING WITH GROWTH ISSUES IN PARK COUNTY, MONTANA, A FORMER COUNTY COMMISSIONER FROM TETON COUNTY, IDAHO, THE HEAD OF THE GALLATIN VALLEY LAND TRUST, AND A NATIONAL EXPERT ON INWARD POPULATION MIGRATION. IT CAME ON THE HEELS OF A SPECIAL REPORT THAT YELLOWSTONIAN HELPED PREPARE ON THE ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF SPRAWL. MANY PEOPLE CITED THIS EVENT AS BEING A CATALYST FOR PUBLIC DISCUSSION ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING TO PROTECT WILDLIFE HABITAT, WATER QUALITY AND RURAL COMMUNITIES. IN MAY, WE PARTNERED WITH THE MONTANA WILDLIFE FEDERATION IN HOSTING A LIVE EVENT IN BOZEMAN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CIVILITY AND COMITY AS PART OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE. THE EVENT FEATURED TWO RIVAL CANDIDATES WHO FACED EACH OTHER IN A CLOSE RACE FOR GOVERNOR OF MONTANA IN 1992. WE INVITED FORMER TWO-TERM MONTANA GOVERNOR MARC RACICOT, A REPUBLICAN WHO ALSO SERVED AS CHAIR OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE AND HEAD OF THE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN, AND EIGHT-TERM MONTANA LEGISLATOR DOROTHY BRADLEY, A DEMOCRAT, WHO NARROWLY LOST TO RACICOT IN THE CONTEXT FOR GOVERNOR. THEY SPOKE TO A LARGE AUDIENCE ABOUT THE NEED FOR AMERICA TO RALLY TOGETHER, IN THESE DIVISIVE TIMES, IN A CIVIC SPACE KNOWN AT THE RADICAL MIDDLE. IN JUNE, TODD GAVE A PRESENTATION ON GROWTH-RELATED CHALLENGES FACING MONTANA'S MADISON VALLEY AT A WELL-ATTENDED DINNER EVENT SPONSORED BY THE GROUP, PRESERVE RAYNOLDS PASS. IN SEPTEMBER, YELLOWSTONIAN FOUNDER TODD WILKINSON WAS PART OF A PANEL DISCUSSION, HOSTED BY MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND HELD AT THE BOZEMAN PUBLIC LIBRARY FEATURING CHAPTERS FROM A NEW BOOK A WATERSHED MOMENT, ABOUT DIFFERENT CONSERVATION AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN THE NEW WEST. WILKINSON SPOKE ABOUT THE GROWING IMPACTS OF THE OUTDOOR RECREATION INDUSTRY ON PUBLIC WILDLIFE AND LANDS. IN LATE SEPTEMBER, TODD WILKINSON DELIVERED A KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN HELENA, MONTANA. THE TITLE OF HIS ADDRESS WAS "WHAT MAKES MONTANA MONTANA- AND IT INCLUDED A CO-PRESENTATION WITH DR. MARK FIEGE, WHO RECENTLY RETIRED AS THE WALLACE STEGNER DISTINGUISHED CHAIR OF WESTERN HISTORY AT MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY. THE ADDRESS AND EXCHANGE WAS SO POPULAR WITH THE AUDIENCE THAT WILKINSON AND FIEGE WERE ASKED TO WRITE AN ESSAY THAT WILL APPEAR, IN 2026, IN AN ISSUE OF MONTANA: THE MAGAZINE OF WESTERN HISTORY. IN EARLY OCTOBER, TODD WILKINSON DELIVERED A LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT AN INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING'S HAUB SCHOOL OF THE ENVIRONMENT HELD IN JACKSON HOLE. HE SPOKE ON THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF JACKSON HOLE GRIZZLY 399, CALLED THE MOST FAMOUS MOTHER BEAR IN MODERN TIMES. IN MID OCTOBER, TODD ATTENDED THE ICUN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS IS ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES WHERE HE MET WITH CONSERVATIONISTS DEALING WITH ISSUES PARALLEL TO THOSE IN GREATER YELLOWSTONE. HE DEVELOPED CRITICAL CONTACTS FOR FUTURE STORIES AND HE ATTENDED A SESSION FEATURING THE BOZEMAN-BASED CENTER FOR LARGE LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION THAT HAS A GLOBAL ROLE IN SHOWING HOW LANDSCAPES THREATENED BY FRAGMENTING DEVELOPMENT CAN BE KEPT INTACT. OUR GOALS FOR 2026 ARE TO CONTINUE INCREASING OUR READERSHIP BASE, INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC EVENTS, PREPARE MORE NEWSLETTERS AND COMPLETE MORE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM REPORTS THAN WE DID IN 2026. WE ALSO ARE EXPLORING PARTICIPATING IN DISCUSSIONS FOR POTENTIAL LAUNCH OF A PODCAST AND MAYBE ENTERING THE TIKTOK SPACE WITH REELS TO EXPAND OUR PROFILE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE.