We are the students of Peak Potential Academy. We’re a 4th through 8th-grade project-based learning school located in Bozeman, Montana.

This is a podcast about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We spent the past three months studying about this place, conducting a community survey, and interviewing stakeholders. Our goal is to help people all around the world understand what makes the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so special, the challenges facing this place, and what people are doing to keep it unique.

 As we worked through the project these terms were important for us to understand and incorporate into our work.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is a 22-million acre interconnected region in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. It is one of the most intact ecosystems in the world, with Yellowstone National Park at its core. It has the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states, and is home to over 450,000 people. With multiple National Forests, Parks, and Wildlife Refuges it contains half the world’s active geysers, the world’s largest supervolcano, and a rapidly growing human population. There are many challenges to this place, making it a fascinating region to study.

Stewardship:  In its broadest sense, stewardship is the recognition of our collective responsibility to retain the quality and abundance of our land, air, water and biodiversity, and to manage this natural capital in a way that conserves all of its values, be they environmental, economic, social or cultural.