Public Invited to GYCC Meeting / David Diamond Selected as New GYCC Coordinator

Date: November 7, 2016
Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – Federal land managers within the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) invite the public to join them in a conversation to help assess ecosystem issues and to build stronger relationships in the future. The meeting will be held on November 15 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Cody Public Library in Cody, Wyoming. Managers intend to develop and strengthen their working relationships with the public and stakeholders by understanding and collaborating on the joint challenges of managing these shared landscapes. Additional information about the meeting can be found at http://www.fedgycc.org/meetings-and-events/.

The public can meet the federal land managers who make up the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC), get updates from its working groups, and hear a presentation from guest speaker Arthur Middleton of the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Middleton will talk about the critical role that elk and other ungulate migrations play in sustaining the ecosystem and local economies. He will also show how photography and mapping are helping to tell the story of these migrations. This work is on display in Cody in the Invisible Boundaries exhibit at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. 

The GYCC has a new executive coordinator who will facilitate the meeting in Cody next week. David Diamond was selected to coordinate the GYCC Executive Managers and the ten GYCC Subcommittees. Mr. Diamond brings a wealth of skills gained through more than 15 years of federal service with the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  

As a Presidential Management Fellow, Mr. Diamond served in the Secretary of the Interior's office in Washington D.C. and the Idaho State Office of the BLM. In the Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office of FWS, he brought together diverse partners, including federal and state agencies, tribes, farmers, ranchers, and NGOs to solve complex natural resource issues in the Klamath River basin in Oregon and California. And, in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Operations at NOAA he provided senior leaders with alternatives and evidence to support sound decision-making. 

Mr. Diamond received his masters degrees in public administration and environmental science at the School for Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. He received his bachelors degree in history and environmental science from the University of Virginia. “We are fortunate to have David facilitate the GYCC because of his deep experience in federal land management,” said Superintendent Wenk. “He will bring a renewed emphasis on creative problem solving and community involvement in the Greater Yellowstone region,” added Bureau of Land Management Western Montana District Manager Richard “Rick” Hotaling, GYCC Chair. 

The GYCC includes federal land managers from national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges and Bureau of Land Management’s National System of Public Lands across the GYA: the largest, essentially intact natural area in the lower 48 states. Together, these agencies manage 15 million acres of federal land. The committee was formed to pursue opportunities of mutual cooperation and coordination in the management of core federal lands within the GYA. Participating federal land managers administer three national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Teton & John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway), two national wildlife refuges (National Elk Refuge, Red Rock Lakes), five national forests (Bridger-Teton, Caribou-Targhee, Shoshone, Custer Gallatin, and Beaverhead-Deerlodge), and Bureau of Land Management lands in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Information about the GYCC and links to member agency websites are available at: http://www.fedgycc.org/.

For more information please contact David Diamond at e-mail us or 406-587-6733.