Sustainability

Yellowstone Safari Company started from a love of wild spaces and conservation.  The beauty and grandeur of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as an experience, as an education tool and as a passion came together to form a wildlife safari company that stands today as an example of a sustainable business that works in a cyclical pattern; awareness and appreciation for the flora, fauna and landscapes encourages conservation and protection for those resources.  A nearly intact ecosystem provides a platform for our business to operate.  Our wildlife safari tours serve to bring awareness and appreciation for our wild spaces, and so it continues.

Our Efforts

Sustainability is more than just practicing “reduce, reuse, recycle”.  It is about building a business that operates in harmony with the environment, the community, and in a way that provides lasting positive impacts.  Simply put, sustainability is good business.

Reusable Water Bottles

Each one of our guests is offered a reusable water bottle for their wildlife safari.  Bringing your own?  Even better, as we can save that bottle for someone who is not able to bring their own.

Digital Communication

To reduce the amount of paper products required to run a small business, we have opted for a digital reservation system and guest communication.  This allows us to provide top-notch service, with information at your fingertips, and helps us to avoid unnecessary paper waste.

Green Cleaning

All of the items we purchase for cleaning the vehicles and the office space have undergone a thorough vetting process to ensure that we are using products that are best for the environment.  We buy those products in bulk, when available, so that we can reuse any plastic containers we already have in use.  Once those plastics are at the end of their life-span, we recycle them.

Vehicle Maintenance

Our vehicles are maintained to the highest standard to ensure maximum efficiency and minimum emissions.

Buying Locally

Our lunches, served on every full day wildlife safari, are sourced locally from a small business.  Supporting our local small business partners helps keep our community diverse.  The lunches are healthy, made fresh, and well suited to take on the road.

Sustainability in the National Park

While you are in Yellowstone National Park, you’ll notice some of the measures that the park has taken to become more sustainable.

Recycling Bins

You’ll see recycling bins placed strategically throughout the park to help divert waste from landfills.  The recycling program is able to accept glass, plastic, paper, aluminum, steel, cardboard and other items.  Double check your waste before you throw it away to be sure it cannot be recycled!

Bear Spray Canister Recycling

Yellowstone National Park also offers bear spray canister recycling to divert pressurized canister waste from going into local landfills.  Many tourists visiting Yellowstone do not have a need for bear spray once they leave the area and are not able to travel with it anyway.  With a partnership from Montana State University, the park has a unique method for separating out the individual pieces of the canister, down to the pepper oil and propellant that are pressurized within the canister.  Empty canisters are then crushed and recycled as scrap aluminum.

Dark Skies Program

The dark skies program helps reduce light pollution in the park.  Most of Yellowstone is free of artificial lighting, but around lodges and other facilities, steps have been taken to reduce the amount of light pollution within the National Park.  Light pollution can have a devastating effect on local wildlife, interrupting normal behavior, threatening reproduction, feeding cycles and interfering with predator / prey relationships.  By using energy-efficient, low wattage bulbs and shielding the fixtures so they only cast downward, Yellowstone National Park has been able to reduce the light pollution significantly.

Ecotours

Ecotourism and sustainability often go hand in hand.  Traditional ecotours focus on minimizing the impact on wildlife, wild spaces and local communities while you travel.  For our business model, practicing Leave No Trace ethics as we move through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem means that each of our wildlife safaris are designated as sustainable ecotours.

For even more sustainable ecotours, consider one of our walking safaris, offered in the summer months.