My mug of tea empties itself about the same time the sun sets, right around ten here in the evening. After a day spent polishing assessments, a novel and a relaxing meal on the back porch suits my disposition perfectly. The view from the house where I have now spent six weeks affords a panoramic display of the Bitterroot Mountains, an impressive range that reaches over 10,000 feet into the star-filled Montana sky. This is the backdrop for the MPG Ranch, the conservation property where I will spend the better half of my summer as an intern.
Luckily for me, a last-minute scramble to fill a few free weeks in my summer brought MPG to my attention, and an earnest desire to work with an environmental organization along with a car that would take me to Montana brought this UGA undergrad, a suitcase, and a new pair of hiking boots to the ranch. I was welcomed by a host of researchers and seasonal crews, all outdoors enthusiasts, and quickly felt at home with the white-tailed deer, mule deer, and elk with whom I share the slopes. This “ranch” operates as a conservation property, a field station and project site for restoration ecology. With over 8600 acres of rangeland, forest, and riparian resplendence, the staff here have their hands full with wildlife management and rehabilitation efforts. Black bears and mountain lions patrol the “boondocks,” the new-growth woodlands just over the mountains in my backyard, and a moose and her calf shelter in our wetland addition to the floodplain of the Bitterroot River on the east of the property. The birders point out the cedar waxwings and blackbirds that badger the increasing number of raptors in our skies, and a great-horned owl stood sentinel late in the night last week on my fence. I am surrounded by a vivid wilderness on land still visibly healing from decades of unsustainable ranching, proof that MPG’s efforts, only a few years old, are already working.
My
job here is highly self-determined. As an English and Economics major, I
do not easily blend into the mix of restoration ecologists,
mycologists, and botanists conducting research. However, I share a
passion for environmental stewardship, and I shadow everyone involved in
their daily efforts creating a natural landscape in this already
beautiful valley. I serve as a volunteer of all trades, so to speak, and
investigate my own projects on the side. The ranch’s operations, funded
by a sole, generous benefactor, make for a unique efficiency that
caters to this mix of private and state trust land, and it has been my
task of late to envision for the ranch a transition to nonprofit status.
My assessment now complete, I will conclude my internship with a survey
of herbicide application (as it pertains not only to human health but
to our restoration efforts) and a public guide to the MPG Ranch to
encourage community knowledge of our work and expand our outreach
programs. Could I get any luckier? I spend the weekends exploring this beautiful state, fishing in alpine lakes, eating from the garden, floating the river, hunting for mushrooms, hiking through the mountains, and engaging with Missoula, a liberal, music-making, bike-filled city much like Athens. Most thrilling is the thought that just about everyone here is involved in some form or another in the battle to protect the environment. Whether it’s Tanner, who hopes to manage fisheries restoration once he’s out of school, Ylva, who is making ground-breaking discoveries in mycorrhizae research in invasives, or the local farmer, who preaches sustainable land use practices, it’s inspiring. I can only hope to be involved in such an essential and successful project when I choose a career. Maybe I’ll try my luck again here, in this rich community; not only is this valley worth the visit, it’s worth the time.
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