Winter 2026

Newsletter Archive

Staff Profile: Hilary Young

To further advance our conservation integration we are thrilled to announce the appointment of our new Director of Conservation Integration. Meet the newest member of the Miistakis Team!

I'm thrilled to be starting 2026 as the newest member of the Miistakis team. As a long-time collaborator with the staff on conservation issues in Alberta and BC, I've admired both the strength of their science and their inclusive, community focused approach. I'm excited to work with communities and decision makers to integrate conservation and connectivity research into local, municipal, and provincial planning. Turning collaborative research into on the ground action is a passion of mine, and I can't wait to get started.

Like many, my path to conservation in western Canada has been a winding one. I grew up in Ontario and began my post secondary studies in Animal Biology in Vancouver at UBC. After traveling through Asia (including spending three months at a Borneo orangutan rehabilitation centre), I had primates on the mind and moved to Alberta for a Master's at the University of Calgary, studying the insect eating habits of capuchins in Costa Rica. When I shifted to a PhD in Ecology, I turned my focus closer to home, examining how moose and deer in Kananaskis Country respond to habitat edges and how that shapes their distribution across different scales.

After completing my PhD, I joined the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) as part of the Alberta program team. Over the course of eight years, I became Alberta Program Director and later Director of Conservation and Communities, working all the while with community groups, Indigenous governments and community members, recreationists, ranchers, landowners, and all levels of government to protect and connect habitat across the Y2Y region. Most recently, I worked for 18 months as Director of Partnership and Program with the Computational Ecology Group, a collaborative non profit that develops tools and resources to support species and landscapes at risk.

My partner and I settled in Canmore 13 years ago when we bought a local yoga studio, which we still own and run. We love being able to ski, hike, bike, and trail run right from our front door with our two kids—who also make sure we spend plenty of time doing crafts, watching gymnastics practice, and cheering on the local junior volleyball team.